Summary

The original title under which this forum (meeting of experts) was held was: "The marketing of commercial jobs produced on newspaper rotary presses", and it was intended as a follow-up to our Special Reports 3.6 and 3.10, both of which were published with the title: "Better Usability of Newspaper Presses". However, the experts concerned came to the conclusion that this cannot be realised without adapting the form of advertising to suit the newspaper. The "multi-page ads", i.e. a series of four, eight or even more successive full-page ads placed by a single customer, already commonplace in some countries, are considered to be one such means. Their identical format and printing process make them appear as an integral part of the newspaper. They can be pre-printed and still remain topical (only one day lead time). The reader finds them less disturbing than inserted glossy prospectuses, and they also help solve the problem of too many inserts. In addition, more supplements should be created into which such "multi-page ads" can be incorporated. The print quality obtainable on newspaper presses is sufficient here also, because it is important for the newspaper character to be retained and any dramatic changes in the print quality to be avoided. To that extent, combined products, such as are commonplace in Finland, are not considered very attractive in Central Europe. Finally, an appeal was addressed to the newspaper publishers to consider themselves as 1 service providers, to train their personnel for this, and to organise themselves accordingly. With this Special Report, weihope to provide our members with some tips on how their newspapers can hold their own in the face of increasingly tough competition for advertising budgets.