Australian Newsagency Blog

The ad for HBA stuck over the masthead of The Age newspaper this morning is an interesting placement given the Michael Jackson coverage.  The ad covers not only the crest of the newspaper but also the date.  This is poor treatment of an iconic Victorian brand.

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The front page of today’s Australian Financial Review in Sydney has an ad for Citibank stuck over a story about goings on in the Telstra boardroom.  Click on the image for a larger version of what this looks like.  Journalists, editors and those who respect newspapers have evry right to be angry at this treatment […]

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Retail outlets are important to newspaper publishers here in Australia.  It is disappointing to see Fairfax today trying to switch people from retail purchase to home delivery using an ad stuck on the front of The Age newspaper.  I’d prefer to see them invest in increasing retail sales like News Limited is doing with their […]

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The coat of arms on the masthead of The Age newspaper today is covered up with a stuck on ad featuring a mouse-like finger.  If the coat of arms is deemed by the advertising and accounting teams to be of little value why have it on the front of the newspaper every day?

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The masthead of THE AGE today is obscured by a post-it type ad promoting lamb for Mother’s Day stuck over the word AGE. While love a good lamb roast, I like to see brands like THE AGE treated professionally even more.
The Sydney Morning Herald masthead is covered in the same way by […]

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THE AGE newspaper was renamed THE GE on the front page this morning thanks to an ad for the home ideas show stuck over the masthead and part of the crest.  So much for respecting the brand.
For readers who are not reagular readers here, I have a ‘thing’ about the desecration of newspaper brands by […]

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I am grateful to a colleague newsagent for showing me that the latest issue of The Land has taken covering the front page of the newspaper to a new level.  The ad covering the bottom half of the front page covers editorial as well as advertising.  I’d expect Terry Miller Concrete Tanks, the advertiser covered-up, […]

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The Age has a post-it note type ad stuck over a teaser for a story on the young royaly inside today.  I don’t understand why they could not have replaced the story teaser with their ad.  On the ad itself, they are pitching 20 weekends of home delivery for $39.  I wish I could make […]

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While it is frustrating that the Telstra Next G ad covers half the front page of The Age newspaper today, I like that it does not interfere with the masthead. That said, the Telstra ad makes it difficult for people who buy the newspaper based on the lead story.  Who want’s to buy an ad?

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AMP has padi to cover part of the masthead of The Sunday Age today.  This is another example of the advertising epartment not respecting the brand.  Last week, The Age published a story which talked, in part, about the importance of mastheads.

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Among the many maxims in publishing folklore, few harbour as foreboding a warning as that about a newspaper’s masthead.
“Meddle with your masthead at your own peril” goes the dark threat.
This is how Graeme Johnstone opened his article, Evolution of a masthead in extra, the Quarterley newsletter for readers of The Age published at the […]

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The post-it type ad stuck over the masthead of The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper today is the worst damage I have seen done to a newspaper masthead in time I have been chronicling this activity here.
This desecration of their brand demonstrates how little value Fairfax places in what was once a great newspaper brand. […]

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Beyond the trashing of the mastehad of The Age newspaper today with another of their home delivery subscription offers is the frustration of this type of campaign for a retail newsagent.  They are prepared to give their home delivery customers a 50% discount yet their regular retail customers, who have a lower distribution cost, no […]

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The word Sydney in today’s Sydney Morning Herald masthead is covered up by an ad for Subaru. 
So much for respecting your brand.

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The Victorian State Government has paid to cover the masthead on The Age newspapoer today with an ad prepaid taxi fares.
Pity.

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Krispy Kreme paid to cover up the coat of arms on the masthead of The Age newspaper today in another example of how ad revenue is more important than your own brand.

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On some copies of The Age today the coat of arms was completely covered by the post it type ad stuck on the front cover of the newspaper.  Why not remove the masthead altogether and have an ad permanently embedded in the masthead?  I am regularly asked by journalism, marketing and other students about these ads […]

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I saw a customer pick up the Sydney Morning Herald this morning, remove the post it type ad for Oxfam stuck on the masthead and leave this at the counter. Regulars here will know I obsess about these stuck on ads on Fairfax newspapers. The ones I dislike the most are those stuck […]

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The Age shows what it thinks of the Spring Racing Carnival today by placing post-it type ad over the top of a promotion of its racing coverage inside the paper. What is the point of printing a headline or masthead or teaser for a story inside if you are going to allow an advertiser […]

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The Sydney Morning Herald brand was well and truly trashed by the placement of an ad for real insurance stuck on top of the newspaper’s masthead today. This is the worst of these stock-on ads I have seen. It demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the SMH brand and the newspaper masthead […]

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The folks at The Age have bravely stuck an ad for Tourism Tasmania over the top of a Sherrin football on the front page of today’s newspaper. On some copies it partly obscures a headline about Adam Gilchrist. It is a pity this otherwise good newspaper sells itself out.

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I am grateful to Angelo from Jindabyne newsagency for sharing this photo of the ad for the Labour Party stuck on page one of the Canberra Times newspaper late last week. Paying to be stuck on the newspaper masthead did not help Labor in the territory election. These ads are a blight. […]

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This weekend’s Australian Financial Review has a post-it type ad for BRW subscriptions stuck on the front page. At least they have not covered a major headline or the masthead. However, it again shows that advertising is more powerful at Fairfax than editorial. I wish that Fairfax would invest as much in […]

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Marketing has trumped editorial at The Age again today. The headline promoting exclusive excerpts from Peter Costello’s new book is partially covered a stuck on ad. Not happy John becomes happy John. I bet they are not happy. These ads litter streets and devalue newspapers.

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The Age today has a house ad for home delivery stuck on top of a photo of AFL footballer Buddy Franklin.  Inside is a story about Buddy’s big game today where he is expected to crack 100 goals in a season.  I would subscribe to a newspaper for content and not a free gift.

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