20 Under 40 - 1998 Profile: Andrew B. Kniceley

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 1998

 As a football player for Morehead State University in Kentucky, Andrew B. Kniceley learned to appreciate a good game plan.
Teamed with Publisher Terry L. Horne at The Clarksburg (W.Va.) Exponent (morning, circulation 6,356) and Clarksburg Telegram (evening, 12,074), Assistant Publisher Kniceley's current game plan targets recapturing market share from broadcast and print competitors by rewarding advertisers who run the same size ad five or more days a week.
"Newspapers have priced themselves out of the market," says Kniceley, a newspaper brat whose father was production director for Charleston Newspapers in West Virginia. "Think back to the 1960s and '70s. Advertisers ran big ads several times a week; frequency delivered customers. As newspapers raised rates, advertisers cut back and switched to other media."
Kniceley returned to his West Virginia roots in 1997 to pump up ad volume at the independently owned Clarksburg newspapers. He targets categories such as automobiles by offering a 50 percent rate discount for a five-day buy. He reclaimed grocery-insert business from a shopper by offering them better distribution at a lower rate, combined with run-of-paper ads.
Advertisers benefit from improved color, thanks to the company's new Goss Urbanite. It replaced a 1918 Goss letterpress that the manufacturer says was the oldest operating letterpress in the United States and second-oldest in the world.
Proof that the game plan works lies in the numbers: Advertising revenue grew 16 percent from 1996 to 1997 and was up 28 percent by Sept. 30, 1998, compared with the same period in 1997.
Horne says the increased ad revenue has enabled the company to invest in improving the editorial product and growing circulation.
While he spends most days in meetings, Kniceley doesn't miss a chance to connect with customers. "I still get a rush out of making a deal."
Once a player...

Education: 1984, bachelor of business administration, Morehead State University, Ky.
Career: 1984-91, advertising account executive, co-op advertising manager, marketing manager, Charleston Newspapers, W. Va.; 1991-94, advertising director, News Journal, Mansfield, Ohio; 1994-95, key accounts manager, vice president of business development, Thomson Newspapers' Central Ohio Strategic Marketing Group, Mansfield, Ohio; 1995-97, publisher, The Daily Courier, Connellsville, Pa; 1997-present, assistant publisher and director of sales and marketing, Clarksburg Publishing Co., Clarksburg, W. Va.
Personal: Age, 36. Born, Nitro, W. Va.; divorced, two sons, one daughter.
Diversions: Spending time with his kids, golf.
Connections: Clarksburg Publishing Co., Box 2000, Clarksburg, W. Va. 26302-2000. E-mail, webmaster@cpubco.com; phone, (304) 626-1409; fax, (304) 622-3629.