POWER February 2016 - 6

SPEAKING OF POWER
And Now, a Word from
(and to) Our Sponsors
Y
ou've heard that Nothing in life is
free, yet this magazine is free for
the vast majority of readers-both
in print and online. That's only because of
the continued support of our advertisers.
No media brand achieves success without
both a loyal audience and loyal sponsors.
So this is a thank you to both groups, as
well as a defense of advertising.
Note that this column wasn't requested
or reviewed by my boss, the vice president
and publisher. Those who aren't in the
publishing industry might not realize that
it's traditional in both consumer and business-to-business
publications for there to
be a virtual wall between the editorial and
business sides of a brand. In most places,
that wall has developed some cracks in recent
years, but at POWER, we still believe
in clearly distinguishing advertising from
editorial content.
Ads Benefi t Readers, Including
Editors
Rather than think of ads as an unwelcome
intrusion into content-a common
attitute when it comes to TV ads-I'd
argue that ads in a trade magazine are
part of the value the brand delivers. For
starters, without advertising, we'd have
to charge-quite a lot-to produce the
content readers have come to expect from
POWER. That would limit the number of
people we reach, and that wouldn't be
good for anyone in the power industry,
whether you are a buyer or seller of equipment,
services, or electrons.
Ads also help readers learn about companies
and their offerings. Even though
we try to keep our audience apprised of
the major stories and developments in the
industry, we can't possibly cover everything,
especially in print. There are far too
many components and services that are
part of the power sector. Ads help spread
the word about more aspects of the industry
we cover, thereby playing an important
informational role.
Even editors learn what's new from
ads. Yes, press releases can serve that
purpose, but the visual impact of a well6
executed
print ad is going to capture our
attention more easily than one of the
hundreds of emails we get daily. On more
than one occasion, something our editors
have read in an ad has prompted a
follow-up. Sometimes it's because we're
reminded that a particular firm handles
work with X equipment that we're writing
a technology update on. Other times we
reach out to advertisers for ideas about
the latest industry pain points or to supply
a specific type of photo. Running an
ad won't win anyone a puff piece in our
editorial pages, but it can have unexpected
mutual benefits.
Print Ads Still Have Power
There's no question that today's advertisers
have to be visible on digital platforms,
but that doesn't mean print ads have lost
importance.
In the June 29-July 5, 2015, issue
of Bloomberg Businessweek, STIHL-the
company that makes handheld outdoor
power equipment-ran a 10-page ad.
Those 10 consecutive full pages began
and ended with what I'd call " the story
of STIHL, " while focused messages about
the brand, its users, and its values ran
on the pages between. What makes this
particularly noteworthy is that STIHL is
a large but not a huge company. It has
2,100 employees in the U.S. Both the
number of pages and the quality of the
creative content ensured that nobody
picking up that issue could fail to notice
STIHL. Part of the print ad blitz's
goal was to engage people in a social
media sharing campaign, but what impressed
me was how the company recognized
that the best way to drive activity
online was to first woo current and prospective
customers in print. At POWER,
we've offered a similar approach for individual
advertisers or industry groups
to highlight their value to our readers.
You may have noticed, for example, a
special advertising section in our July
2015 issue, produced by the Institute of
Clean Air Companies.
Because they lack an expiration date,
www.powermag.com
print ads have a long shelf life. How often
have you gone back to a website to check
an ad or take action on it? How many times
have you dog-eared an ad in a print publication?
Depending on when you returned
to the website, the ad may no longer be
visible, whereas that print ad is patiently
waiting for you to remember that you saw
it in a recent issue of POWER.
Every commercial website that doesn't
require a fee for access is in an ongoing
evolution when it comes to handling advertising.
Some Internet users attempt
to short-circuit digital ads by using ad
blockers. But some media companies are
fighting back. In December, Forbes greeted
ad-blocking app users with a message
that they could not gain access to forbes.
com unless they disabled blocking. The arguments
and technologies for and against
digital ads in all their forms are sure to
continue. In the meantime, print ads can't
be blocked.
While print ads have a lot going for
them, as all of us spend more time on
our digital devices, being visible on those
screens is increasingly important. And if
you can give users a strong enough reason
to click through-to download a timely
report or learn something new-digital
ads enable fast and easy response.
Metrics and Other Things That
Matter
Do your family members love you? How
do you know? Does their love matter less
because you can't reliably quantify it? Advertisers
face a similar set of questions.
One of the perennial arguments against
traditional advertising in print and broadcast
media is that you can't measure the
impact. But things have changed, and
POWER has ways to track response to both
digital and print promotions (contact your
ad rep for more information).
I'll close by encouraging our readers
to spend some time with the ads they
encounter over the next year. You never
know what you might learn. ■
-Gail Reitenbach, PhD is POWER's
editor.
POWER | February 2016
http://www.powermag.com
POWER February 2016

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