An editor has proclaimed his newspaper the “biggest, grandest brand in regional media” after launching a campaign aimed at attracting more print advertisers.
The Liverpool Echo has announced the campaign, called ‘Prints Charming’, which urges businesses to consider a print and digital campaign with it.
The Echo says the campaign comes after research from the Advertising Association and WARC has shown an increase in print advertising for the first time in seven years.
In a piece announcing its launch, editor Alastair Machray declared: “I’m biased. Of course I am. But print is special. Magical. And it works.”
He said: “I’ve lived and loved newspapers for as long as I can remember. I’ve been a journalist for 39 years and my mum and dad were journalists.
“As far back as I can remember, the house was full of newspapers and life revolved around them. I love the feel of a paper; I love that moment of clean freshness as you open your paper for the first time. I love the smell of the ink, the sound of pages turning.
“I love the adventure – knowing that each page I turn will bring something new, something unexpected. A paper is a treasure chest of things I didn’t know.”
Alastair, pictured, added: “I edited the Daily Post for ten years then, 13 years ago, I was made editor of the Liverpool Echo and it was the proudest day of my life. The Echo was special: the biggest, grandest brand in regional media and a Liverpool institution.
“And, amid the exciting, dramatic, digital revolution, The Echo remains both of those things. The Echo’s digital audience is growing at a mind-boggling rate, bringing with it sophisticated and multiple options for advertisers. The Echo’s digital future is thrilling and assured.
“But print remains relevant, vibrant and adored by hundreds of thousands of Merseysiders. They love the experience I mentioned earlier in this letter. They love the sense of place, the sense of pride, the sense of ownership associated with buying and reading a newspaper.
“For advertisers, it represents all those things and more. It represents a secure and trusted environment for their message to be seen and savoured. It represents a way into a reader’s life and a guarantee of visibility and recollection.”
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Alastair, your newspaper sells 35,000 copies, down from 130,000 copies when you took over 13 years ago. Advertising costs across the industry haven’t fallen to take into account the collapse in sales and that is why advertisers will seek to spend elsewhere to achieve better results for their financial outlay. That’s the way it is, no fault of hardworking staff at your great newspaper. Time has moved on, and while digital hits are impressive they don’t attract local advertisers.
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35,000 is not great, but some evenings that once sold 100,000 plus are scraping on 10,000 so a glimmer of hope maybe. Digital may be the future but it is dead as far as making proper money.
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Ha. I remember when I worked for TM, whenever the company took a meat cleaver to the print operation, often including the loss of scores of jobs (ironically many including at the printing presses) you could always bet your bottom dollar a certain someone would be on the radio the very same day defending the move, talking about the ‘new digital age’ and how dinosaurs had to get with the programme.
TM has dispatched more journalists than Vladimir Putin, with every step of its pogroms being defended to the hilt by top brass (possibly the reason they still have jobs in fact).
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West Yorks…, I think you’ll find that the selling price of print advertising has come down considerably over that time. Ask any estate agent, motor dealer or retailer.
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Paperboy
I hardly consider a sale of 35,000 from a population of over half a million in liverpool ‘a glimmer of hope’
This plea sounds more like a commercial led message to local business following a huge drift away of both readers and advertisers from print into other competitor media.
Business people go to where the most eyes will see their advert and unfortunately that’s not the local paper these days.
As for “print is special. Magical. And it works.” that was relevant 5-10 years ago but now it was, it isn’t and it doesn’t
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