Is your ad department this bad

Actually Palmetto, most ad departments are like that. But you selling ads? That's the unique part...

 

Forget the ad department. Outsource this and do it yourself. If you really did this much work, I wouldn't let the ad department in on anything.

And, to echo the others here, the ad department claims it can't sell a HS football tab in South Carolina. Put a mirror in front of them and see if they're breathing. Then tell the publisher about their inability and see how many stick around.

 

I sent out my first e-mails about "lets all get together" to discuss the football section in June. Followed up in July, got the first meeting with ad department, circulation and editor in late July. I was told last Thursday (ad deadline Friday) by an ad rep that I shouldn't have sprung this on them so late, and that was the reason sales were so low.

We have had a football section ranging from 28-48 pages that publishes on the day of the first game EVERY YEAR for at least a decade. I was told sales are down about 30 percent from last year's section. I also found out rates were increased 40 percent this year.

One last gripe, I got dummies two days late to begin layout, although I'm happy I still have three more days to put the section together before press needs 'em. Also not happy we print almost a full week before we pub it.

As for the post that started this thread, I am surprised nobody has commented on the notion of a sports editor selling ads into his own section. I can understand the temptation. Believe me, I know in my heart I could have sold twice as much myself for this section as we did as this is a football town that gets 15,000-20,000 attendance for the annual high school rivalry game between the top two schools here and we have a DI college team that is featured in the tab. But the idea of a sports editor selling his own ads? I think there needs to be a distinct firewall between newsroom and advertising and this goes beyond blurring that line. Be nice if ad staff would put forth a better effort.

 

We came dangerously close to losing our tab this year. Why? you guessed it. Lousy ad sales last year.

2005: Eight B&W ads, all one-sixth of a page or smaller, one back cover color ad.
2006: 12 B&W ads, all one-sixth of a page or smaller, one back cover color ad.

This is considered progress.

The ad director told us they were having a "blitz" day on Friday ... one weekend before the damn thing is to be printed. Oh, and by blitz, they mean sit on their ass and call businesses like they usually do? They hardly ever go face-to-face where it's harder to get no for an answer.

Could any of you imagine doing our jobs if we never left the office? What kind of sections do you think we'd put out?

 

You guys obviously aren't raising enough hell about the ad department. I've never had a problem -- or even heard an ad rep complain of not being able to sell a football tab. Are you fucking kidding me?

 

Our ad department, a staff of one, sold enough ads that I had to go from 12 pages to 16 pages in our football tab. Two more pages to layout, and I'm done with it.

 

I just love this answer.

Kind of like saying, "We don't write stories. We accept press releases."

 

Toomany, sounds like you and I have worked in the same place.

I've worked some places where the ad department sucked.

I've also heard of places where the ad department rocks. One paper in my neck of the woods actually sold a 9/11 fifth anniversary tab (I kid you not).

 

A few years back we had to ditch our college football tab because the ad dept couldn't get off their ass and sell it. What's worse, we had most of the stories and gotten all the info boxes done for all the teams and they come to us about a week before we are to get the dummies and they casually tell us we aren't going to have a tab this year.

Now I ask you, how the hell do you not sell ads for a college tab in the South?

 

At one time I worked for a publishing company that did game programs for several colleges and I can tell you that as bad as newspaper ad departments are about selling ads, corporate ad reps are even worse when it comes to providing copy by a set deadline.

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to reach through the phone and choke the living shit out of the Buffy or Skippy who called me a day or two before the print date and said they "just got a note on this program thing" and I "can't possibly get it to you by tomorrow but I know that's not the REAL deadline. Can you tell me what your REAL deadline is?"

Yeah fuckwit the real deadline is tomorrow.

And of course our testicle-less sales punk would let them skate. I don't know who wanted to kill him more, the editorial staff or the guys in the press room who had to work over night in order to get shit printed on time every fucking season. I think the press guys would have gladly fed him into a wood chipper if given the chance.

 

I can top that.

At my last stop, a couple of years ago the plans for the preseason prep basketball tab dropped from 28 pages to 20, to 16, to 8, to (at the last minute) a wraparound to accomodate the two advertisers who insisted that they have an ad in a prep-hoop-themed section. The next year, I told the GM and ad manager not to bother selling a separate section because we could more effectively put the previews in the regular paper over a couple of weeks.

In Kentucky. And not in one of the two decent-sized cities, either.

I still refuse to believe there's no advertiser interest in high school basketball in a small town in Kentucky, especially in a county that routinely sold out high school boys' basketball games and sent teams to the Sweet 16 as regional champions for four consecutive years. But that's what they told me. :-\

(Side note: Single-copy sales for the days the prep basketball previews ran showed a nice jump over other days. Perhaps somebody was mistaken?)

(Side note 2: Terminating the prep hoop tab ended what had become a Thanksgiving-destroying production day for me. It was rather nice to have turkey dinner away from work with people I cared about rather than have the circulation manager bring me her family's leftovers because I was stuck doing layout at work. )

 

Or like saying: "We're not responsible for factual errors or headline errors. We're designers."