Rogers Publishing and Transcontinental Media today announced the introduction of Pressexpress, a revamped ad-close schedule that will allow advertisers to submit creative up to two weeks prior to publication of the two companies’ monthly magazine titles.
Previous schedules forced advertisers to submit creative several weeks in advance.
According to Brian Segal, president and CEO of Rogers Publishing, Pressexpress will make magazine advertising a more attractive option for advertisers and media buyers.
“Both us and Transcontinental were of the view that we needed to reset the position of magazines within the minds of media buyers,” said Segal. “We think it helps reposition the industry in terms of being more urgent, more timely and more competitive with some of the other media cycles.
“My sense is that [advertisers] will see more opportunities to match merchandising strategy and marketing planning with advertising. If they know they have eight or 10 or 12 merchandising events or cycles that they’re working on for the year, but that [under the previous ad-close schedule] the creative might not be ready, they’ll now have the option to buy magazines where they may not have before.”
Francine Tremblay, senior vice-president, consumer magazines for Transcontinental Media, echoed Segal’s point, saying the new ad-close schedule would allow advertisers, agencies and buyers to make more informed decisions based on up-to-date editorial plans.
“Advertisers are always waiting to see what the latest thing is before making a final decision,” said Tremblay. “Final decisions are critical in our industry, and the more information you have, the best final decision you will make.”
Rogers plans to launch the Pressexpress schedule for the January 2010 issues of Chatelaine and Châtelaine, with the March issues of Today’s Parent, Flare, Glow, Pure and the French and English versions of LouLou to follow. Schedules for the company’s weekly and bi-weekly consumer magazines, such as Maclean’s, Hello! and Canadian Business, will not be affected as the already provide short lead times.
Transcontinental will launch Pressexpress with the January issues of Canadian Living and Coup de Pouce, with other titles to follow in March and April.
Transcontinental Printing handles printing duties for both Rogers’ and Transcontinental Media’s consumer titles.
Pressexpress follows on the heels of AdDirect, an online creative delivery portal introduced in August by Magazines Canada. AdDirect (https://addirect.sendmyad.com) streamlines the creative delivery process for magazine ads by automatically measuring digital ad files against specifications before passing them on to the intended publications.
Segal said Rogers and Transcontinental were proponents of the development of AdDirect, and also played a key role in the Print Measurement Bureau’s decision to release research on a biannual basis, beginning this month. PMB had previously released data every two years.
