Official Publication of the Arizona Newspapers Association for distribution to all employees of ANA-member newspapers
ANA
grams
A community newspaper for community newspaper people. March 2008
Bergamo scholarship fund started Page 3
www.ananews.com
ANA annual Legislative Luncheon big success
Briefs
‘NEW TIMES’ EXECS TO SUE MARICOPA COUNTY OVER ARREST Two Phoenix New Times executives arrested last October after publishing the contents of a grand-jury subpoena have served legal notice that they intend to sue Maricopa County over the incident. Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, heads of Village Voice Media, which owns New Times and several other newspapers, named Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Dennis Wilenchik, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, in their notice of claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit. EDITOR CHANGES NEWSPAPERS, BUT NOT POSITION Zach Colick has changed locations. Formerly, he was the news editor of the Sun Cities Independent, and has now been named the news editor for the Town of Paradise Valley Independent. LOCAL NEWSPAPER TAKES HOME TEN AWARDS Lovin’ Life After 50 took several prizes in the annual North American Mature Publishers Association Publishing Excellence Competition, including first place for Best Special Section, Best Color Ad and Best Banner. MARKETING FIRM CO-FOUNDER APPOINTED TO CRONKITE SCHOOL ENDOWMENT BOARD Off Madison Ave co-founder and executive creative director, Roger Hurni, has been appointed as the newest member of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications Endowment Board of Trustees. “Being named to the Walter Cronkite School Endowment Board of Trustees is a great honor for me,” said Hurni, the 2007 Phoenix Ad Person of the Year. “I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring a number of Arizona State alums here at Off Madison Ave and this appointment affords me the opportunity to further my contributions to the development of young public relations and marketing professionals.” FOUR MAJOR NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS FORM ONLINE ADVERTISING SALES NETWORK Gannett Co. and Tribune Co.., the largest and second-largest publishers in the country, are joining Hearst Corp. and The New York Times Co. to form company that will sell online ad space across a network of newspapers in many large cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The joint venture, which launched on Feb. 15, will be based in Chicago and operate under the name QuadrantOne.
On Jan. 28, Arizona Newspapers Association members had the chance to tell local legislators what’s on their minds. That’s because they were part of ANA’s annual Legislative Luncheon. It was a success, with over 110 members of the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives and their staffs at the event, which was held at the Arizona Capitol Times building and catered by Alexi’s. The informal affair allowed legislators and members of the media to connect on a more personable level and discuss important local issues and what is happening in 2008. Despite the Senate being delayed because of a constant stream of visitors showed up to chow down and talk shop with reporters, editors and publishers. Hot topics include upcoming elections, freedom of information
records requests and border issues. We appreciate everyone who took the time to come out and let their voice be heard. We look forward
to seeing everyone at this fun-filled event next year.
North Scottsdale Independent Editor Rusty Bradshaw gives Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard the thumbs-up on the terrific food at the annual Legislative Luncheon.
What can classified aggregation do for you? “It’s all about the revenue,” said Network Advertising Manager Sharon Schwartz. That was the goal behind ClassifiedArizona.com and the Arizona Newspapers Association classified aggregation program. ANA’s classified aggregation program takes newspaper classifieds and provides them online for readers to search. “We are not a flea market, like some other Web sites. We’re quality ads from your trusted community newspaper,” said Schwartz. The classified aggregation program has been growing steadily for the past year. Currently, 50 Arizona newspapers, both dailies and weeklies, are participating in the program. In addition, participants can choose to upgrade to online order entry. Each participating newspaper is provided with their own branded, customizable page, in addition to the main www.ClassifiedArizona.com site. Customers who visit your Web site will be able to easily search all of your classified ads, as well as ads from other participating newspapers. In addition, participants who upgrade to the online order entry will enable their customers to not only search, but also place ads online. Research shows that people
who place their own ads online traditionally spend more money...40 to 60 percent more! In addition, all classified ads must go through an approval process before publication, that ensures that ClassifiedArizona ads are genuine and do not become ad pollution. In January, a total of 111,411 classified ads were uploaded from participating newspapers to the system. There are 18 participating newspapers (15 aggregated sites) that sold a total of 1,137 ads last month for a profit of $52,170. “We love it,” said Don Kirkland, publisher of the Wrangler News. “So far, almost all of the classified ad customers who have gone on ANAgrams Arizona Newspapers Association 1001 N. Central Avenue, Suite 670 Phoenix, AZ 85004 - 1947
the new site have spent more than before, and in some cases have spent double,” he said. “We don’t make change easily,” said Kirkland. But he said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the customer response to the new online classifieds. Tisha Sullivan, classified advertising manager at The Sun in Yuma, Ariz., has been aggregating classifieds ads for almost a year. The Sun had previously been consulting with Verican, the internet company that hosts the aggrgated Web site, about getting their classifieds online. “Then ANA starting talking about aggregation and we thought it was a good idea,” said Sullivan. “PRSRT STD” U.S. POSTAGE PAID PHOENIX ARIZONA PERMIT NO. 3429
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