I’m glad that I don’t sell newspapers. The print media sector has been under a lot of pressure for the last few years and has been forced to constantly reinvent its marketing tricks to stay afloat.
The Irish Independent has just started a new marketing campaign to increase its sales.
Every Saturday they are giving away a novel by an Irish writer for a nominal price – € 4.99.
The first novel, John McGahern’s That They May Face the Rising Sun, is free and over the coming weeks they will be providing a selection of other Irish novels.
I’m not sure if this is the first such marketing campaign in Ireland, so if anybody can tell me I’d love to know.
It’s quite a common thing to do in Italy or Spain.
From IP:
I went into the shop today to pick up an Indo and my free Irish author but the cheats weren’t giving out authors, just more feckin books! I quite fancied being able to take John McGahern home and throw rotten tomatoes at him. Bah!
From blacknight:
ROFL
From Hugh:
Chicks have been getting free ‘Sweet Valley High’ books with their Just 17 mag-o’s for years, so I presume the Indo are just starting to cater for these now they’re all grown up and broody…
H
From blacknight:
Is “Just 17″ an Irish publication or is it English?
One of the editorials in the Indo referred to this promotion being the first of its kind in Ireland, so I wonder is it…
From Piaras Kelly:
First of its kind in the ROI, but big wow they substituted cd for book. It’s a bit of a crazy trend to be honest. It worked well for the newspapers that tried it at the start, but it doesn’t really build a loyal readership. If you could get circulation figures when the promotion ran and for afterwards there would be a noticeable dip. Of course the Indo would have their own spin on things
From IP:
the english papers have been doing it off and on. the gruan and the absurder have given away the likes of sam beckett and douglas adams in the past. i think the sunday times has done a book or two as well.
From Aine Livia:
Not exactly a first, however that it will run for 20 weeks is perhaps a first.
From IP:
i thought that future weeks, the book will cost you a fiver?
From John:
I think the promotion is fantastic to be honest, it is the first time that such a great collection of Irish authors has been brought together as a collection. The books themselves look great and the quality of the printed page is second to none. With regards to the readership, I am sure this collection will attract readers of other publications to the Irish Independent and they can read what is a great paper. I say fair play and good luck to them, they are certainly setting very high standards for other publications who constantly put out “boogie nights” and other pap!!
From blacknight:
IP – 4.99 for the other instalments
John – Giving away books may increase sales, but not readership
From John:
Blacknight, I am not sure you understand the concept, the main aim of building newspaper sales is all about driving circulation and in turn readership. Any newspaper promotion is designed to increaase copy sales and readership, the main aim is to grab readers from other titles, not just run a promotion to satisfy existing readers. The idea is that you have a new reader who is hooked in by the promotion, reads the paper which he has bought and enjoys it…………and hopefully becomes a reader? So – in this instance, you may have an Irish Times reader who wants to complete the collection, to complete the collection he has to buy 20 copies of the Irish Independent – he will read those papers and may continue to buy in the future. I don’t agree with you. I think this promotion will captre the imagination of non readers and push them to buy a paper that they may not necessarily buy because they have preconceived notion about the title. I feel this promotion will drive both readership and circulation.
From blacknight:
John
Thanks for your comment.
Don’t get me wrong. I fully understand what they are doing and when you put in the context of some of the recent ownership changes within the Irish print media sector it’s easy to see why they are trying it. However any such promotion is not guaranteed success. It may capture the imagination of some people and gain the newspaper new readers in the process, but that is not a given. All too often these kind of promotions gain a lot of attention in the first couple of instalments, but the number of people who actually stick it out to the end is small.
The question remains whether or not the investment will bring the returns they need to justify it over the next 12 months.
From Tara:
Just wondering if you could tell me how I can get the first book John McGahern’s That They May Face the Rising Sun.I have most of the collection but I am missing this book.With thanks,Tara
From Nick:
Book 1 can be ordered from the indo directly. They will send it in your name to a retailer nominated by you. Anyone got and willing to part with book 2? Nock