The Gary Halbert Letter

Come closer. Listen: Here is how to "think" about your newspaper ads. Think about what could be the best possible piece of luck you could have. Think about a reporter who heard a rumor about your product or service and decided to check it out. And then, he fell in love with it. In fact, he loved it so much, he went back to his typewriter and wrote a full-page rave article about what you are selling.

Wouldn't that be nice? Sure would. However, it is also unlikely such a thing will happen. So...

You write the rave "article." Just like a reporter would. And, at the end of the article, you perform a "public service" for your readers by telling them where and how to order. But, after all this, don't screw up by having your "article" typeset to look like an ad.

No. No. Noooo. It should be typeset to look like the "article" it is. You know, ad agencies just love to quote studies that prove how much people love to read advertising.

Editorial material (or material that appears to be editorial) gets 500% more readership than material that is obviously advertising.

Now, a cunningly careful, highly scientific examination of daily newspapers will yield yet another useful bit of data. Namely...

Hmn? So what's the big deal about that? This: It is not necessary to unfold a newspaper to separate one section from another. And, what this means, of course, is that in the process of separating a newspaper by sections, a person may only have to glance at either the top half or the bottom half of the front or back page of each section.

Now, if it's the top half at which he glances, that's fine! That's where your headline is. And we all know what a headline is, don't we? A headline, of course, is...

But wait. What if our reader, while separating his paper into sections, is doing it in such a way so he only has to glance at the bottom half of each section? Where there is no headline? No ad for our ad?

Gadzooks. This is no good. No good. No good. So, what we've got to do here is make sure the bottom half of our ad has several subheads (little ads for our ad) interspersed between paragraphs and printed in bold type.

What else? Oh yeah, if you really want to make newspapers work, you've also got to buy them right! This is a real art and, trust me, there aren't any ad agencies (even the big ones) who have the faintest idea of how to do it.

Here's a story about someone who does know how. Once upon a time, I owned a publishing company with offices in North Canton, Ohio and also at 535 Madison Avenue, right in the heart of the Big Apple. Well, at that time, I was buying a truly enormous amount of newspaper space. In fact, you probably wouldn't believe just how much. So anyway, back then, one of the guys who worked for my company hired a new gal to do some secretarial work for him. Her name was Nancy Jones and, over a period of time, she got into buying media for us. Soon, she became better at buying space than any of my executives and, for sure, far better than me. The years have rolled by. My publishing company was sold many moons ago but Nancy, on her own, has continued to sharpen her space-buying skills. And, I'll tell you this:

When It Comes To Buying
Space In Daily Newspapers,
Nancy Jones Is The Best
On The Planet!

Proof: Here is a slightly edited and bowdlerized version of a letter Nancy wrote (I wish I could figure out some way to steal the credit and claim I wrote it) to a large number of newspapers:

Dear Advertising Director,

Over the past several years, our client, the XYZ Company, has repeatedly expressed an interest in having his advertisements published in your newspaper.

However, our agency has compared your open rate with that of newspapers where the advertisement has already been published and we have found it necessary to advise the client against including your newspaper in his advertising schedules. This decision was based mainly on the fact the client's advertisement has been profitable only in those newspapers where a stand-by or remnant rate has been offered

As you know, stand-by simply means a newspaper agrees to publish an advertisement whenever or wherever space becomes available and offers to reduce the open line rate to the advertiser for "standing by." Space may become available due to last minute cancellations of scheduled advertisements or because of production difficulties. Whatever the reason, the newspaper will generally insert a house ad or a public service ad to fill the hole in the newspaper. Therefore, more often than not, the newspaper receives no revenue for the use of this space.

Thus, stand-by advertising has become advantageous for both the newspaper and the advertiser. The newspaper has the opportunity to make money on space it might otherwise have to give away. The advertiser is able to use a publication it could not use at the open rate.

More and more newspapers are becoming involved in stand-by advertising. Enclosed is a current list of newspapers offering a stand-by program and the discounts they allow. We are aware your newspaper has not offered a stand-by rate in the past but we would like very much for you to consider this possibility now. We are enclosing an insertion order for a full page, a mechanical and a check for the new amount of the order. The net amount has been computed at the open rate discounted by 50% for stand-by, normal for the industry, and 15% for the standard agency discount.

If you accept our offer, simply hold the material until space becomes available. If and when the opportunity presents itself, run the ad, cash the check and send us a tear sheet. If you do not wish to participate at this time, simply return the check to the agency and destroy the mechanical.

This offer expires in 15 days. Please feel free to call if you have any questions about the offer or our client.

Sincerely,

Nancy Jones

72% Of The Papers Responded
On A Favorable Basis And Nancy Jones
Can Now Buy More Newspapers At
A More Favorable Rate Than Any
"Sophisticated" Media Buyer
Working In Any Ad Agency
Anywhere In The U.S.!

Here's a list of just ten papers showing the card rate (the rate ad agencies get) and the "stand-by" rate Nancy gets: