Team photos in your tabs

"Anyways, the ad staff calls me into a meeting this morning to talk about things and they about have a fit when I say I'm not running 12 team photos in the tab. What?!?! How could you?!?! It's what we've always done?!?!? The parents will be so upset?!?!

I try to explain that this isn't just for mom and dad but for our whole reading audience. But to no avail. The higher-ups deem that team photos need to be in the tab. Argg. I guess it's nice to have a record of every team for every year but it makes for a boring section when those hog up all the space... Anyone else have similar issues?"

I definitely feel your pain...we just had this minor "spat" with our editor for our football tab...the three of us wanted to change it up and not run the team photos but we got a similar feedback you did on the whole parents wanting the team shot thing...of course, if anyone's seen my postings on the youth stories thread then you know what we deal with at my paper.

 

so, you take orders from ad staff and do photographers' work? damn dude, damn.

 

had that fight many years ago...

the best compromise was that the ad department sold the spots and had their photogs go out and shoot it. best decision ever. and our ad people were really awful and once we told them to sell it, they had no trouble doing so. which was a minor miracle, or just how much people were willing to buy the team photo ad

 

What you should do then is run mugs of all the players with little bio info with it. Would be better than a team photo by far.

 

When I first got to my shop, the sports section used to run team photos for every team preview. I switched to running team photos of championship teams, at the conference level. At first some coaches and parents didn't like it, and it was really a compromize on my part to do even that. But teams that win now, will remark about getting their team picture in the paper. It's almost like a trophy itself.

 

i run team photos right along with people handing over giant checks while shaking hands.

 

We only have a football tab, but we do run team photos -- as part of the ads. The ad department usually incorporates into some sort of full page ad, with a bunch of small ads around the team photo. We do not, and would never, run it in the news hole.
Since we're already out taking mugs, though, we will shoot the team photo to help out. It's nothing extra for us or the teams, saves the ad department some time and money, and seems to keep everybody happy.

 

Look at me!!!!!!!!!!! I'm generous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :

 

look at me. i'm on a team.

some thing, only different.

 

When I was sports editor at a small daily year ago, the ad department simply sold a tab page for every school. The page included the team picture and was surrounded by block ads. Since it obviously wasn't editorial content, I didn't have a problem with it and all the parents were happy.

 

was that 1982?

 

What you say is true.