Ad rep fails; sports writer likely punished

I've been at the same paper for six years now. I spent about four years as a city reporter, and I'm entering my second year as a sports writer. I made the move because I wanted to try something new and find out where my true talents lie, and I'm doing okay.

I recently put out my second preseason football magazine, and it's one of the best this place has ever produced. I'm not sure what it is compared to everyone else in the country, but it's solid gold here. I had many strong features and news stories to lead the magazine instead of shabby 15-inch previews and nothing but. The cover was strong, the art was good, the production was even decent.

Lots of people came into the office asking to buy one when they missed the day it ran, and I've had many people ask me questions about some of the stories or suggest other ideas or sources of information or offer their knowledge. Didn't have the first damn parent complaint either.

Needless to say, I want to start one for the winter sports, as basketball and wrestling are about as popular as football. I've already got strong feature ideas for a cover-story contender. So I pitched it to the SE today, and things did not go well.

Turns out that he's getting flack from the publisher. Because the ad department didn't bother to sell more than 15 ads for a 28-page tab, it's considered a failure and who knows if we'll do it next year. It was too much for the overtime and too much paper and ink. Certainly another money-hemorrhaging tab this year won't be a popular idea.

The lone ad rep assigned to sell the tab simply went down a list of business that bought space last year. This rep did nothing to drum up new business, but all I've heard this week is "Sports doesn't sell ads."

I've never dealt with this sort of thing in news. I've never been made to feel that the content was inferior simply because an ad rep didn't do the job. I've never been punished for something that's on the head of an entirely different department. I've certainly never been disrespected because of what I cover and told that "no one cares about your tab."

Is this a situation I need to call a lost cause and get out or is this a "join the club" type of situation?

I'm really wishing something would open up in news, but I'm really wondering if I should just find another career.

Advice?

 

Fucking ad fucks.
I wish I had some advice on what to do but what I can say is: It's not exactly the same problem, but sometimes the press we outsource to spreads the ink over part of a section where it's basically illegible. I take it to the publisher, but he says there's nothing he can do about it.
Sometimes it feels like they don't give a shit about the product, so it's not just where you work.

I think you have to lean on your tab's reader feedback. You worked your ass off and people seem to be responding to it.

Keep your head up.

Fucking ad fucks.

 

Let me first warn you: There are going to be folks on this thread telling you to STFU, stop bitching and deal with it.

Second, be careful of outing yourself, if you think your ad department will care about you talking shit about them.

Third, I'll offer a little constructive criticism: If there weren't enough ads to make a 28-page tab financially viable, why the heck did it go as 28 pages? Why not save some of those "awesome" features for run of press? This is a fact of the biz: Ad sales determine news hole, 99.9 percent of the time.

If there ain't enough ads, that puppy should have been scaled down.

That said, it sounds like you did a nice job with it, so take pride in it. Just don't be surprised when it happens again.

 

Joel, I don't see how this is LBS's responsibility. There's no way the design and page count were all under his control. It should have been budgeted for a certain amount of ads for it to make money.

If there's an ad shortage, it's probably because ads didn't do their job. This ad guy said he can't sell sports ads. Sounds like a fucking moron.

 

I'm just the writer.

My SE got a page count one day, and we went to work to fill it. We don't actually know what ads will be there until we get the Quark files. We had one color full-page ad, and the rest were 1/8-page B&W ads sprinkled throughout the tab. Once it was dummied, they weren't about to cut pages and redummy just because they didn't sell enough.

That would mean more work, you know.

 

This thread should be titled: Ad rep fired; sports writer rejoices

Seriously, is there anyone here who has been on the ads side? How hard/easy is it? I'd like to go try for a month and see how I'd do. My guess is above-average. And I'm lazy.

LBS, there is absolutely no way in hell you should take flak for this. Publisher needs to focus his attention on ad fuck.

 

No offense to either of you, and I know how frustrating it can be. I don't mean to sound condescending.

But if you think an ad rep, who brings in real, tangible dollars for a publisher to see with his own two eyes, would ever be fired over a sports writer, I think you both have a lot to learn about how things work.

LBS, I understand your plight. But if you all had thought a winter sports tab was in the offing, something should have been done about the ad-edit ratio of the fall preview. Period. The bean counters are likely to do you a favor now and then, but certainly not after you blow ad-edit ratio to hell on the fall preview tab.

Lastly, if you think the ad department is giving your SE flak, you're wrong. It's the publisher, who has seen the bottom line from that tab.

EDIT to reiterate that I understand, and know first-hand how frustrating this type of thing can be. But these days, it's not going to change. Take it to heart that you did a fine job on the fall preview, and write the same quality of copy for the fall sports, which can run in the regular section just as easily as in a winter sports tab.

 

[quote author=JoelHammond]
if you think an ad rep, who brings in real, tangible dollars for a publisher to see with his own two eyes, would ever be fired over a sports writer, I think you both have a lot to learn about how things work.
[/quote]

That's the ad rep's job.
He knows about this special section, but can't sell the ads for it. Is LBS supposed to hover ad rep and constantly take updates on rep's status? No fucking way.

The problem was the ad rep didn't bring in real, tangible dollars for a special section that was approved by publisher. Then ad rep didn't communicate that he was short on quota.

I don't see how ad guy doesn't take the fall for this.

A section is budgeted for space. Ads and copy. If copy doesn't come in, sports' fault. If ads don't come in, ads' fault.

By your argument, if ads don't come in, sports' fault.

 

That's the ad rep's job.
He knows about this special section, but can't sell the ads for it. Is LBS supposed to hover ad rep and constantly take updates on rep's status? No fucking way.

The problem was the ad rep didn't bring in real, tangible dollars for a special section that was approved by publisher. Then ad rep didn't communicate that he was short on quota.

I don't see how ad guy doesn't take the fall for this.

A section is budgeted for space. Ads and copy. If copy doesn't come in, sports' fault. If ads don't come in, ads' fault.

By your argument, if ads don't come in, sports' fault.

[/quote]

If that's how I've presented my argument, then I haven't done it well. It's not sports' fault, obviously.

But, if you're attempting to argue that sports shouldn't be able to/have to adapt to run at an ad-edit ratio that makes the publisher/CFO/Joe Finance Guy happy, then you're not being realistic.

As I said, these folks will work with you to a certain point. LBS, my advice is this, and I'll let others chime in. Since this turned out to be such a debacle, I wouldn't count on much cooperation from ad folks/the publisher the next time you're looking for more space.

 

Sorry to keep this up Joel, seems like we're having our own conversation but...

Shouldn't ads communicate that they are coming up short? That's the only way LBS would know his section is fucked without hovering the ads guy.

I know this wasn't the original question of the thread, but Did the ad guy do his job? I don't think the publisher has addressed that question. If he did, LBS wouldn't be in the shithouse.

 

I've been on the ad side.

And I wouldn't be calling them ad fucks. Have a little professional respect, if nothing else.

Most of them work pretty hard, since each ad sold puts more money in their pockets. It might be a commission thing. If sales reps don't get commissions on special sections, they're gonna push their commission products first.

If the ads aren't enough for a 28-page section, then the news fucks editors should be smart enough to cut it back to whatever works: 24, 20, 16. Proper communication between the two departments, right before the closing date for ad sales, will help the editors determine page count.

I've been in the same position when my hopes were high for my section, but if the ads ain't there, it doesn't help to bitch about it. Do the best job you can with the space you have, and keep trying to build momentum for the next time.

Your main problem is you had just one sales rep, and he wasn't working hard enough. If you have more sales reps, convince the company that everyone should be pushing the product, since football sections usually are an easy sell.

Better luck next time, etc.

 

Our football tab has hemorrhaged white for the last 7 years and there's not a chance in hell our publisher will kill it. Our readership demands one, and an ad rep would have to stampede cattle through the Vatican to get fired at our place. A bad combination for making money.

Personally I think it's better to use the tab material in the regular paper on a school-a-day basis and drive readership for a month, rather than get a one-day spike on tab day. I think in the long run, more papers would be sold.