Even without a recall election in California to help fuel its growth, advocacy advertising would still be a substantial category. Unions, ballot activists, political parties and other groups are spending more in recent years -- reaching some $300 million in the first half of 2003 -- on ads designed to sway public opinion on various issues.

Continue ReadingAdvocacy Advertising on the Rise

"Commuter papers have been shown to be read by huge numbers of professionals and attract lucrative advertising, while paid dailies face limited growth prospects and have all but lost the ability to charge a premium for home delivery," says a new report from the International Newspaper Marketing Association, according to Editor & Publisher (paraphrasing from the report). E&P also talks to a consultant who says he's "been told of (free commuter dailies) being planned in three cities."

Continue ReadingNewspaper Marketing Report Tells Dailies to Focus on Niches

Signaling yet another mixed signal for the ad spending outlook, the ad industry equities research team at Merrill Lynch Wednesday issued a report revising the firm's advertising forecasts down from earlier predictions. The move follows a modest upward revision made recently by Zenith Optimedia Group, as well as a MediaPost survey of media planners and buyers that pointed to a markedly lower traditional ad spending outlook for 2004 than those issued by major forecasters including Zenith and Universal McCann.

Continue ReadingMerrill Lynch Downgrades Ad Outlook

An ad for the prescription drug Zoloft asks: "Feeling sad? Anxious? Tired?" Zoloft is sold by Pfizer as a treatment for depression and other disorders. It is but one of many print and broadcast advertisements that pitch prescription drugs directly to consumers - a category of ads scrutinized last week at a hearing held by the Food and Drug Administration.

Continue ReadingFDA Reviews Pharm Advertising

Zimbabwe-born Charles Mudede has been writing the unique "Police Beat" for five years. According to The Seattle Times, Mudede "visits police stations once a week, checks the log, and, after talking with the officers involved, incorporates whatever he finds most interesting into his column." Director Robinson Devor says his love for Seattle and Mudede's "fantastic" journalism convinced him to make the low-budget independent film: 'Police Beat' particularly caught my eye because it has a poetic tone to crime that other crime logs in other papers do not."

Continue ReadingRegular Column in The Stranger Being Made Into Movie

A new ad industry model for validating the effects of advertising is placing the onus on media to be responsible not just for delivering a message to consumers, but also to ensure consumers are attentive, are persuaded and actually respond to the ads they receive. The shift, part of a fundamental rethinking about the roles of advertising and media, has huge implications for how agencies plan and buy media and, ultimately, for how media companies sell their inventory.

Continue ReadingMadison Avenue Calls for Media Outlets to Guarantee Response