ViewPoint
Volume 3 | Number 7 | July 2007

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Verified Would Like to Welcome...

OC Post
Freedom Orange County Information
Santa Ana, CA

OC Post is a Monday through Saturday print publication geared towards the over-extended, urban professional mom or family businessman. With a heavy emphasis on Orange County news, it provides a daily report for Orange County readers in an easy-to-read format that is well organized and with a clear hierarchy of content. The size of the OC Post is tabloid and designed to be easy and portable. The daily product focuses on news, while the Saturday product contains more entertainment-based content, including movie listings and "go and do" information. Each day OC Post contains an inserted classified section as well as general ROP inserts.

Fronteras
Newspaper Agency Corporation
West Valley City, UT

Fronteras, a Hispanic language weekly publication, is distributed by Newspaper Agency Corporation each Thursday to greater Salt Lake City with targeted locations also in Utah County, Davis County, Weber County, and Tooele County. Distribution locations include street boxes in high traffic commerce areas, retail businesses with emphasis on Hispanic population customers, restaurants, clubs and bars, coffee shops, and fast food outlets.

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If This Is Thursday I Must Be In...?

by Alan Levy, Vice President, Marketing and Sales, VAC

Three months in the industry and seven conventions attended. Talk about baptism by fire! I've learned a lot, but I'm not exactly sure where I learned what.

Upon joining the Verified team, I was told that this is convention "season." Armed with lots of questions, I was on my way. Usually, my first question of the morning being "Where am I?"

The answers ranged from the AAPS (Association of Alternative Postal Systems) in Las Vegas to the CRMA (City and Regional Magazine Association) in Denver to the CM (Circulation Management) conference in New York to the AAN (Association of Alternative Newsweeklies) in Portland, Oregon, to the FDN (Free Daily Newspapers) in St. Petersburg, Florida, to the AABP (Alliance of Area of Business Publications) back in Denver to the CNPA (California Newspaper Publishers Association) in San Francisco (where I finally got to sleep in my own bed).

Every stop along the way was filled with interesting, passionate, intelligent and successful business people. I never realized that our industry is so broad and diversified and that there is literally a publication for everyone. I met clients, prospects, vendors, publishers, editors, writers, circulation managers, advertisers, owners, founders, and competitors. Thanks to one and all for being friendly and willing to help me learn and understand.

It is exciting to look to the future and the opportunity that this industry brings. I look forward to meeting as many clients and prospects as possible, to learn about your successes and challenges, and to see how we can help you to grow your businesses by providing top-notch business tools along with outstanding personalized and customized service.

I am always available via cell at 415-608-5228. Please call anytime. I look forward to talking to you.

Alan Levy
VP of Marketing and Sales
Verified Audit Circulation

Food Ads Aimed at Children Under Pressure

The food industry is coming under pressure from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the medical community, government agencies, and other child advocacy groups to restrict their food advertising to kids.

In order to forestall a lawsuit by CSPI and the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, Kellogg, Co. has agreed to severely limit food advertising to kids under age 12. Kellogg said it would advertise only foods that meet particular health guidelines in any medium that gets more than 50% of its audience from kids under age 12 and revamp their web presence by, "limiting depictions of foods that don't meet our nutrient criteria in interactive activities like games, downloads, and wallpaper."

The new criteria will limit advertising to food that has no more than 200 calories per serving, no more than zero grams of trans fat, and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat. There are also limits on sugar and sodium. Mainstays like Rice Krispies (too much sodium), Froot Loops (too much sugar) and Pop Tarts (sugar again) will be affected.

The CSPI, in its Guidelines for Responsible Food Marketing to Children, points out that, over the last 20 years, the rates for obesity doubled for children and tripled for teens.

Michael Jacobson, head of the CSPI, is optimistic about Kellogg's response. "We hope other companies are going to be adopting guidelines that are at least as healthy as Kellogg," says Jacobson.

According to TNS Media Intelligence's Jon Swallen, Senior VP of Research, it's still too early to tell how regulatory pressures surrounding obesity and food marketing might impact total ad spending and the mix of media. Swallen says the changes could be as profound as with DTC prescription drugs.

Kellogg President and CEO, David Mackay, said that 27% of Kellogg's ad spending in the U.S. is currently directed to children under age 12. According to Advertising Age estimates, Kellogg spent $765.1 million on total marketing in 2006, so a potential $206 million could be affected. If viewed in strictly measured-media terms, the total affected would be $134 million, as based on TNS Media Intelligence figures. Kellogg's statement cited TV, print, radio, and Internet ads as well as "website activities directed to children, promotions/premiums, product placement, and in-school marketing."

The impact of Kellogg's regulations is expected to reverberate throughout the industry.

"[The] announcement by the Kellogg Company has the potential to be a defining moment in our nation's fight against childhood obesity," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who has repeatedly criticized food advertising to kids. "I hope that other food companies follow suit."

In an April 16 letter to several Federal Communications Commission commissioners, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, said the FCC would need to play a more active role in limiting food advertising on kids' shows if marketers don't act voluntarily.

"There is no question that the commission has both the affirmative obligation and the statutory authority to examine whether placing limitations on certain food advertising to children would further the public interest," he wrote. "If a 'core' educational program tells children to eat healthy foods and exercise, but the advertisements aired during the program encourage them to eat Twinkies and Fruit Loops, the ads have the potential to undercut the educational and informational value of the program."

Congress Calls for Women's Mags to Stop Tobacco Ads

Some 41 members of congress, led by Rep. Lois Capps, D-California, have asked editors of 11 top women's magazines to stop running "misleading advertising" from tobacco companies.

Capps, a member of the Health Subcommittee, added in a statement that "as a nurse, a mother and a grandmother, I am very concerned about popular women's magazines accepting the advertising dollars of cigarette manufacturers and turning a blind eye towards the deadly effect these cigarettes have on women." Capps said it was ironic that tobacco ads sometimes appear in the same pages as articles on women's health.

Print ads for tobacco are banned in a number of countries, including throughout Europe, but legal in the United States. Tobacco advertising was banned from radio and TV long ago, and more recently from billboards.

The R.J. Reynolds brand Camel No. 9 ads was singled out in particular. Camel No. 9 comes in a glossy black box with a border of teal or pink and is usually advertised on heavy, shiny paper with images of roses. Anti-smoking groups allege the product is designed to lure young women to take up smoking.

The Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, issued a report that recommended that print ads be restricted to black and white text only and include no images.
Conde Nast, which publishes four of the 11 targeted magazines—Vogue, Glamour, Lucky, and W—says it allows the individual magazines to chose whether or not to accept tobacco ads. Currently, a number of magazines refuse to accept tobacco ads, including Self, Men's Health, and Money, according to the Tobacco-Free Periodicals Project.

In a press release from the National Women's Law Center, Judy Waxman, VP for Health and Reproductive Rights, said, "We applaud Congress for calling on women's fashion magazines to stop accepting ads that blatantly target women and young girls. These magazines, which define glamour and set styles for millions of young women, have played a positive role in educating their readers about health-related issues. It is therefore all the more unacceptable that they continue to accept advertising for a deadly product that is the largest cause of preventable death among American women."

Events Calendar

Asian American Journalists Association
August 1 – 4, 2007
Hyatt Regency Miami, Miami, FL
www.aaja.org

American Society of Business Publications Editors Azbee Awards of Excellence Banquet
August 2, 2007
Roosevelt Hotel, New York, NY
www.asbpe.org

West Virginia Press Association Convention
August 2 – 4, 2007
The Clarion, Shepherdstown, WV
www.wvpress.org

National Association of Black Journalists 32nd Convention & Career Fair
August 8 – 12, 2007
Bally's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
www.nabj.org

AdMonsters Publisher Forum XVII
August 19 – 22, 2007
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, Santa Fe, NM
www.admonsters.org

Classified Advertising Conference
August 23 – 24, 2007
The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, FL
www.flpress.com

International Newspaper Marketing Association and ASTEH InterMedia 2007 Roundtable on Strategic Marketing
August 26 – 29, 2007
Sonnenalp Resort of Vail, Vail, CO
www.inma.org

Western Classified Advertising Association 2007 Conference
September 16 – 19, 2007
Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, Newport Beach, CA
www.wcaa.info

If you have an event that you would like to announce, please send your information to e-newsletter@verifiedaudit.com.

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Black and White and Not Very Read

According to a recent Harris Poll, in a survey of adults in five European countries, Australia and the United States, readership of major daily newspapers today ranges from a low of 6% of adults in Great Britain and Italy to a high of 13% in Spain and Germany. The number one source for each country is TV network news. Looking five years into the future, the lowest percentage of adults who indicate that major daily newspapers will be their source for news and information is in Great Britain and Italy (4% each) while the highest percentage is among German adults (12%).

Online sites have become the number one source of news and information for the United States, France, Italy, and Spain and are tied for first for Australian adults. TV network news will still be first for adults in Great Britain and Germany.

Across the countries, frequency of newspaper regular readership (5 or more days a week) varies greatly:

• 48% of Spanish adults are regular readers
• 46% of Germans
• 39% of US adults are regular readers
• 35% of British adults
• 34% of Italian adults
• 33% of Australian adults
• 26% of French adults regularly read the paper

Lack of time is the number one reason for not reading the newspaper for adults in:

• United States (58%)
• France (57%)
• Germany (56%)
• Australia (66%)

For 54% of British and Spanish adults, the top reason for not reading the newspaper is that it is biased or has too narrow of a viewpoint in its reporting.

52% of Italian adults, 55% U.S. adults, 55% French adults and 49% of Australian adults say the top reason for not reading the newspaper is that it is easier to go online for news and information. The reports posits that this is something newspapers should be concerned with in moving towards the future.

Half or more of adults in Germany, Australia, France, US, and Spain access online news and information sites at least once a day. In Italy, this number jumps as three-quarters of adults. 28% of British adults access online news sites about once a week and one-third of British adults do not access online news sites with any regularity.

The majority of adults in all seven countries say it is important for newspapers to provide news and information about events in their region, country and the world, as well as to provide news they can use in their daily life and that is interesting to know.

In the United States eight in ten U.S. adults say an important role of newspapers is in providing information that is needed to know how to vote, which is by far the highest of all the countries.

Looking to the future, says the report, respondents say that the top thing newspapers and their associated online news sites could do to better represent the issues in their communities would be to:

• Ensure all points of views are represented.
• Provide more research and findings on key issues
• Raise the quality of writing and analysis

© 2007 MediaPost Communications.