Generating revenue from advertising is one the major obstacles that African newspapers face in making their newspapers a financial success. However, motivating advertisers to buy ad space is a global challenge that all newspapers must contend with. At one of the sessions of the World Newspaper Congress, participants heard from three major advertising agencies on what impedes and encourages - a profitable relationship between potential advertisers, newspapers and their readers.

What Business Are You In?
Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi

In a presentation designed to provoke and inspire, Roberts began with the provocations: Newspapers know everything about their business, but seem to know little or even care little about news consumers. Newspapers are still declaring what is news, while consumers who ultimately fund the business - define news on their terms. Newspapers want to survive long term, but by definition and practice - are pathologically focussed on the short term.

Roberts then turned to the inspiration. He is the creator of a concept he calls "lovemarks" - products, people, companies or industries to which consumers respond with intense passion and loyalty. Mr Roberts said newspapers must become lovemarks.

"What do you stand for in the hearts and minds of your news consumers? Because believe it, this is all that counts now, he said.

Here are some of his ideas:

"Mystery is created through great storytelling, by tapping into dreams, by being emotional, by being symbolic and by threading past, present and future together."

"Newspapers need to define their screen presence, and not just by putting everything up on the web. You should have your own TV shows. You’re good looking people - mostly! Get the editor reading her editorial. Get the journalists around a bar setting the world to rights. Newspapers have fantastic intellectual and brand properties so give them multiple screen properties. Consumers will love you. Advertisers will love you for it."

"As I told several US intelligence agencies earlier this year when I was invited to address them about how to connect emotionally, reflecting the worse parts of life leaves you with low positive equity. I said redefine the mission from ’the war on terror’ to ’a fight for a better world.’ Move into an emotionally positive and inclusive space, where people can see they have a contribution to make and they’ll love you forever. This doesn’t mean you ignore the bad stuff. It does mean you make it part of a powerful story that leads us all to a better place."

The power of newspapers
Ryuichi Mori, Managing Director and Board Member, Dentsu Inc., Japan

When the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu launched a massive ad campaign to promote the basketball comic "Slam Dunk," it put newspapers right at the heart of the campaign. But that doesn’t mean Dentsu believes that newspapers are superior to other media. "In the Slam Dunk case, if we were seeking target-reach effectively, newspaper ads would have never been planned. No optimizer will say, newspaper is the key," said Mori.

So why did they use newspapers so prominently?

"Newspapers have strong power to present a sincere message, it can create a powerful buzz, and it is a most effective medium to drive an audience to a web site," said Mori. The newspaper was part of a larger campaign, using a web site and real events -- a campaign which Dentsu calls "media neutral."

"In this approach, every contact point that lies between the brands and target audience will be the object for the planning," he said. "Slam Dunk" is a legendary basketball comic that was serialized from 1990 to 1996. Eight years after the serial ended, readership is still growing -- exceeding 100 million. The newspaper ad campaign was designed to be a thank-you letter from the comic’s artist to his fans."

The goal -- which was achieved -- was to use the advertisement to drive people to a web site that created a "virtual", interactive re-creation of the comic’s universe, and then to use the web site to drive the audience to real events set in high school gyms -- venues chosen because the comic is also set in a high school gym.

"The website received hundreds of thousands of hits almost immediately," said Mori. "And the strong and positive response to the website promoted the execution of the real event. The newspaper’s power in this case is important for all of us," he said.

Focusing on the Internet
Tim Ellis, Global Advertising Director, Volvo, Sweden

Volvo is not interested in telling everyone about their automobiles just their target group. This single strategic priority has a profound effect on the way the company advertises.

"I believe I was invited here today because of all the work and focus we’ve put on the internet," said Ellis. "And it is true, we’ve done a lot of work on the internet. But what is more true is that we’ve had a fundamental shift in the way we use interactive media and traditional media, and how they connect together." He said this means a better balance between mass and one-to-one communications, delivering highly innovative and highly targeted launches, further integrating marketing and public relations, and focusing on and rewarding loyal customers.

In this mix, mass media is a start -- but the company is more interested in "mass customerization pull," more interested in engaging audiences rather than "interrupting" them with advertising. "We want to build communities -- persuade people to talk to each other about Volvo and spread the word.", said Ellis.

He illustrated the approach with a campaign that blurred the lines between reality, fact, fiction and entertainment. The campaign created a seemingly genuine "documentary" about a small Swedish village where 32 people mysteriously bought a Volvo S40 on the same day. A complete fiction -- but one that connects with consumers.

To publicise the mystery, Volvo made unorthodox use of traditional channels -- front page teasers and announcements in major newspapers to encourage viewing of the "mockumentary", 30-second trailers on main TV stations, and even placing the eight-minute film in the programming schedule of mystery movie cable channels.

The campaign also made use of digital -- TV-based, mobile-based, and web-based, to encourage the viewer to click on the web site to see the full documentary. "We try to drive people into our website with all our media," he said.

This is an example of a "engagement" model for advertising, as opposed to the more traditional "interruption" model, he said.