Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the March 6, 2002 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Print Advertising: Still Kicking
Once upon a time the choice for getting the word out
was between the town crier or the newspaper. Now print —
newspapers
and magazines — must compete for advertising dollars with
everything
from the Internet to custom-painted VW Beetles. Advertisements, long
pulled high above sun bathers by little airplanes, are even being
embossed in the sand below. They’re on popcorn bags, T-shirts, and,
of course, on radio and television.
Still, print is hanging in there. “It can be very effective for
certain targets,” says Jeff Propper, president of the Lunar
Group, an advertising and marketing agency based in Mountain Lakes.
He speaks on “Strategies for Effective Print Advertising”
on Tuesday, March 12, at 6 p.m. at a meeting of the Business Marketing
Association at the Ramada Inn in Somerset. Call 609-409-5601. Cost:
$30.
Propper, a graduate of Temple (Class of 1979), founded his agency,
which now has 12 employees, in 1990. Before that, he worked for
agencies
in New York and New Jersey on travel and tourism campaigns and on
advertising for a number of consumer products, including Wrangler
jeans, Godiva chocolates, and Elizabeth Taylor’s Passion. His agency
does both business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing.
Its clients are in the telecom, professional services, financial
services,
technology, and education industries.
For many of these clients, print works. “People do read
newspapers,”
Propper says. But not all people. And certainly not all the time.
He suggests these guidelines for using print.
Who is reading newspapers? “You have to look athabits,”he says. “In the 55-plus market, there is a tendency for thesefolks to read.” The older set spends time with the daily paper,but the same can’t be said of their children and grandchildren.Generallyspeaking, there are better ways to reach teens, says Propper.Like their slightly younger siblings, twentysomethings aren’t nearlyas big fans of print as are their elders. But there are times whennewspapers reach them better than other media. In promoting an MBAprogram for a client, Propper used radio, E-marketing, and newspapers.”Newspapers were the clear winner in getting response,” hesays.Do magazines do the job? Again, it depends. With teens,Propper thinks magazines — even those aimed directly at them —are less effective than other media. He says outdoor advertising —things like billboards and signs on buses — do a better job ofreeling in folks not yet old enough to vote.Specialty magazines do work well, however, in reaching professionals,who often find perusing their trade magazines a must. Magazines canalso be a good medium for selling specialized products or services.”There is a magazine for everyone,” says Propper. “There’seven one called Divorce. I know this because I was looking for amediumfor one of my legal clients.”Look at geography. Newspapers and magazines may beoutshinedby flashier competitors in urban areas, but 20-story-tall digitaladvertisements of the sort found in abundance in Times Square havenot yet reached vast stretches of America. And the billboards thatline New Jersey highways where traffic crawls at .2 miles an hourwould not be as effective in Montana, where motorists are said toapproach triple-digit speeds with regularity. In less media-intensemarkets, print could well be the winner.Think simple. “Literally, you have seconds to capturesomeone’s attention,” says Propper. “Keep it extraordinarilysimple.” The more complicated the print message, the more likelythat readers will thumb right past it. In one of Propper’s mostsuccessfulad campaigns, he used print as part of a campaign to tell studentsabout the advantages of attending Montclair State. “We positionedthem as a university that focuses on students,” he says.Advertisementssimply said: “A Center of Knowledge, Centered on You.””It was tremendously effective,” says Propper. “Therewas a 13 percent increase in freshman enrollment.”Use pictures. Print advertisements need to be visuallyappealing. For the Montclair State ads, Propper paired his catchphrasewith photos of youngsters with whom he believed prospective studentscould identify. “They looked smart,” he says, “andcool.”Appeal to emotions. With print, there is little room forthe mini-dramas that advertisers can stage on television, creatingsmiles, and even the occasional tear, in 30 or 60 seconds. Yet emotionis what will create a connection. Propper used frustration as theemotion to sell a client’s logistics software.His market research had shown him that there is a huge amount offrustrationover shipping snafus. “We did an ad,” he says, “that showsa truck in front of a dark background. There is a lightening boltin the foreground, and the words `Shipping Happens!’” The adappealedto managers who have to deal with the fallout from shipping problemsevery day. “We look for things that will move the target to callyou,” he says.Learn the lingo. “Everyone feels their industry isdifferent,” say Propper. Use industry buzz words to show you knowthe issues the industry is facing.Mix it up. Print may not always work all by itself, butit is often worth including it with other media to reinforce amessage.”You hear about it on the radio, and then you see it in thepaper,”says Propper of a good way of increasing awareness.While the reports of print’s imminent demise that circulatedat the height of our infatuation with all things dot-com have beentoned down, and while Propper is high on the medium, one has to wonderabout its long-term future. Says Propper: “If your target is a65-year-old male, he probably reads the daily newspaper.” If yourtarget is much younger, don’t count on it.Top Of PageSecurity for Your PCInfoTech Associates got into the computer securityservicesbusiness six years ago when one of its own internal systems wascompromised.The company, which is based in Whitehouse Station, detected theintrusionand surreptitiously began to collect evidence. The F.B.I. enteredthe case, apprehended, and prosecuted the perpetrators, and InfoTechwent off in a new direction. Founded in 1994, the company’s firstspecialty was implementations of wide-area network database systemsand Web-based business applications.After its own brush with IT tampering, InfoTech began to provideinformationsecurity services. It now consults on, designs, implements, andmanagesIT security systems with a focus on essential, high-demand functions.Gideon Lenkey, co-founder and president of InfoTech, speakson “Survival on the Unseen Battlefield: Privacy and Security foryour PC” on Wednesday, March 13, at 6 p.m. at a meeting of thePrinceton Chapter of the Association of Internet Professionals. Freefor members, $10 for others. Call 215-369-4866.Among the issues Lenkey addresses is how to figure out just whatinformationis stored on your computer now: Is it possible that a stealth virushas hidden pornography or bomb making instructions? Lenkey also speakson how to detect hackers and how to protect sensitive or confidentialfiles.Other topics on the agenda are forensic techniques for data recovery,laws concerning computer evidence, and Internet security.Top Of PageCorporate AngelsThe New Jersey Chapter of the National Association ofIndustrialand Office Properties (NJ-NAIOP) has made a contribution of $10,575to the National NAIOP Disaster Relief Fund, which was establishedto support humanitarian causes that will benefit those affected bythe events of September 11. The national fund has collected $151,200to date.The American Cancer Society received a $4,000 donationfrom Stout’s Charter Service, which raised the money duringits annual golf outing. The money will help fund research efforts,education, prevention, treatment, and programs for cancer patientsand their families in Mercer County.Bristol-Myers Squibb has been honored by the AmericanHeart Association for taking steps toward strengthening theassociation’s”chain of survival” to improve the survival rate from suddencardiac arrest.Steps in the chain of survival include knowing the warning signs ofsudden cardiac arrest and heart attack, calling 9-1-1 immediately,giving early CPR, and restarting the heart through earlydefibrillation.Bristol-Myers won the award for installing 92 automated externaldefibrillators(AEDs) in its buildings throughout New Jersey. The company’sfacilitieswith defibrillators include those in Plainsboro, Lawrenceville, NorthBrunswick, West Windsor, and Somerset. In addition to equipping itsown workplaces with defibrillators, Bristol-Myers has donated 29 AEDsto area police and fire departments.As part of a training initiative sponsored by the W. K. KelloggFoundation, Mercer County Community College is offering a seriesof free courses to help food service employers enhance the skillsof their workforce. The programs aims to improve customer serviceand employee skills, and lay the foundation for uniform sanitationstandards throughout the region. For more information, call Doug Feeat 609-586-4800, ext. 3447.The Fenwick Group , franchisee for Panera Bread in NewJersey, donated $13,745 to the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund.The fund assists families of employees of Windows on the World andneighboring restaurants who perished in the World Trade Center attack.Panera’s “Operation Dough-Nation” raises donations throughcollection boxes at cash registers in its restaurants.Law firm Archer & Greiner participated in theAdopt-a-FamilyProgram sponsored by Catholic Charities. This national programprovidesindividuals and families in need with gifts, clothing, and food.Leadingthe effort in Archer & Greiner’s 700 Alexander Park office was RoseMarie DelaPlain, the office manager.RE/MAX of New Jersey associates donated $221,000 toChildren’sMiracle Network. This was a 36 percent increase over the amountcontributedlast year. The money will benefit the Children’s Hospital ofPhiladelphia.The cornerstone of RE/MAX Greater Princeton’s fundraising is theMiracleHome Program, under which associates pledge to donate a specifiedamount of money to the Children’s Miracle Network for each closedsales transaction.Members of Gold’s Gym , which is located at 7 DeerparkDrive, between Raymond Road and Route 1, have raised $3,000 for theTodd M. Beamer Foundation. The foundation is providing immediate andlong-term assistance to the 22 children who lost a parent or parentson Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11. Theassistanceis offered primarily in the areas of health insurance, mental healthsupport services, and financial planning.Top Of PageSponsors NeededBig Brothers Big Sisters of Mercer County seeks sponsorsfor its upcoming “Bowl for Kids’ Sake” event. Lanesponsorshipsare available for $150 for the first lane, and $100 for eachadditionallane. Underwriting opportunities range from $300 for decorationsthrough$2,000 for T-shirts and bowling towels. Companies willing to helpout can contact Terry Evanko, coordinator of special events, at609-656-1000.Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
