Pat Haegele to head Newspaper National Network p. 31

By: Dorothy Giobbe

THE SEARCH FOR THE individual who will head the Newspaper National Network (NNN) ended recently when Newspaper Association of America chief marketing officer Nicholas Cannistraro announced that Pat Haegele, the current publisher of Travel Holiday magazine, will take on the role of vice president and general manager of NNN.
"The best thing that we have going for us is for the first time in the history of newspaper publishing, you have the top 50 newspapers in the country agreeing to do this together and empowering me as the general manager, as well as my staff, to speak for them, both when it comes to rates, as well as the marketing objectives of advertisers," Haegele said.
"That's never been done before and that alone is going to be very meaningful for a national advertiser."
The former Gannett ad sales executive said her "number-one goal" is to "increase the market share of national advertising dollars into newspapers."
Haegele added that her experience with securing national advertising for magazines will benefit the NNN.
"You have to work with national advertisers in the same way that television and, in particular, national magazines have done," she said.
"Magazines are a very competitive medium. When they're out talking to advertisers, you go with the objective that you've got to be better than the rest in order to get the business, so you've got to have all the tools available."
"My mandate is to be sure that the tools needed by the advertisers are delivered by the newspapers."
The rest of the NNN six-member staff is expected to be announced by July 4.