Can Newspaper Sticky Ads Drive Web Sales?

September 10th, 2008

I first noticed them on daily newspapers in Maryland and Pennsylvania and became intrigued. Then on a trip to Omaha, I saw one on a weekly entertainment pub. An increasing number of newspapers now allow smallish ad stickers on their front pages. Yes, the approach makes many journalists shudder. Still, the stickers are being stuck onto newspapers and, to be fair, can be peeled easy enough by the readers to see what’s underneath.

In most cases, the marketer’s call center number and Website homepage URL are in the ad. On one occasion, I saw an email address that prospects could use to inquire about a car dealership. And, Sprint and MasterCard reportedly tested this idea last year in the Hispanic market.

The sticker ads concept has been around for a while. But the stickers haven’t been particularly popular because they have to be attached by hand. So, the idea had a reputation for clumsy execution. But now that there are machines that do a good job of taking care of this chore, the ads appear to be escalating.

Do you think newspaper sticker ads can drive Web sales? With some great copy and a campaign-specific landing page, it’s possible that they might….

Categories: Consumer Marketing, Online Marketing Tags: , ,



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