Title: "Brainwaves: Battle of the mediums, National Newspapers" (posted February 3, 2004)
Excerpts of the article:

This year promises to be an interesting one for national newspapers. Executives have been pondering questions such as “To tabloid or not to tabloid?” The answer could leave the industry and the newspapers looking rather different in a year’s time.

But the question that is more important for the industry’s prosperity is: “How should we demonstrate the effectiveness of national newspapers to advertisers?” It was this question that led the industry to establish the NMA a year ago.

Our case is simply that national newspapers have been overlooked by too many advertisers. We are asking brand owners, creatives, planners and media buyers to look again at print, to recognise how papers have evolved and to reassess some of their preconceptions.

Our first task is to convince the advertising community that national newspapers can be an effective brand-building medium...

... Readers spend considerable time with their newspaper and at a time when they are in an active frame of mind. This means they are encouraged to think about what they see in newspapers, to reflect and internalise the message. This offers a powerful mindset for advertisers seeking to influence attitudes or change behaviour. The RNIB has used this to powerful effect.

It is often said that print advertising is unique because the length of engagement with the consumer through a print ad is determined by the quality of the advert. This is more than a trite observation. A great print ad will draw the consumer in, hold them, and give them something to reflect on. This intimacy is exactly what advertisers across all media are striving for. It is what allowed Häagen-Dazs to create one of the most effective brand-building print campaigns in advertising history.

To build powerful brands requires both reach and credibility. Newspapers deliver both. Perhaps striking statistics such as the fact that twice the number of ABC1 men read about the England Rugby World Cup victory in a national newspaper as actually saw it on television could lay to rest the misconception that only TV delivers mass reach.

The trust which newspapers inspire is increasingly being harnessed by brands such as Moët & Chandon which recently sponsored The Sunday Times’ Style fashion supplement...

... Recent years have seen the growth of countless supplements and inserts offering advertisers an array of environments to engage their audience. Car ads used to have to take their chance on the news or feature pages, now they can head straight for the extensive stand-alone motoring supplements. Few other media can offer such a level of targeting and segmentation..."

The wole article on the Media Week website.