Media Sales Today

Nearly a quarter of American consumers say newspaper and magazine ads are the best place to find bargains, compared to 18% who say they find the best deals in online ads.

It looks like the pharmaceutical industry is still spending ad dollars inside magazines — at least in the ones still publishing. Despite legislative pressures and rumors of the hammer coming down on the tax deduction on ad expenses for prescription drugs, big pharma appears to have a soft spot for print. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, from 2003-2008, drugs & remedies in consumer magazines soared 58% to $2.2 billion, ranking it No. 2 behind toiletries & cosmetics.

I wanted to finish up my recent blogs about “The Future of Advertising” project that the Advertising Research Foundation conducted and published. The following are some major findings from a group of separate studies on DVR, online and print ads. Mainly, the synopsis from most find that threats posed by DVRs and clutter to TV ads are overblown; print and online advertising are effective; and word-of-mouth about brands is largely driven by paid media ads.

Will it tell us what we all want to know? Is it what we’re all dreading? Should we all pack up our desks and look for new careers? Shake this Magic 8 Ball of a survey and your future looks bright!

With multiple studies and surveys covering various countries and thousands of respondents, the project that the Advertising Research Foundation commissioned in December should be your Advertising Bible for the next decade. In collaboration with the Wharton School, “The Future of Advertising Project” produced 21 papers that will be published later this month in the Journal of Advertising.