Brands which are advertised in newspapers’ hard news sections are not damaged in any way and there is no evidence that it has a negative impact on consumer response, Denise Turner, insight director with NewsWorks UK, has said. Speaking at a NewsBrands Ireland breakfast conference, Turner said she was referring to crime, politics and terrorism press coverage.
Turner underlined the ability of both print and digital news brands to drive widespread business effects as part of a multi-media campaign, referencing research NewsWorks carried out with effectiveness expert Peter Field using data from the IPA databank.
Mitchell O’Gorman, managing director, Kantar Media, used the latest TGI data to show the reach of news brands and the quality of the audience they deliver, showing that news brands print and digital content now reaches three out of four Irish adults and heavy media consumers are likely to pay more attention to print ads over all other ads.
Other speakers included NewsBrands Ireland chairman Vincent Crowley, media expert Peter McPartlin, who chaired the Power of Planning judging panel and Áine Smyth, brand manager, Audi Ireland. Smyth showed how Audi have used print and digital news brands to great effect to stand out from other car ads and how they created bespoke press content.
The NewsBrands event also saw the fifth annual agency Power of Planning competition.
The competition saw teams of young planners from 13 agencies take part in a day-long event to devise strategies to showcase the effectiveness of the various NewsBrands Ireland print and online platforms. The teams were briefed and representatives from NewsBrands Ireland ad departments were on hand to provide product information and answer questions.
At the end of the day, each team was then given five minutes to present to the three judges presiding over the entries – McPartlin, O’Gorman and Turner. The various agency teams were judged on the basis of five criteria, namely interpretation of the brief, strategic thinking, creative use of the medium, use of budget and the presentation of the team’s proposals.
A team of junior planners from Core’s Spark Foundry won the day with a strategy devised by Francois Vieu, Rachel McCloskey, Shauna Barry and Victoria Price. Working with a budget of €500,000, they devised a plan for the fictitious fashion brand, Court Your Hot, using print and digital news brands across native content, press formats, podcasts and video.
A team from Mindshare was highly commended by the judges and awarded a runner-up prize.
