Is a tariff the solution? Or will it drive clients away? Alasdair Reid
investigates
Newspapers, as everyone who’s seen a corny old film like Ace in the Hole
can testify, are obsessed with deadlines. Something pretty important has
to happen before they shout ‘Hold the front page’. So they’re hardly
likely to stop the presses for a quarter-page ad with spot colour, are
they?
Sadly, the answer is yes. Late ad copy causes as many, if not more,
production problems as the editorial side does. Late production means
late distribution and that means lost sales. Most newspaper groups have
made occasional efforts to make agencies and clients get their acts
together but now the Telegraph Group has decided to get tough. It
intends to levy a 10 per cent surcharge on all late copy (Campaign, 17
November).
Is this wise? After all, some clients need to run late copy. Because
they want to keep featured prices a secret as long as possible, retail
clients commonly don’t even clear copy until a matter of hours before
the presses are due to roll.
Bill Kinlay, the media director of O&M Media, can see why the Telegraph
Group wants to impose a tariff but he’s sceptical about it having the
desired effect.
‘Maybe persistent offenders should be punished, especially those who
have no good reason to be late,’ he argues. ‘In that respect, it may
focus a few minds. But the big agencies won’t expect to pay it. During
negotiations, they’ll merely add another clause or two to deal with this
topic.’
Kinlay thinks that the scheme has other flaws: ‘Topical and tactical
advertising has always been part of the allure of newspapers and I don’t
think they want to drive it out. It would be to the detriment of the
medium.’
Bill Jones, the press director of Mediacom, also believes that the move
will prove unworkable. ‘On many pieces of business, we don’t actually
book the space within the time frame they’re referring to, never mind
getting the copy to them,’ he says. ‘And with retail clients, the
problems are obvious.
‘There are many aspects that I don’t think the Telegraph Group has
thought through. For instance, is the surcharge really a media cost - do
we earn commission on it?
‘It is right to try to do something about late copy - it does cause real
problems. But I can’t see this changing the behaviour of some clients.
If they hit problems they’ll go elsewhere. If it had been a joint
statement from the members of the Newspaper Publishers Association it
might have made more sense and people might have taken it more
seriously.’
