Newspaper National Network Says: Your Ad Works or Your Money Back!
On the one hand, newspapers are wary of digital. But if a new ad program is any guide, many of them also really, really want in on one thing their medium isn't so great at: providing: accountability to advertisers that the ads they buy actually result in sales.
The NYT reports that the Newspaper National Network -- comprised of newspaper biggies including Gannett, Hearst and E.W. Scripps -- is offering consumer goods companies an ad guarantee that tries to tie advertising directly to sales: if the ads don't result in a ten percent increase in sales volume, the last ad bought among a group of ads for the same product is free. (Read the Times story for the offer's reams of fine print.)
The first question a reasonable person might ask is this: you mean advertising doesn't result in sales? Well, it's actually much fuzzier than one would think, especially in analog media like newspapers, magazines and most TV, where there's no way to buy a product directly from an ad, and there are few other strong metrics -- like a clickthrough on a banner ad -- that demonstrate true cause/effect consumer response. Did people buy a product not because of the advertising but because their neighbor talked it up? Was it because of where it was placed on the store shelf? Was it because the ads were supplemented with a huge coupon drop?
While those other factors have an impact on all types of consumer buying, media like newspapers are feeling the pressure to offer more accountability -- which is why the industry is trying to emulate digital. Speaking of cause/effect, for years now most of digital's gains have come at the expense of print. Digital display has grown by 5.3 percent so far this year, per Kantar Media, while the newspaper industry has shown declines in ad spending for 19 consecutive quarters -- if you're doing the math, that's close to five years!
So the answer, as this program shows, is to show how accountable your medium is -- even when it, by definition, can't be as accountable as digital. Fortunately for the NNN, it's thought of that already -- advertisers that participate in the program will have to agree that InfoScan, a unit of data-crunching SymphonyIRI be the oracle which determines whether the ads moved product. (It was the source in a study of ad effectiveness conducted in advance of this ad offer that included Campbell Soup and Procter & Gamble, among others.)
While InfoScan is entirely reputable, for the NNN to stipulate which data will prove the newspaper industry's point is almost like making the away team agree that the home team gets to pick the umpires. However, in the middle of a battle for your life, you do what you have to, and that's what the newspaper industry is doing here.
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