The masthead of The Age newspaper was partially obscured again yesterday by a post-it type ad stuck on promoting newspaper home delivery. The ad also partially obscured promotion of their coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Their approach to ads covering editorial and branding content on the front page is interesting in the context of a piece about front page advertising published Friday by Alan Mutter at his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog.
The folks at The Age have deemed the HSBC Hot Summer sale to be more important than the lead news story in the newspaper today. Browsers are expected to pick up the newspaper based on the ad and not the lead story.
I feel for the editorial team who put in the hours on the lead story of the day. Being trumped for a buck would hurt.
The Age newspaper has permitted half of today’s front page to be cobvered with another advertisement. This time from Mastercard. It looks ridiculous. You have no idea about the lead story of the day. The grey block looks like a print error. Indeed, that is what one customer thought. Isn’t the Age the Newspaper of the Year? Where is the news?
The Age newspaper today has another ad covering half the front page – this time for Deakin University. While not causing litter or covering the newspaper masthead like the post-it type ads The Age runs, this ad covers half the news on the from page. What does this say about the value of the news on the front page? Also, what does it say about the journalists, photographers, designers and other editorial people who have laboured over a front page of which they can be proud. It says that ad revenue is more important than their good work yet is their good work which provides a medium for carrying the advertising.
I bought The Age yesterday from a 7-Eleven out of necessity. An ad for the ANZ bank was stuck on the masthead. I checked other copies and they were the same. Out at one of my newsagencies later in the day I noticed that none of the mastheads were covered by the ads. Maybe advertisers are targeting some areas with these pesky stuck on ads. I see the growth in use of these ads and other disruptors to the traditional newspaper experience as a commentary on the value of the medium.
The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers are covered today with a translucent paper on which is printed an ad for the new Toyota Prado. Customers are confused when they see the newspaper, thinking they have the wrong product – I witnessed this several times. While an advertiser may like this disruption, the consumer is more likely to be frustrated.
I photographed the newspaper as it presents on the left with the Business Day insert out on the right to highlight the difference.
I am shocked that a publisher is happy to cover up the entire front page of their newspaper in this way. It is further proof that ads are more important than stories. However, without stories, ads have no medium around which to pitch.
Retiring Richmond footballer Matthew Richardson was covered up on the front page of The Age newspaper today with an ad for milk home delivery stuck over his photo. This demonstrates that ads are more important than news on page one at The Age. The ad itself is interesting for newsagents – milk home delivery being promoted on the front page of a newspaper. If the penetration of milk delivery increases as it has been recently, watch for the two home delivery services to be linked.
The date is covered on The Age newspaper masthead today by an ad for Lite n Easy. The ad also covers most of the crest of the newspaper. The is the same and and placement from October 5. If the crest, company motto and date are not that important, why not incorporate a permanent ad block in the masthead? These ads disrespect the medium and the brand.
I was shocked to see The Sydney Morning Herald in the photo for sale in Sydney this afternoon. Above the masthead, the publisher proudly proclaims NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR yet they have sold an ad to cover the word Sydney in the masthead. Shame.
This is one of the worst acts of desecration of a newspaper masthead I have seen.
I wonder what the editorial team thinks? I wonder, too, what brand experts think.
My uneducated opinion is that selling masthead space demonstrates a profound lack of respect for the brand and a belief that cash for the ad is important than the brand and all it stands for.
It has been two months since The Age has a post-it type ad stuck across the newspaper masthead. Today’s ad, for the Royal Melbourne Hospital Home Lottery, is like all the others – peel it off as they ask and you tear the front page of the newspaper. It is disappointing to see a respected brand treated in this way.
The front page of today’s Australian Financial Review in Sydney has an ad for Citibank stuck over a story about goings on in the Telstra boardroom. Click on the image for a larger version of what this looks like. Journalists, editors and those who respect newspapers have evry right to be angry at this treatment of news. I’d note that the AFR in Melbourne carried no such ad.
Retail outlets are important to newspaper publishers here in Australia. It is disappointing to see Fairfax today trying to switch people from retail purchase to home delivery using an ad stuck on the front of The Age newspaper. I’d prefer to see them invest in increasing retail sales like News Limited is doing with their mX coupon promotion this week.
The masthead of THE AGE today is obscured by a post-it type ad promoting lamb for Mother’s Day stuck over the word AGE. While love a good lamb roast, I like to see brands like THE AGE treated professionally even more.
The Sydney Morning Herald masthead is covered in the same way by the same ad. I cannot understand why a respected brand allows itself to be covered up in this way. Money obvioulsy talks more with the folk at Fairfax than brand and editorial.
This is not the way to treat a newspaper masthead.
THE AGE newspaper was renamed THE GE on the front page this morning thanks to an ad for the home ideas show stuck over the masthead and part of the crest. So much for respecting the brand.
For readers who are not reagular readers here, I have a ‘thing’ about the desecration of newspaper brands by Fairfax. While I am sure they like the ad revenue, covering the masthead in this way speaks volumes about what they think of their brand.
I am grateful to a colleague newsagent for showing me that the latest issue of The Land has taken covering the front page of the newspaper to a new level. The ad covering the bottom half of the front page covers editorial as well as advertising. I’d expect Terry Miller Concrete Tanks, the advertiser covered-up, to be frustrated.
The Age has a post-it note type ad stuck over a teaser for a story on the young royaly inside today. I don’t understand why they could not have replaced the story teaser with their ad. On the ad itself, they are pitching 20 weekends of home delivery for $39. I wish I could make an offer like that as a retailer. The more they push consumers from retail the less interested retailers will be in their product.
