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Pre-prints by the billions.
That's what dailies, weeklies and other publications should become accustomed to in an age when targeted advertising delivered to specific demographic groups is not just the advertiser's wish but demand.
In 1997 expenditures for preprints exceeded run-of-paper advertising for the first time in history. Preprint spending topped ROP by $600 million. Representatives from the U.S. Postal Service and innovative newspapers in Texas, Iowa and Florida talked Wednesday about changes at their organizations that can help tap and expand the preprint business.
Houston Chronicle Publishing Co., said Steven Earles, packaging and distribution manager, has seen 5 percent growth in its Chron Direct program. Through December, the program, which sends poly-packaged inserts through United States Postal Service and its own delivery system, had served 1.3 million addresses with some 845 different versions of the Chronicle product. The newspaper distributed 947,503,241 pre-print pieces in 1998, he said. That grew from 900,000 addresses receiving 2.8 million inserts and 209 product versions in 1997, he said.
"The first thing you have to do is have a good, clear database," he said, describing a relationship with USPS in which the Chronicle and postal officials work out what's best for the customer.
And that assertion was backed up by Mary Wilhite, a senior sales representative for the USPS in Houston who works with the Chronicle to fashion the best delivery system and prices. She suggested that all newspapers tap into the USPS database, training and programs to find innovative ways to deliver products. She said 80 percent of the Chronicle's advertisers were also using direct mail. That makes the partnership between the paper and the post office a realistic choice.
Newspaper executives should avail themselves of postal expertise and get involved in the Postal Customer Council and National Postal Forums, she said.
"Communication -- I've got to tell you guys that is the key to getting what you need from us."
Roy Deaton of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, described an old organizational plan that has found new life at the innovative newspaper. Total Production Maintenance is a plan for teaming maintenance workers so they can tackle both routine and unexpected maintenance. A consolidated shop, special training and a plan for routine checkups has meant increased profits, fewer make-goods, credit and re-runs, and increased employee satisfaction, he said. Equally important, production employees are not called upon to perform maintenance, he said.
Jerry Price, Orlando Sentinel post-press manager, told those attending the Post-Press Segment's "Innovative Approaches" session that his company has reworked its transportation system by hiring an outside contractor at no capital expenditure, expanded storage areas and loading docks, and is updating distribution centers. That means the paper can press ahead with plans to boost its 5-edition daily to 220 planned zones from today's 132. That kind of thinking pushed the company's inserted pieces past the billion mark last year, he said.
--by Bob Sims