Turning the Page

Examining the print ad

Sandeep Das
Aug 22, 2017 · 6 min read

Let’s admit it. We hear so much about AR, VR, digital, online, content marketing, AI, programmatic, platforms, formats, channels, VOD, streaming, simulation, advertising exchanges, image optimisation, text optimisation, SEO etc., that our minds have become used to new buzzwords and acronyms popping up everyday. In the midst of this chaos, there is a slow, silent and deliberate attempt to reinvigorate some of the magic of yesteryears, when the world was not as complex and chaotic as it is today. One of these magical things is the pleasure of reading (and yes uninterrupted).

In 2016, the UK publishing industry saw an increase in the sale of print books for the first time in 4 years, with the sale of ebooks declining:

Although the trend is only for the UK, but if we take a leap of faith, this trend doesn’t equate to a healthy future for the global print advertising industry. It seems that our love for a book in its physical form is regaining strength, but it does not mean the same in terms of paying attention and noticing print advertising. In this well researched piece in the respected Poynter, the woes of print advertising seem to be two-fold: shifting ad spends to digital mediums and industries who typically used to spend on print, themselves getting digitally transformed (in the absence of any other buzzword, I am forced to use this):

Inspite of this doom and gloom stories about print advertising (and predictions about its slow but ultimate demise), the medium has seen its fair share of innovations and examples of persistence. These two, in varying degrees of application, are the success factors behind print advertising. Consider what The New York Times did in 2014 (when on the other hand the publication has been at the forefront of adopting VR recently). Running the first ‘native print ad’ not only requires innovation but courage:

Success in print advertising requires persistence, which makes it a perfect medium for building brand equity over a long term. It is not a medium for flashy, one day or two day campaigns that you run to generate some awareness. Buying a magazine or a newspaper is easy, but reading it takes time. When you read carefully, you pay attention. When you pay attention, you remember. Print advertising is about achieving impact, one by one, over a long period of time, but consistently. Some of Nike’s most successful ads are in print (and continue to be so):

Like Nike, Guinness continues to invest and produce excellent, eye-catching and engaging print ads:

One of the world’s biggest advertisers, Procter & Gamble, still believes in the power and impact of print advertising in building brands. According to P&G, print advertising works because it is a medium that goes beyond driving reach (aka awareness). It is about driving consideration, and influencing consumers to try its brands. Print advertising always has been a mid-funnel influencing medium, and in recent years its importance has increased.

Rufus Olins, CEO, Newsworks, sums up the importance and impact of print beautifully in the following words:

“People may spend more time with other media but time spent with print is quality time, where people are less likely to be distracted, and that offers powerful communication opportunities.”

In Q1 2016, UK supermarket chain Waitrose declared that print advertising remains its most effective medium and it was the biggest investor in print in the UK grocery sector.

Instead of marketing themselves more effectively to clients, some erstwhile print publications continue to eschew stupidity, which is exemplified below:

Advertisers who understand print do so for the right reasons — its ability to raise awareness and understanding through the use of effective copy, ability to engage readers / audiences and the ability to provide wider and deeper impact on brand funnel performance, brand perceptions and brand equity.

In Q3 2015, London’s Evening Standard newspaper (distributed free) ran its biggest ever Deluxe edition Evening Standard magazine driven by demand for print advertising, which coincided with the London Fashion Week, and the advertisers who flocked back to the magazine were the who’s who of the luxury and fashion world:

The very next year, and more precisely in Q2 2016, the Publicis Groupe predicted that digital advertising will garner a higher proportion of ad spend from luxury brands in 2017, overtaking print and TV:

The dichotomy and conundum between the ultimate survival and ultimate death of print advertising continues. But the principles rules of engagement have always remained the same. In today’s world characterised by constant distraction, the rules for making effective print advertising have gained more importance.

One of the genuine differentiating aspect of print advertising is the fact that it has the opportunity and ability to influence after distraction has been taken care of, i.e. someone (the consumer) has found time to pick up a magazine or a newspaper to read or flick through it. These opportunities of uninterrupted attention (sometime extended and sometimes not, but definitely more than a goldfish’s) can happen when you are travelling, getting a haircut, having your early morning cuppa, settling down for a late Sunday afternoon read, after putting the kids to bed or even during lunchbreak at work.

The second, and equally important aspect of print advertising is the concept of “no limits”. There is no 20 sec or 30 sec restriction, and neither is there a video that self-destructs in 5 sec or a social media feed in which content and advertising has a life of less than a day. Read this from Farhad Manjoo (I am highly doubtful that you will read till the end):

In a study conducted in 2013, researchers found that people are better able to recall details of news items they read in print versions vs. digital versions (exactly the same edition of The New York Times). Can this apply on print advertising, i.e. if we were to see the same ads in the print and digital versions of a magazine or a newspaper, we would remember more ads from the print version?

In sum, the general malaise afflicting the print advertising industry is nothing but a hype-circle. The medium needs innovation to appeal to changing readership habits and reading times getting shared with digital mediums. The medium is not dying and neither will it very soon. The medium needs more collaboration, more initiatives, better formats, seamless connectivity with other mediums and continuous refinement in the use of copy and visuals. Before I end, I will leave you to feast on the 2017 print campaign for the Lincoln Continental shot by the legendary Annie Lebovitz:

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Sandeep Das

Written by

Strategy Consultant

On Advertising

We’re an open community of Executives, Strategists, Designers, Developers and Students alike, skeptically examining communication, technology and culture.

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