Let's Do Something about Retail Advertising before It's Too Late

Beginning of article

THIS SCENARIO WAS expressed to Newspaper Advertising Bureau management in late 1985.

. . . to Newspaper Association of America management in 1991.

. . . to publishers and newspaper and advertising executives alike, including a former Ad Bureau chairman of the board.

Not a single individual disagreed, with the position as stated. Nevertheless, as retail revenue continues to be suspect, the newspaper industry has chosen to remain status quo on the subject.

The NAB/NAA knowingly chose to ignore the situation as though the problem did not exist and has all but retreated into other avenues of business.

One seriously must inquire, "Has the newspaper industry given up the fight for retail advertising dollars and consciously surrendered revenue to the competition?"

Because retail advertising linage is so critical to every newspaper, it is hard to understand the lack of newspaper industry effort and support to maintain and reclaim lost revenue.

It is this writer's sincere belief that the majority of newspaper management decision makers do not completely comprehend the seriousness of the situation and the negative effects on future revenue.

Nor do I believe that they fully understand the elements that have placed them in their current dilemma. And that is what this article is all about.

It's first necessary to journey back about 32 years to begin to understand today's "newspaper advertising illiteracy" position and how the past relates to this current dilemma.

In 1961, at the 50th anniversary of the National Retail Merchants Association, Dr. Charles Edwards Jr., dean of the School of Retailing, New …