NAA executives tout the ad benefits of newspapers p.

By: Ann Marie Kerwin

Urge the industry to adopt a new game plan
"NEWSPAPERS WORK" WAS the message Donald Newhouse, chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, delivered to attendees of the first joint Advertising and Circulation Marketing Conference in New Orleans.
"Newspapers are extremely efficient, easy-to-use providers of diverse and comprehensive information ? information unavailable in as usable a form elsewhere. And newspapers produce results for advertisers," Newhouse said at the June 14 opening breakfast.
To an industry battered in recent years by declining advertising share and profits, it may be just what they needed to hear.
In fact, the milieu the NAA created was that of a pep rally, with lots of can-do attitude and promises of victory if newspapers follow its game plan.
That game plan includes bolstering newspapers image among its readers and advertisers, and getting enough of the industry to agree to changes that will move it forward, such as adopting a standard advertising invoice, offering standard positions, volume discounts, standard sizes, and agreeing to one order/one bill systems.
"We cannot continue to do the same things and expect different results. We must alter our attitude and approach to delivering the news if we are to survive, and we can," said Cathleen Black, NAA's president and CEO at the same breakfast.
Both Newhouse and Black urged the group to look at emerging technologies as new methods to reach audiences.
"What products will travel on these highways has yet to be determined. How the recipients will react or use these products is speculative. And how the usage will impact on their use of newspapers depends in great part on newspapers' desire and ability to effectively compete," Newhouse said.
He listed five steps necessary for newspapers to compete.
? The newspaper's content must be meaningful and relevant for every individual in its market. In order to do this, editorial circulation and advertising staffs must be diverse and reflect the community.
? Service must be improved in all departments, with the first priority being a satisfied customer. Improved service includes creating an easy-to-understand bill, improving reproduction quality, offering color, having convenient sales points and being consistently on time.
? Barriers that make newspapers less efficient for multimarket advertisers or for single outlet advertisers buying several newspapers must be removed. The NAA has announced a standard advertising invoice that they would like to see universally adopted by September 1994. Steps to follow would be a standard ordering procedure, standard rate card format, standardized research and electronic data interchange.
? The newspaper industry must help shape state, regional and national policies, such as recycling and postal service regulations, to make sure they are successful and efficient.
? Printing facilities must remain state-of-the-art so that newspapers are able to offer new products and services. Also, newspapers have to stay current with the new technologies and adopt those that can offer readers and advertisers value added services.
Each newspaper and its market is unique, Newhouse said, but today's market calls for "a unified effort by newspapers" in order to "maximize our individual efforts."
A unified effort for national sales is part of NAA's game plan.
"NAA is . . . building a national network led by a small, very directed newspaper sales organization with the authority and responsibility to determine customer needs and with the authority and responsibility to translate those needs into marketing plans," Newhouse said.
The NAA's plans, according to Black's remarks, include creating an electronic data interchange system, developing a communications program to demonstrate newspaper advertising effectiveness, encourage newspapers to build customer and circulation data-bases for target marketing, and initiate a national, multimedia campaign targeted to readers and nonreaders.