This is the first of three part series. Today’s question:

1. Whatâ??s the real point of the new â??Know Better. Newspapers.â?� campaign developed by the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA) to begin â??fighting backâ?� (their words)?

Know better. Newspapers.

Thatâ??s the tag line for a new advertising campaign by the Canadian newspaper industry to tout the industry â?? a campaign valued at CA$10 million.

Know better. Newspapers.

Really? Thatâ??s all theyâ??ve got?

Hereâ??s a visual of one of the ads, with the text below.

Nothing brings you closer than newspapers for the whole story, the intimate details, the full scoop on whatâ??s important in our world. Thatâ??s why every week, 16 million Canadians gather in one place to find out whatâ??s really going on. Know better. Newspapers.

You can view the other visuals at the Canadian Newspaper Associationâ??s site, theyâ??re rotating at the top of the home page.

Some thoughts on this effort:

1. Copy that. So far, Iâ??ve seen a few executions in The Gazette and, as far as I can tell (please correct me if Iâ??m wrong), theyâ??ve all run with the same copy. Which raises the question: is this all the industry has to say for itself? Surely there has got to be another argument to get more people to read a newspaper or advertise in one.

2. Call to action. Where are the talking points? What am I supposed to do now? Why not list a URL where readers and advertisers can post stories, experiences â?? in other words, allow the community of newspaper readers to validate the industryâ??s message. Thereâ??s no effort here to prove anything the ad is saying, the campaign is just one big â??hereâ??s something to know, do what you want with the information.â?� Which leads me to point #3.

3. Preaching to the converted. While I understand that the media has likely been donated to the â??causeâ?� â?? after all, thereâ??s a big difference between a campaign â??valuedâ?� at $10 million and one that costs $10 million â?? those exposed to the message are the same people already convinced of the power of newspapers. While I can understand that the industry feels the need to validate a readerâ??s purchase decision, why not make some effort elsewhere? I canâ??t help but think that more effort should be made online. Two thoughts here:

â?¢ If the industry is going to stay traditional, at least put a banner on the newspapersâ?? respective home pages that points to campaign support material on a dedicated page. Letâ??s build a case here and get some Google juice out of it.

â?¢ Same as mentioned in â??Call to actionâ?� above. Rally the community of readers and advertisers. Give them an outlet online and recruit them to help sell the message. They are the people who still believe in the medium, have them help you convince others that newspapers still hold up. (BTW, theyâ??re also more credible than the CNA.)

If thereâ??s a message to spread, give it a way to spread. In papers, the message dies. Online, at least the message is free to fly on its own.

4. Whatâ??s new? On the CNA website, in the Did You Know? section, there are stats to support the industryâ??s online growth. Which begs the question about this campaign: if people believe that the industry is dying or changing and that readership is down, why not use the campaign as a platform to inform people otherwise? If there are so many positive things to say about the newspaper business, why not say them in the ad â?? or point people to more information?

In short, everything about this â??know betterâ?� campaign tells me otherwise. This is an insular campaign meant to appease the industry, while doing nothing to convince people that newspapers are, in fact, worth the read. From the press release announcing the campaign:

â??Sometimes we just have to blow our own horn,â?� Anne Kothawala, CNA President and CEO said. â??You canâ??t expect competing media to say nice things about newspapers. Itâ??s up to us to tell this story.â?�

Sure itâ??s up to the industry to tell the story. But thereâ??s no story being told here. And, two, how is what’s being told here indicate that industry does, in fact, “know better”?

Questions to come:

2. What online efforts is the CNA making to pump up the industry?

3. Whatâ??s behind the Toronto Starâ??s recent announcement that theyâ??ve changed the structure of their advertising rates?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Newspapers, Question A Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.