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Case Studies

Tires Plus Values ABC Newspaper Reports For Unbiased Data

Situation

Now in its 35th year, Clearwater, Fla.-based Tires Plus Total Car Care has more than 500 stores in 23 states. In the past year, it placed approximately seven million dollars in newspaper advertising.

Issue

Tires Plus wanted a way to ensure that its advertisements could be placed in a newspaper at a price within its budget optimized for the maximum number of insertions.



Solution

Tires Plus subscribed to ABC eStatements, which provides subscribers with access to more than 80,000 Publisher’s Statements and Audit Reports including those of its nearly 1,300 newspaper members.

Results

After its analysis of ABC’s paid circulation reports, Tires Plus was able to negotiate a reduced freestanding insert (FSI) rate discount of 22 percent and its ROP rate was discounted seven percent. In the end, Tires Plus signed a one-year contract for 12 ROP ads, 24 FSI’s and 16 small ads for the non-ROP/FSI weeks.

In an era of increasing choices, advertisers like Tires Plus work hard to navigate the advertising landscape and are accountable for budgets that are spread out in channels they rely on to optimize their marketing. Tires Plus had a limited budget to invest in print advertising, but the company wanted to maximize the value of its print advertising dollars spent in newspapers.

“For the last few weeks we’ve been talking to a newspaper in which we haven’t run an ad in several years,” said Bill Ardiff, director of advertising and Internet marketing for Tires Plus. “We estimated we could afford two quarter-page ads and one single-sheet FSI per month. Our budget was tight, so I asked them if a better rate was available. Instead of lowering the rate, the sales rep informed me the rate would actually be going up five percent next month. This meant we would probably only be able to afford one FSI and one ROP ad.”

Ardiff reviewed the newspaper’s Audit Report using ABC’s eStatements database and learned the paper was averaging a two and one-half percent decrease in circulation annually.

eStatements is ABC’s online report database that houses Audit Reports, Publisher’s Statements, Insert Verification Service reports and more for all its member newspapers, consumer magazines, business publications and Web site owners. The rich database of more than 80,000 reports raises advertiser awareness about newspapers and other papers in specific cities. To be eligible for this service, the subscriber must be an ABC member.

“Paid circulation and household penetration are key data for us. I routinely use these as tools when negotiating contracts,” said Ardiff, who was able to review the newspaper’s ABC-audited paid circulation and request a more favorable rate for Tires Plus.

“Our case was quickly escalated to the ad director,” said Ardiff. “After one phone call asking the same questions about price increases amidst circulation decreases, and using the ABC data, our FSI rate was reduced 22 percent and our ROP rate was granted a discount of seven percent. In the end, we signed a one-year contract for 12 ROP ads, 24 FSIs and 16 small ads for the non- ROP/FSI weeks.

“In my opinion, the ABC is absolutely critical,” stated Ardiff. “You can’t put a price on unbiased data. Members should use ABC data now more than ever, not just as a check and balance, but as a tool to help control their costs.”

Here are other products that can help newspaper advertisers:

eNewspapers: This versatile online analysis tool offers a myriad of ABC-verified circulation data. Access to vital information refreshed every 24 hours. Up to 10 years of historical newspaper Audit Report data for easy trending.

GEO/CIRC: Newspapers: Compilations of commonly used circulation data in spreadsheet format from newspaper Audit Reports. Various modules available. Released twice per year on CD-ROM.

FAS-FAX: Latest top-line circulation summary data from Publisher’s Statements available in PDF and spreadsheet formats. Released every six months. eFAS-FAX is the online version and includes archive files.

County Penetration Reports: Determine at a glance which newspapers have the best percentage of coverage and penetration of market areas. Includes newspapers with circulation exceeding 100 in each county based on newspaper Audit Report figures. Released twice a year.

Newspaper Rate Book: Released annually, this report presents basic price data for all released ABC-audited daily newspapers. eRate Book is the online version.

Audit Status Listing: This listing provides the current status of reports, along with the date each audit was moved to its current status, for all open audits.

eCirc: This free service allows users to sort and search top-line circulation data from the most recent FAS-FAX by publisher title, U.S. SRDS or Canadian CARD classifications.

E-mail Updates: ABC’s e-mail updates provide the easiest way of keeping on top of what’s happening. From board meeting news, product releases, upcoming training sessions and tools to annual conference updates, get the information delivered directly to your e-mail inbox. Visit www.accessabc.com/optin.htm to sign up.


For more inormation about e-Data tools, contact ABC’s at (877) 222-0932.