Show me the money…

Not the best approach

Advertising and editorial. The link (or relationship, as some would say) between these two communication channels in construction has been debated on  numerous occasions. Should advertising spend have a direct impact on editorial coverage? Should editorial ‘grease the wheels’ for companies to then spend on advertising? Should advertising sales teams have a say on which companies, or products, should be covered in a magazine? All questions that I’ve either been asked directly, or heard as part of the ongoing debate.

Let me give you an insight into a recent phone call I took from a somewhat overzealous advertising sales contact (who I’d never met) from a monthly sector magazine that I have a good deal of respect for and know the editorial team very well. This is a genuine conversation, although I don’t feel it’s appropriate to ‘name and shame’…yet.

Sales contact: “Hi there Neil, just wondered when you’re client X is planning on advertising with us. As you can see they’ve received quite a lot of editorial coverage recently.”

Me: “Hi. Sorry, I usually speak to X regarding my client’s advertising and I don’t think we’ve spoken bef…”

Sales contact: Interrupts…”yes I know, I handle the X region and wanted to know when you’re going to book some advertising with us on behalf of your client.”

Me: “Well, I appreciate the call, but I don’t see what the relevance is of the client being covered editorially. I work with X and the team to submit stories of interest to the publication. If they decide to cover my client then that’s an editorial decision I’m sure and not one based on advertising spend.”

Sales contact: “That may be the case, but we all know what condition the market is in and we need to see some support from your client otherwise I’ll see that X and the team restrict the number of opportunities your client has in the magazine.”

Me: Surprised…”Hang on, are you saying that my client won’t be covered if they don’t spend on advertising with you?”

Sales contact: “Well, I’ve been doing this for 15 years and this is the way I choose to do business. We’ve done you a favour by covering the client so we should see some advertising support.”

Me: “With all due respect, it’s not the way I handle my clients’ accounts. Editorial coverage is a decision made by X and the team and I have every confidence that they do this under no pressure from advertising. If you’re telling me otherwise then I obviously need to have a conversation with the editor.”

Sales contact: “Do that. But understand that a lack of support from an advertising point of view will restrict your client’s editorial opportunities in the magazine.”

Me: “I think we had better end this conversation. To be honest I’m amazed you feel you can speak for your editorial team.”

Sales contact: “OK mate, I’ll talk to you again soon.” – I was stunned at this sudden tone of friendliness.

The discussion lasted no longer than 2-3 minutes but gave me a great insight into the unfortunately unprofessional side of the trade media. After taking a moment I called the editor and recounted the conversation. To their, and the magazine’s credit, I was given a direct and blunt response that this is not how editorial is managed and soon after the Advertising Sales Manager (who I knew) called me to say that he would be dealing with me directly and could he make an appointment to come and see me for a chat and a coffee.

Liz Male has blogged before about the ‘the curious case of the free editorial‘, but this was something different. Editorial integrity of a publication was being undermined by the very person supposedly selling the commercial opportunities within the magazine. As of yet, it’s the first and only time I’ve come across such an unprofessional approach to securing advertising.

My suggestion if you ever have the same conversation is do as I did and speak to the editorial team. I’m sure they’ll give short-shrift to the words of their ‘colleague’. And if they don’t, then I’d really consider whether you want your business (or your clients) supporting them in the first place.