Line between editorial and advertising

I tried to pitch that once. Really laid an egg.

 

Not sure which call from the ad rep I like better:
1. "Jane Doe, who you know now advertises with us, would make for a good story because..."
2. "I think Jane Doe would make a good story. She's got a new store in town, and she seems interested in doing some ads with us if..."

Neither call ever ends well. Our current ad manager understands the line between advertising and editorial, our first one absolutely didn't, nor does the PT rep we currently have. We do ribbon cutting pics and "Retail News" items where the ad reps take pics of business people in or in front of their business and have them submit brief information about their business. I don't even see the stuff until I'm proofing the pages.

 

I'm at a small enough place where every new business gets a story. Nothing wrong with that, since the story isn't tied to if they advertise. But we get plenty of "isn't this a good story idea" crap from the reps. It isn't a good story idea if you have to start out by saying that they are good advertisers.

 

We have a system at our shop where all ad requests go to me (I coordinate the business coverage). I weed through it all. The reps are not to take this stuff to the beat reporters - ever.

 

At one of my previous stops, I frequently would have to do a story on the new business in town.

What ended up being funny was when I would try to do a story on the business when they had their 'Going out of business' sign. The discussion with the brass was entertaining, to say the least.

 

Well, you can understand the concern. What if that business pulled its advertising?

 

A couple of times, that business was going kaput within a week or two (these were small locally-owned places). They weren't advertising anymore, or if they did, they sure as heck weren't going to pay their bills.

It was more the hypocrisy of having to be a sellout to profile the new business in town in the hopes they would advertise, but not to write a story about that place going kaput.