Katie Kuehner-Hebert over at the business news site Portfolio.com wrote a story about the strength of community newspapers, a trend noted in the 2009 4th Quarter Newspaper Industry Review. She reached out to Mediaspace Solutions president Scot Kerr for his thinking on why these papers show strength, quoting:
Scot Kerr, president at Mediaspace Solutions in Norwalk, Connecticut, said that most community newspapers do not have the huge debt burden of many larger dailies. Plus, most smaller papers do not own their own printing presses, and so they have the ability to seek competing bids from outside printers.
Journalists seeking expert opinion on issues of newspaper media should contact:
Viveca Woods
VMW Public Relations LLC
646-418-6934
The Giving Thanks program was featured in a very nice post by Karen Egolf on her Ad Age blog about corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Everybody at Mediaspace Solutions appreciates the great support this program has received, and we very much hope that it can generate real impact across the country.
Newspapers’ continue to migration toward digital media is itself of great interest to trade journals, financial journals and even the good old daily newspapers. And journalist continue to rely on Mediaspace Solutions for our unique industry-wide perspective.
Ecommerce Times ran a story on the mid-May revamping of Google news pages amid the newspaper’s “revolt”, and asked Deborah Armstrong for the newspaper angle:
“There’s been an awful lot of saber rattling going on by newspapers that Google is in violation of something by linking to their content,” Deborah Armstrong, senior VP of sales and marketing at Mediaspace Solutions, told the Ecommerce Times. Adding new content might be part of a larger strategy to circumvent more legal challenges.
“I’m very optimistic,” said Scot Kerr, president of Mediaspace Solutions, which helps companies place newspaper ads. “I’ve always said, newspapers may be slow to react, but once they react, get out of the way. Once they adopt a new way of doing things, they become a steamroller.”
In its 14th year, Craigslist offers so much stuff on its site that it has become a virtual community, says Deborah Armstrong, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Mediaspace Solutions, an ad and marketing company.
“If I’m really needing to get rid of some debt or I need to lay my hands on some cash, I’m going online and asking other people what has worked for them, and that’s Craigslist,” Armstrong said.
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More Firms Enter Field
For a small employer looking to fill a job, a $25 posting on Craigslist may be better than using a job site such as Monster.com that might charge $475, Armstrong says. Of course, job sites like Monster are a different business than classifieds.
“If I want extra services that Monster provides, such as screening candidates, then I might be willing to pay for that,” Armstrong said. “But in this economy, many companies are trying to save money everywhere.”
Deborah Armstrong has become a popular source for newspaper industry journos. And now the digital press are calling, as well. This excerpt from an eCommerce Times article about Google’s loss of a key executive is really the very best part. Or so we believe.
“People like this are hard to replace, even in a recession,” Deborah Armstrong, senior VP of sales and marketing at Mediaspace Solutions, told the E-Commerce Times. Rosenblatt’s exit is a particularly tough blow because of his reputation and industry contacts, she said. “He did an amazing job running DoubleClick.”
Few outside of Rosenblatt’s inner circle likely know the complete circumstances behind his decision to leave — or, indeed, even whether the decision was entirely his.
“The spin is always on about these things,” Armstrong remarked, “but if I had to guess, I would say he had been frustrated about his opportunities there. He is probably looking for a company to run” — a leadership role that may not have been attainable at Google.
Randy Grunow, vice president of Mediaspace Solutions Direct, was quoted in a New York Times article about the Los Angeles Times’ front page advertisement created to look like a news story.
IN a move that raised questions about how far newspapers would go to please advertisers, The Los Angeles Times ran a front-page ad on Thursday that resembled a news column.
The ad, for the new NBC show “Southland,” was written and designed to look like a news article, chronicling the “Southland” protagonist’s patrol in Los Angeles. The promotion ran on the lower half of the paper’s left column, with the headline, “Southland’s Rookie Hero.” Forming an L, a horizontal ad for the show ran across the bottom of the page. The top of the column was labeled “Advertisement,” and included NBC’s peacock logo.
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Newspapers “are doing all kinds of things to say, we want to be more valuable to the advertisers,” said Randy Grunow of Mediaspace Solutions, which buys newspaper ads.
Mediaspace Solutions president D. Scot Kerr was quoted at length in this article about branding in Credit Union Business, a trade publication serving the credit union industry. We won’t repost the whole article, just our favorite part:
The Media—and the Message
Messaging is different in B2B than B2C, agrees Scot Kerr, president of Mediaspace Solutions in Norwalk, Conn. That tendency holds true whether the media is print, broadcast or online. “Regardless of the environment in which their ad appears, they have to make sure the headlines and the copy and the images get to who they want to reach,” he says.
Successful B2B advertisers, says Kerr, “need to get that advertising message in front of the right people.” Kerr is a big proponent of newspaper advertising, particularly for the B2B market and even more particularly for credit unions.
Companies, in general, should watch where their competition is in terms of its advertising messages, and they should be there too, says Kerr. There are other types of vertical business publications that could also have value, he notes. He points our, however, that newspaper is highly utilized by the banking industry - not so much by credit unions. He references a report by TNS Media Intelligence he saw recently that indicated there are more than 5,000 financial institutions that have run ads in newspapers over the last two years. Based on a quick count, he says he found 26 credit unions on the list.
“Credit unions need to work to increase what we call the ’share of voice’ in their competitive area. That will be a huge opportunity for them,” says Kerr, particularly if they’re just beginning to advertise to the B2B market.
Banks that have been running the same ads for some time are likely experiencing rmder fatigue with their target prospects simply glossing over those ads, says Kerr. “If a credit union runs an ad, their ad is going to stand out and get attention because people aren’t used to seeing it,” he says. “We get used to the ads we see month after month and day after day, but when you come into a market with a new message, it’s going to get attention,” he points out.
In addition to print advertising, the opportunities in online communication are huge, says Kerr. “The percentage of people that are using the Internet while they’re at work is growing rapidly and that’s when they’re going to be more susceptible to business messages,” he says.
In late February, VP of Sales and Business Development Deborah Armstrong was interviewed on Fox News Radio about the recent changes in the newspaper industry. The clip is provided courtesy of Fox News Radio.
Mediaspace Solutions, a Norwalk-based multi-market newspaper and online advertising services provider, has found a new way to get its partner agencies and clients into the holiday spirit.
On Friday, the company mailed more than 250 boxes of non-perishable food items to its clients located in major cities across the nation.
Mediaspace Solutions also encouraged advertising professionals to gather additional food items and donate the boxes to food banks in their local markets.
“We hope that the delivery of a box of food to our advertising partners and clients in the nation’s most populated markets will rouse recipients to collect even more non-perishable food items to help residents in the cities and towns where they live,” said Scot Kerr, president of Mediaspace Solutions, which has about 40 employees in Norwalk.
Mediaspace streamlines the planning, purchase, placement and verification stages of national and regional media placement campaigns for agencies and advertisers.
“Cans of corn, green beans, dried cranberries and a bag of stuffing are simple ways our partners and advertisers can begin an effort to reach out to the local readership and donate to food banks during one of the most difficult economic times in our history.”
Kerr, who credited Deborah Armstrong, vice president of marketing for the campaign, said he would like to see advertisers initiate a food donation program and continue it throughout the year.
To make it easy for clients to find food banks in their regions, Mediaspace contacted newspapers for information.
They included the information, as well as several bags, in each box - which measures 768 cubic inches.
Some of the regions are: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The idea piqued the interest of Roberta Eichler, executive director of the Volunteer Center of Southwestern Fairfield County.
“What a great idea. This really gets your attention. It’s something you’re going to set aside,” she said.
Mediaspace’s clients do not know that they will be receiving the boxes, Kerr said.
“Like many businesses, we send (holiday) gifts to our clients. This year, it seems more appropriate to help them help others,” said Kerr.
As the economy declines, and layoffs occur, Kerr said it will be important to ensure that food banks are well-stocked throughout the year.
The effort is a good way to remind people of the increasing demand on food banks, said Kate Lombardo, executive director of the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County, which provides food to about 80 agencies and programs.
“We’ve got to pull together. The need is up,” said Lombardo, who did not know that her food bank is included on Mediaspace’s list but welcomed the effort.
“We have a pantry where people line up at 7 a.m. for doors that open at 1 p.m.”
