Print Rules!

By Sherri Collins

Editor, Pet Product News International

As a long-time magazine editor, I pay close attention to advertising in any print variety—magazines, newspapers, journals, etc. It’s a “hazard” of the trade; I want to know what’s out there and whether or not my publication could benefit from a particular approach.

However, I have frequently wondered if people “not in the business” bother to really look at ads (and not just glance over them). It stands to reason that enough people are doing so; otherwise, advertising wouldn’t have reached its 305th anniversary this year in the U.S. The first print ad appeared in 1704 in Boston News-Letter and after Ben Franklin began expanding the concept of advertising with his Pennsylvania Gazette in the mid 1700s, the medium took off and never once looked back for the next three centuries.

Advertising—and its siblings Branding and Marketing—are so pervasive now you can’t turn around without witnessing it in some. Yet, these days there are so many reports proclaiming doom and gloom for advertising, I started to doubt its ability to survive—at least in its current print forms.

You, therefore, can imagine my relief when I received a research report summary that stated that advertising in general, and print ads in particular, were still as effective during this recession as they were before it began. According to studies conducted by Readex Research in 2004 and 2008, there were no significant changes in the average percentage of readers who actually saw and read full-page, full-color ads in print publications. In 2004, 69 percent reported they saw ads and in 2008, 67 percent did—statistically a very insignificant variance. The same applies to the variance in the number who read ads, 24 percent in 2004 and 25 percent in 2008.

Print advertising still works! Deep down, I knew this, even though the doubts hovered at the surface. I subscribe to myriad publications as well as pick up many old favorites and new discoveries at the newsstand. My old standbys wouldn’t still exist nor would new and existing magazines constantly appear if print advertising were becoming passé. Yes, you’re reading this via the Internet, but I wouldn’t be here without the print edition.

I probably surf and use the web more than most my age (which I’m not telling), but I also love hardcopy—and I think (and hope) must of you do, too. I’ll stand firm in proclaiming its continued existence in this century and possibly beyond. Why should Ben Franklin have had all the fun?

Happy reading.

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