NS Commissions the wanted ads Jobs Research
The fourth in a series of category-specific research studies under the wanted ads umbrella goes into field this week.
the wanted ads Jobs is a UK-wide quantitative study which will look at the behaviour and attitudes of the UK’s working age population. It will also explore the role and context of different communications channels for job advertising.
Continental Research are conducting the research which will seek the views of over 2,000 people from a comprehensive questionnaire which has had input from a number of industry research and recruitment media specialists including TMP Worldwide. The NS plans to publish and present findings of the study in October.
NS marketing director, Robert Ray, commented: “This is the fourth specialist sector we have researched within a year following similar studies into the retail, property and motors sectors. With a large and robust quantitative sample we will be able to generate current and actionable insights for recruitment specialists with an emphasis on effective communications planning. It will also provide valuable benchmarks versus our previous recruitment study, Recruitment Choice (launched 2005).”
The three earlier studies can be seen at www.thewantedads.co.uk.
For further information please contact Robert Ray on 020 7632 7441 or e-mail robert_ray@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Two Titles Share Feature of the Month
Featurelink’s Feature of the Month has been split between two titles which recently published outstanding advertising features – one generating more than £10,000 in advertising revenue.
The prize has been split between the Press and Journal and the Great Yarmouth Mercury.
Local and national advertisers got involved with a Press and Journal feature highlighting the strengths of the DC Thomson title after it scooped Press Gazette’s Daily Newspaper of the Year award.
Published at the end of July, the feature generated more than £10,000 in advertising revenue for the daily title.
The other Feature of the Month winner was the Great Yarmouth Mercury which published a supplement to mark the local Caister Lifeboat’s celebration of its 40th anniversary as an independent station.
The supplement, which reported a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh to the station, generated more than £3,000 in advertising revenue for the Archant weekly.
Feature of the Month is run by the NS Featurelink team to reward examples of strong and innovative advertising features in local media.
The winners receive £100-worth of vouchers which this month were split between the two newspapers.
For further information please contact Angelina McGaw on 020 7632 7446 or e-mail angelina_mcgaw@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Local Media Gears up for Launch of Portfolio Audience Currency
The NS Portfolio Audience project is nearing completion with internet audience data now available alongside print readership figures on the live JICREG planning system, and the all-important data showing net reach of regional and local newspapers and their websites due to be delivered by the end of the year.
The project was started in 2007 by the NS, working alongside JICREG and ABCe, with the aim of extending the JICREG regional press readership database to encompass newspapers’ online audiences and provide agencies and advertisers with a geographical system for analysing the combined net reach of a newspaper and its website within circulation areas down to postcode sector level.
Telmar was commissioned to develop the methodology for integrating internet audience data with print readership data. The internet audience data are underpinned by audited web traffic data, survey data (combined sample size of 100,000+ face to face interviews and online research via Survey Interactive) and statistical analysis and modelling. The NS and JICREG have worked closely with agencies and publishers to develop and test the planning tool at each stage of the project.
Audited traffic figures for more than 60 of the largest regional press internet sites are now being released by ABCe alongside newspaper circulation data on a six-monthly basis. JICREG audience figures are updated twice a year in line with new circulation data and, now, web traffic data.
The development of a robust and reliable system of multimedia audience measurement is one of the biggest challenges facing all media today. The UK local media industry, working closely with agency and media research experts, is now on track to create the UK’s first print/online audience planning currency.
For further information please contact Lynne Anderson on 020 7632 7421 or e-mail lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.
NS Raises Council Competition Concerns to Local Government Minister
The NS has written to the Minister for Local Government Rosie Winterton this week to highlight concerns about council publications which compete with local media for readers and advertising revenue.
The letter also points to worries about the Government withdrawing its advertising from local media and current proposals to remove the requirement for statutory notices to be published in local newspapers.
“We note your recent comments about the important role local councils can play in helping their local businesses to grow and prosper and their region to grow economically,” Lynne Anderson of the NS wrote.“Unfortunately, an increasing number of local councils across the UK are actively competing with local newspapers for readers and advertising revenues, causing real damage to these local businesses at a time when they are meant to be helping them to come through the recession.
“As well as being recognised as important local businesses and employers, local newspapers are of course vital to the functioning of any healthy local democracy, scrutinising the effective operation of local authorities, examining how council taxpayers’ money is spent, and holding elected representatives to account.”
Her letter to Ms Winterton quotes a passage from Digital Britain which acknowledges that if council newspapers operate in a way that makes local media unviable they would be “against the public interest” and invites the Audit Commission to undertake an inquiry into the practice.
The NS has requested a meeting with Ms Winterton over the summer to discuss the issues raised in the letter.
Meanwhile, Birmingham City Council’s fortnightly newspaper which costs about £600,000 a year could be scrapped permanently after being suspended in June, the Birmingham Post reported.
Councillors will decide whether to axe Forward or reduce publication and distribution when the council’s director of communications issues her report on council communications to the cabinet.
For further information please contact Lynne Anderson on 020 7632 7421 or e-mail lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Three Local Media Publishers Appoint Clacksons
Clacksons has been appointed by three local media publishers to represent their interests in the national advertising sector.
The sales house has secured new contracts with Belfast Media Group, Congleton Chronicle Series, and Garnett Dickinson Publishing Ltd. They were previously represented by the Regional Advertising Company which had ceased trading.
Last month, Tindle Newspapers appointed Clacksons to represent the Cambrian News Series, Tenby Observer and the County Echo in Fishguard.
Adrian Worsley, Clacksons managing director, said: “I am pleased that publishers continue recognize Clacksons’ brand strengths in that we are marketing-led and revenue driven.
“Predominantly our proposition recognizes that advertisers are customers too, and will always have a choice. I look forward to developing both the in-paper and on-line revenues for all these excellent titles in coming years.”
For further information please contact Paul Sinker on 020 7632 7424 or e-mail sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Local Media Publishers to Launch Online Property Portal
Three local media publishers have commissioned technology provider Collabera to build a local online property portal.
Iliffe News and Media, Midland News Association and the Baylis Media Group hope to launch the portal, which is currently under development, in early 2010.
The portal will include a powerful back office reporting and management facility for estate agents. It is also being developed with white label capability to enable other local media publishers join it at a later date.
David Fordham, chief executive of Iliffe News and Media and current NS president, said: “This is an exciting development that we genuinely believe will provide our estate agents with a truly competitive local alternative to the likes of Rightmove.
“We still have good and strong relationships with our estate agents through our print offerings but like so many within the regional press we lack real credibility when it comes to providing pure play property solutions for them online.
“In combining in the way we have with two like-minded regional press partners we have a chance of putting together the kind of capital and intellectual investment we will need to establish that capability.
“These are difficult times for regional press and I am coming more and more to the view that our future prosperity will rely on finding more ways of coming together as an industry to find solutions for the future.”
Collabera developed the world’s largest property portal www.move.com which operates in the US.
For further information please contact Paul Sinker on 020 7632 7424 or e-mail sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk.
The Irish Times Managing Director to Speak at WAN-IFRA Conference Next Month
Maeve Donovan, The Irish Times managing director, is the latest speaker to be announced for WAN-IFRA’s Managing the Crisis conference to be held in London next month.
The conference is designed to help publishers deal with the structural transformation of the industry and the effects of the economic downturn, also looking at changes in media consumption and competition from traditional and non-traditional sources
Full details, including registration information, and an early bird discount available to NS members until 25 August can be found here.
For further information please contact Paul Sinker on 020 7632 7424 or e-mail sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Hannah Walker Joins Editors’ Code Committee
Hannah Walker, editor-in-chief of the South London Press, is to join the Editors’ Code of Practice Committee, which reviews the voluntary code of standards overseen by the Press Complaints Commission.
She replaces Mike Gilson, former editor of The Scotsman, who has resigned.
For further information please contact Paul Sinker on 020 7632 7424 or e-mail sinkerp@newspapersoc.org.uk.
New Homes Marketing Board to Launch Local Media Ad Campaign
The New Homes Marketing Board, part of the Home Builders Federation, is to launch an advertising and PR campaign in local media to raise awareness of New Homes Week which highlights the advantages of buying a new-build home.
Coordinated through Featurelink, the campaign will see ads running in local media titles accompanied by an editorial feature which explains how buying a new build home is better value for money, less stressful, and cheaper to run in the longer term than buying a previously owned home.
Steve Turner, from NHMB, said “We are promoting our New Homes Week campaign through the local media and Featurelink to ensure we reach as many prospective house buyers across the country as possible.
“We hope that the copy placed by ourselves will dovetail with information about the events and promotions taking place on house builders sites during New Homes Week to produce some positive and interesting news stories for the local and regional media that are of real interest and benefit to their readers.”
Taking place from 12 to 20 September, New Homes Week will see events being held on house builders sites across the UK aimed at explaining the benefits of new homes. NHMB is also running an advertising and PR campaign in national media.
For further information please contact Angelina McGaw on 020 7632 7446 or e-mail angelina_mcgaw@newspapersoc.org.uk.
Less Than Two Weeks Before Paul Foot Deadline
Less than two weeks remain before the deadline for submissions for this year’s Paul Foot Award for Campaigning Journalism.
Sponsored by Private Eye and The Guardian, the Paul Foot Award honours campaigning journalism in the UK in memory of investigative journalist Paul Foot.
Last year, Jim Oldfield, Rossington Community Newsletter editor, was shortlisted for the award for his stories about plans to build an eco-town in the village.
Submissions for this year’s awards must be made by Tuesday 1 September. For further information and a downloadable application form, see: www.private-eye.co.uk.