New Advertising Strategy For Newspapers? They Make Great Umbrellas

from the well,-there's-that... dept

Justin Zak sends in a photo he took of what's apparently the Austin American Statesman's latest attempt to convince people that a hardcopy newspaper has more value than an online newspaper:
If you can't read it, that little ad block at the bottom reads: "Newspapers Make Great Umbrellas." That'll convince the online masses...
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Filed Under: ad strategy, newspapers, umbrella
Companies: austin american statesman


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  1. icon
    garfalk (profile), 6 Oct 2009 @ 11:13pm

    well....

    that is until they get too wet to prove useful. then, umbrellas make great umbrellas.
    i think i'll stick with online news. i don't even have to go outside then.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 12:18am

    re: the cigarette spam

    Well,

    There's another use for newspapers, I suppose!

    (in case it gets removed, there was a spam comment about cheap cigarettes. Hmm... contextual spamming?)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Tele2002, 7 Oct 2009 @ 1:40am

    Spam....

    At least with a newspaper there is targetted spam, unlike the last comment selling Nike shoes!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Chargone (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 1:48am

    four shoe ads. oh dear.

    and, ya know, news papers do make functional temporary umbrellas if, you know, you get caught out in the rain... with a news paper... that you don't mind losing the outer pages of...

    *thinks*

    ya know, a cheap umbrella costs less than four times as much as a Saturday paper?

    oh well, at least it's creative :D

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    SteveD (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 2:24am

    Re: well....

    Laptops too make great umbrellas, until they get too wet to prove useful. :P

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Griff (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 2:37am

    Other uses for newspapers

    A guinea pig cages is less comfortable when the floor is lined with laptops.

    Of course, this is just an assertion (I've never tried it). And who am I to say what a guinea pig really likes ?
    if I find an authoritive source, I'll come back here and quote it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Nick Nack, 7 Oct 2009 @ 2:41am

    Other uses for newspapers.

    I have never tried swatting a fly with a rolled up laptop, and don't think I ever want to..

    Eitherway, online news wins every time for me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    dRuEFFECT, 7 Oct 2009 @ 2:50am

    o, however shall i paper-mache with elmers and a macbook??

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Rabbit80, 7 Oct 2009 @ 3:14am

    I'd also prefer not to use my laptop to light the BBQ... though I hear Sony laptop batteries make good firelighters...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 3:58am

    ... yeah, and try cutting 2 eye-holes in your laptop to spy on someone.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Mark Harrill (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 5:26am

    Drought...

    The funnier part about this for me being that it just started raining here a bit after 2+ years of severe drought. And the Statesman was up for sale until Cox pulled them off the market recently. Maybe they saw the rain coming and saw a way to make money for the struggling paper thus the new campaign.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    JohnForDummies (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 5:28am

    Another good example of newspapers not checking their facts!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 5:59am

    Then I quit fishing

    I used to find newspapers very useful. Then the parakeet died, so I dropped my subscription to weekend-only. If I stop fishing I will probably drop my subscription entirely.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Kansas Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 5:59am

    Doin' their part to Keep Austin Weird.
    My wifey was just at the Austin City Limits festival, trudging thru 8" deep mud, and brought me back a Keep Austin Weird coffee cup.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 6:00am

    I can see why

    It's to draw eyes to the news paper by saying something completely silly. In other boxes are probably other lines like "Newspapers make great hamster bedding" or "Newspapers make handy fly swatters" (if they all say the same thing, then my idea is wrong). It's like how Taco Bell put silly phrases on the sauce packets. Except the sauce packets don't point out the obsolescence of the product.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    Sean T Henry (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 6:50am

    Re:

    I wonder when they started that campaign I know Keep Louisville(ky) Weird has been running since 2004.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 7:03am

    Newspapers: They're great for your dog to take a dump on! Buy one today!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 7:17am

    Re:

    Newspapers: Because you can't afford to laptop-train your dog.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    Mark Harrill (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 7:33am

    Re: Re:

    The Keep Austin Weird campaign has been going on almost as long as I lived here so it started around 1993

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. icon
    Marcus Carab (profile), 7 Oct 2009 @ 7:39am

    This is even worse than the Toronto Star's latest "please don't let us die" ad, which reads:

    "Merry Christmas.

    (We like to be the first to report the news.)"



    Uh-huh. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Also, response time is totally why people are going to choose paper over digital...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 10:51am

    i live in austin
    we are currently in a ridiculous drought so my take is that it is a joke .. hasn't rained here in a long time

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Joe, 7 Oct 2009 @ 10:57am

    ...

    Telecommuting makes a great umbrella.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Oct 2009 @ 1:29pm

    Re: Then I quit fishing

    "I used to find newspapers very useful. Then the parakeet died"

    ROFLOL

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    JS Huntlands, 19 Oct 2009 @ 2:06am

    Top 50 authors

    It is said that JS Huntlands author of the 'Nick Twisted Minds (Domestic Violence) series and the 'Me and My Best Friend (Children's interactive books) series is to be in the top 50 up-coming authors......

    Media only:
    For a free copy for your review please email me

    link to this | view in thread ]


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