PressEthic

The editor’s weblog reported today that both Rupert Murdoch and Charles Sinclair have denounced the practice of giving away free CDs and DVDs to sell newspapers in the UK. The rational is that people will buy the paper for the free giveaway, this increases circulation figures and this can lead to an increase in advertising interest.

Managers of newspapers believe these free giveaways lure people into becoming long term readers of the newspaper. However this is wishful thinking. Murdoch explains why:

"People grab (the newspaper), tear the DVD off and throw away the paper. They've got to learn. That's got to stop."

From a marketing point of view a free giveaway like a DVD or a CD does very little to encourage people to read the content. If they buy the newspaper because they are solely interested in the gift, then chances are that’s all they’re going to take from it. It’s more like you’re getting a free newspaper with your gift, a point made in the editor’s weblog.

This is a very short sighted position. Sinclair says:

"These vast expenditures on CDs and DVDs, they’re like injections of yippee beans – circulation suddenly goes up only to leave you in a thoroughly depressed state if you can‘t produce as good a CD this week as you did last week. It’s not a very flattering picture of the way newspapers want to promote themselves."

This scenario reminds me of coupons for grocery products. A coupon may offer a discount on Coke. This discount may be enough of an incentive to make the Pepsi-loving customer buy coke. This increases sales figures in the short term for Coke. However, once the sale is over this customer will return to Pepsi. Successful promotions must encourage long term demand.

In the case of the newspaper, money is better spent on its content. After all that is what it is really selling to its customer. This comes back to my recent blog – that newspapers are in the business of integrity. Customers, in the long term, want a newspaper for a specific function, obtaining reliable news.