Australian Newsagency Blog

A bit late recordding this.  The Age two days ago had an ad stuck right over the crest on the masthead of the newspaper.  As I have blogged previously - remove the ccrest and sell the space on the page if it means that little to you.

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The masthead of the Sydney Sun Herald newspaper today is partially obscured by another of the stuck on ads which you need to peel off if you want to see the editorial content underneath.  At the Sydney newsstand where I purchased my copy this afternoon I saw four ads littering the floor. The same stuck […]

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The Age today has another ad stuck on the masthead.  While it obviously generates revenue for them it creates trash for retailers and frustration for some customers.  They should remove their coat of arms and sell the saved space.

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The Sunday Age today promotes TWO GREAT MAGAZINES on the front page of the newspaper.  The promotion is wasted, however, by the ad for wotif which has been stuck over the word magazines.  Why promote two great magazines when you know it is going to be covered up?  The ad people will say that the […]

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The crest on the masthead of The Age newspaper was covered again today with another ad.  Yes it is advertising.  So why have a crest at all if you are just going to cover it up with commercial noise?  Nothing will change.  This post is just for the record.

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God and my right, that is how Dieu et mon droit on the crest of The Age translates according to Wikipedia.  On today’s newspaper, is covered by an ad for iSELECT.  On some copies, the date is also covered.

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The AGE had a brilliant wrap-around yesterday, Saturday, covering the ascention of Julia Gillard to the prime ministership.  They ruinied with an ad for HBA stuck right over the word AGE on the masthead.  Why print the masthead at all, run a strip of ads instead.

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The copy of the Sydney Morning Herald I picked up in Sydney today has an ad for GIO stuck over the word Sydney in the masthead.  What do the brand experts think about this?  What do newspaper journalists and editors think about this?  Or is the masthead worth that little that it is okay to […]

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The Subaru ad stuck on the front page of The Age newspaper yesterday damaged the product in my view.  One some copies, the work Age was almost covered.  On other copies the ad covered promotion of the coverage of the World Cup in the newspaper.
Why a newspaper publisher would be happy to be paid to […]

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Half of the front page of The Age newspaper is covered-up today with an ad for milk. People who buy the newspaper based on the lead story will need to fold back the milk ad to see what the lead story is. If people don’t buy the newspaper based on the lead story […]

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The money people at The Age put their needs ahead of editorial with today’s newspaper carrying a subscription ad stuck over content above the masthead pointing to an AFL article.  If they are going to cover it up why have the pointer to the AFL article on the front page in the first place?  It […]

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Thanks to the ad for GIO on the front cover of the Sydney Morning Herald today, the newspaper masthead reads (on many copies) as The Sydnning Herald.    Not only does the ad cover part of the masthead, it also covers editorial content promoting a story.  I like the SMH, it’s a good newspaper.  It is […]

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It is interesting reading about the debate at the Los Angeles Times about the placement of an ad covering the front page of the newspaper in the context of regular ad placement on and over the front page here in Australia by Fairfax newspapers.  There is plenty of coverage by the LA Times move.  See […]

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The Age newspaper today covered half the front page with a house ad.  This was obviously deemed more important to the company to the newspaper than the lead story of the day to the readers.  Pity.

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The Age today has an ad for their AFL tipping competition half covering the front page of the newspaper and blocking a view of a good report on public transport issues in Victoria.  While the tipping competition may sell newspapers, it is hardly a good advertisement for the news credentials of The Age.

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The Age had an excellent special liftout today with safety tips for young drivers.  Part of the promotional material for this special report on the front page of the newspaper was covered up this morning by another post-it type note - this time for ING Direct.  What is the point of a masthead or front […]

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Half of the front page of The Age newspaper is covered with a wrap-around ad today for ING. While advertisers may like this, newspaper readers don’t. Editorial staff must be frustrated at their treatment by the publisher. What’s more important, the story or the ad? The publisher says the ad. […]

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The masthead of The Age newspaper was partially obscured again yesterday by a post-it type ad stuck on promoting newspaper home delivery. The ad also partially obscured promotion of their coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Their approach to ads covering editorial and branding content on the front page is interesting in […]

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The folks at The Age have deemed the HSBC Hot Summer sale to be more important than the lead news story in the newspaper today. Browsers are expected to pick up the newspaper based on the ad and not the lead story.
I feel for the editorial team who put in the hours on the […]

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The Age newspaper has permitted half of today’s front page to be cobvered with another advertisement.  This time from Mastercard.  It looks ridiculous.  You have no idea about the lead story of the day.  The grey block looks like a print error.  Indeed, that is what one customer thought.  Isn’t the Age the Newspaper of […]

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The Age newspaper today has another ad covering half the front page - this time for Deakin University.  While not causing litter or covering the newspaper masthead like the post-it type ads The Age runs, this ad covers half the news on the from page.  What does this say about the value of the news […]

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The Age masthead is partially covered again today, this time with an ad for Emirates.  I’ll continue to record this damaging of a proud newspaper brand because one day, the record of brand disrespect leading to (maybe) destruction will be useful.

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I bought The Age yesterday from a 7-Eleven out of necessity.  An ad for the ANZ bank was stuck on the masthead.  I checked other copies and they were the same.   Out at one of my newsagencies later in the day I noticed that none of the mastheads were covered by the ads.  Maybe […]

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The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers are covered today with a translucent paper on which is printed an ad for the new Toyota Prado.  Customers are confused when they see the newspaper, thinking they have the wrong product - I witnessed this several times.  While an advertiser may like this disruption, the consumer […]

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The Age newspaper has another ad stuck over editorial conteent on the front page today.  On most copies I have seen, the ad is stuck over a photo relating to an AFL story.  So much for the front page being useful in driving over the counter sales.

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