Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993 TAG: 9311240293
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY ARON KAHN KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: ST. PAUL, MINN. LENGTH: Medium
The latest is the appearance of Post-It-Notes inside national magazines. The messages they carry look hand-written and say things like, "Call Northrop for dance tickets," and "'93 Mercedes-Benz 190, $389 per month. Call Feldmann's."
In a cutting-edge example of interactive advertising, many national magazines are running full-page spreads from a variety of advertisers with Post-It-Notes stuck to them like pilot fish.
The idea is for the reader to peel off the notes and stick them to the phone, fridge or computer screen. That way, the message keeps keeps its foot in the door.
3M Media Networks creates four- to eight-page ad packages zoned to geographical regions and sold to magazines. The Stamford, Conn., subsidiary of Maplewood-based 3M is a 25-year-old advertising firm, but just this year developed the technology to use the stick-on notes in the ad packages.
To sell tickets for its 1993-1994 dance series, the University of Minnesota's Northrop Auditorium bought into the company's September package for four home-oriented magazines: Home, Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful and Bon Appetit.
On a four-color, full-page ad is a what appears to be a handwritten note: "Call Northrop for dance tickets and a brochure (Don't forget Nutcracker tickets for the family!). 624-2345."
Northrop publicity manager Linda Brandt said paying an extra price for the Post-It-Note seemed a good idea.
"We wanted readers to have this little reminder that would cause the final action step to buy tickets," she said. "So often you go through magazines that appeal to you, but you may or may not get back to it. If you just peel this note off, you're going to remember."
Brandt said she has no hard numbers to prove the buy is working. "This is the first time we've ever done this kind of advertising, but we got a lot of comment so we know the impact was there. I think there's been a dent because of this."
Customers pay varying rates, but the basic price for a regional four-color ad in the four home magazines is $4,605, said Jack Riordan, Chicago-based manager of product development for 3M Media Networks. Add the Post-It-Note, and it's an extra $2,000.
The home magazine ads reach 45,000 homes in the Twin Cities area. Advertisers using the company news magazine network of Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, spend $13,335 for the same ad, plus $5,000 for the note, and reach 125,000 homes, Riordan said. The ad agencies that prepare the individual pages get 15 percent.
Riordan said that although the company operates in about 100 markets and has $30 million in revenues, it is "relatively unknown" because of its niche market. He hopes the Post-It-Note angle will push up the numbers radically. The Minnesota Timberwolves signed on recently, buying the package with the notes for October in the company's news and business magazine networks.
The Magazine Publishers of America said the 3M subsidiary - which has a Minneapolis office - is the first company to use the peel-off note gambit.
Other interactive devices such as cut-out labels and scratch and sniff patches were around before Look magazine went out of business.
by CNB