The move to modular gains momentum
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 15:15
By John Pritchard
In moves earlier this year, that likely signal the eventual demise of the agate line system for selling display advertising, OCNA member newspapers within the Metroland Media Group (100 titles) and Transcontinental Media (3 titles in Ontario) implemented a modular advertising system for their display ad sales.
Transcontinental made the move in March and Metroland in May. Sun Media is said to be contemplating taking its Osprey Group of community newspapers modular later this year. Certain other OCNA members are either already selling this way or are also thought to be exploring modular.
The move to modular comes after considerable study and planning on the part of these media groups and provides a number of benefits for both the newspapers and their advertisers.
For advertisers it greatly simplifies buying because they can select specific size modular ad units at specific prices. No longer are they required to deal with the agate line system and the complexities it presents for those who don’t work with it regularly. So now, when the phone rings in the display ad sales department and the client at the other end says: “How much is a quarter page ad?” The answer is: “$x and there are two sizes. Vertical or horizontal. And these are the dimensions.” There is no more converting columns and lines into total agate lines and multiplying by a line rate to arrive at the cost.
Another benefit for advertisers is page presence for their ad. Modular ads stand out better on the page, regardless of the ad size or shape, because modular layout is more symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. Overall newspaper layout is less chaotic looking than agate line ads dummied in all sorts of different sizes throughout the newspaper. The result is better readership and response for advertisers. An additional benefit for advertisers, because of the limited number of modular sizes offered, is that the newspaper’s rate card can devote a section on the card to show a mock-up of each ad size on a page. This gives the advertiser a clear impression of what their ad will look like on an actual page. It makes the sale easier.
In addition to making the sale easier and faster, there are other benefits of modular for newspapers. Modular ads are much easier to dummy on the page. Ads can be stacked to provide a more uniform editorial hole without leaving annoying, odd-sized spots to fill. Percentage ad content can be tightened, compared to agate, without detracting from appearance and eating up editorial space that is normally lost to filler with agate line ads.
Metroland offers ten sizes of modular ads. They are: full page, three-quarter page, half page, three-eighths page, quarter page, one-sixth page, one-eighth page, basebar, one-sixteenth page and one-thirty second page. While some of these sizes initially may seem odd, they are in fact the most common sizes that advertisers generally demand. One-thirty second page, for example, is really just the old standard “two by two.” All modular ad size dimensions are specified in inches on the Metroland rate card.
Kathie Braid, Vice-President of Marketing & Corporate Sales for Metroland says, “The company arrived at the ten sizes after considerable debate and input from all its newspaper divisions. The objective was to provide clients with the most popular sizes while at the same time limiting the selection to a maximum of ten to simplify the decision for clients.” She emphasized that even though the company now offers just ten sizes, larger retail and national clients who currently are unable to furnish ads in one of the modular sizes will still be accommodated. “We never turn down ads,” she said. Metroland does not publish an agate line rate equivalent for any of the ten sizes and there is no reference on its rate card to agate lines whatsoever.
For each of the ten sizes shown on the rate card there is a frequency discount structure based on running the ad either one time, four times, 13 times, 26 times or 52 times. This discount structure is effectively a volume and frequency discount combined.
Transcontinental Media offers 14 modular ad sizes for its three OCNA member newspapers – Cornwall Seaway News, Orleans Star and Embrun La Nouvelle. It also provides frequency discounts and shows an agate line rate equivalent on its rate card.
For Cornwall Seaway News Publisher Rick Shaver, moving to modular has proven an excellent sales tool. “I received a call from an agency last week asking for a quote and I was able to give them the size they wanted and the price, just like that, without having to go into the whole agate line business. It was easy for the client and easy for me and I closed the sale then and there.”
Shaver went on to say that his company will likely change to a smaller web size in the not too distant future to go along with the change to modular advertising sizes. Together these changes can reduce costs and bolster the bottom line.
Reducing web size goes beyond the bottom line, though, as Braid of Metroland points out. “It’s more environmentally friendly because it means less newsprint to recycle and less energy consumed in the production process. “Our production people have calculated that Metroland will consume 8,300 less tonnes of newsprint annually resulting in 57,000 fewer trees needed for newsprint.” The majority of Metroland’s newspapers are now tabloids with an image area 10 3/8” wide by 12 ½” deep, reduced from 14” deep less than a year ago.
While these evolving changes by OCNA members to modular ad sales and reduced web sizes bring many benefits, they also present challenges for OCNA and Ad*Reach. Without industry standardization, OCNA member newspapers currently represent 11 different material sizes based on column widths. This means ad agency production houses must create multiple material sizes for any given campaign. With modular sales added to the mix, ad sizes must be adapted to reflect not only the traditional column widths, but now the varying page depth as well.
The order-entry program that Ad*Reach uses is currently structured to book advertising space priced per agate line, not modular. Carolyn Press, Advertising Research Analyst for Ad*Reach, notes that the association is currently in discussions with the software developer to modify the program to accommodate both methods in order to provide a convenient and efficient one-order, one-bill system for ad agencies to buy advertising in Ontario’s Community Newspapers.
OCNA encourages any member newspapers who are considering a switch to modular sales to review their options with the association in their development stage. With two models available to sell advertising, our goal would be to simplify or reduce the level of complexity for agencies by developing new industry standards going forward.
John Pritchard was the principal architect of Ad*Reach and a Metroland Publisher for sixteen years.
In moves earlier this year, that likely signal the eventual demise of the agate line system for selling display advertising, OCNA member newspapers within the Metroland Media Group (100 titles) and Transcontinental Media (3 titles in Ontario) implemented a modular advertising system for their display ad sales.
Transcontinental made the move in March and Metroland in May. Sun Media is said to be contemplating taking its Osprey Group of community newspapers modular later this year. Certain other OCNA members are either already selling this way or are also thought to be exploring modular.
The move to modular comes after considerable study and planning on the part of these media groups and provides a number of benefits for both the newspapers and their advertisers.
For advertisers it greatly simplifies buying because they can select specific size modular ad units at specific prices. No longer are they required to deal with the agate line system and the complexities it presents for those who don’t work with it regularly. So now, when the phone rings in the display ad sales department and the client at the other end says: “How much is a quarter page ad?” The answer is: “$x and there are two sizes. Vertical or horizontal. And these are the dimensions.” There is no more converting columns and lines into total agate lines and multiplying by a line rate to arrive at the cost.
Another benefit for advertisers is page presence for their ad. Modular ads stand out better on the page, regardless of the ad size or shape, because modular layout is more symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. Overall newspaper layout is less chaotic looking than agate line ads dummied in all sorts of different sizes throughout the newspaper. The result is better readership and response for advertisers. An additional benefit for advertisers, because of the limited number of modular sizes offered, is that the newspaper’s rate card can devote a section on the card to show a mock-up of each ad size on a page. This gives the advertiser a clear impression of what their ad will look like on an actual page. It makes the sale easier.
In addition to making the sale easier and faster, there are other benefits of modular for newspapers. Modular ads are much easier to dummy on the page. Ads can be stacked to provide a more uniform editorial hole without leaving annoying, odd-sized spots to fill. Percentage ad content can be tightened, compared to agate, without detracting from appearance and eating up editorial space that is normally lost to filler with agate line ads.
Metroland offers ten sizes of modular ads. They are: full page, three-quarter page, half page, three-eighths page, quarter page, one-sixth page, one-eighth page, basebar, one-sixteenth page and one-thirty second page. While some of these sizes initially may seem odd, they are in fact the most common sizes that advertisers generally demand. One-thirty second page, for example, is really just the old standard “two by two.” All modular ad size dimensions are specified in inches on the Metroland rate card.
Kathie Braid, Vice-President of Marketing & Corporate Sales for Metroland says, “The company arrived at the ten sizes after considerable debate and input from all its newspaper divisions. The objective was to provide clients with the most popular sizes while at the same time limiting the selection to a maximum of ten to simplify the decision for clients.” She emphasized that even though the company now offers just ten sizes, larger retail and national clients who currently are unable to furnish ads in one of the modular sizes will still be accommodated. “We never turn down ads,” she said. Metroland does not publish an agate line rate equivalent for any of the ten sizes and there is no reference on its rate card to agate lines whatsoever.
For each of the ten sizes shown on the rate card there is a frequency discount structure based on running the ad either one time, four times, 13 times, 26 times or 52 times. This discount structure is effectively a volume and frequency discount combined.
Transcontinental Media offers 14 modular ad sizes for its three OCNA member newspapers – Cornwall Seaway News, Orleans Star and Embrun La Nouvelle. It also provides frequency discounts and shows an agate line rate equivalent on its rate card.
For Cornwall Seaway News Publisher Rick Shaver, moving to modular has proven an excellent sales tool. “I received a call from an agency last week asking for a quote and I was able to give them the size they wanted and the price, just like that, without having to go into the whole agate line business. It was easy for the client and easy for me and I closed the sale then and there.”
Shaver went on to say that his company will likely change to a smaller web size in the not too distant future to go along with the change to modular advertising sizes. Together these changes can reduce costs and bolster the bottom line.
Reducing web size goes beyond the bottom line, though, as Braid of Metroland points out. “It’s more environmentally friendly because it means less newsprint to recycle and less energy consumed in the production process. “Our production people have calculated that Metroland will consume 8,300 less tonnes of newsprint annually resulting in 57,000 fewer trees needed for newsprint.” The majority of Metroland’s newspapers are now tabloids with an image area 10 3/8” wide by 12 ½” deep, reduced from 14” deep less than a year ago.
While these evolving changes by OCNA members to modular ad sales and reduced web sizes bring many benefits, they also present challenges for OCNA and Ad*Reach. Without industry standardization, OCNA member newspapers currently represent 11 different material sizes based on column widths. This means ad agency production houses must create multiple material sizes for any given campaign. With modular sales added to the mix, ad sizes must be adapted to reflect not only the traditional column widths, but now the varying page depth as well.
The order-entry program that Ad*Reach uses is currently structured to book advertising space priced per agate line, not modular. Carolyn Press, Advertising Research Analyst for Ad*Reach, notes that the association is currently in discussions with the software developer to modify the program to accommodate both methods in order to provide a convenient and efficient one-order, one-bill system for ad agencies to buy advertising in Ontario’s Community Newspapers.
OCNA encourages any member newspapers who are considering a switch to modular sales to review their options with the association in their development stage. With two models available to sell advertising, our goal would be to simplify or reduce the level of complexity for agencies by developing new industry standards going forward.
John Pritchard was the principal architect of Ad*Reach and a Metroland Publisher for sixteen years.
