Just about all media companies dabble in the creation of advertising. They have to, since the placement of said advertising is the lifeblood of their revenue stream, and advertisers often do not have the time, nor the inclination, to contract with a creative agency. Particularly when the media entity is offering to create the ads for free in return for the media buy.
According to The New York Times:
The Condé Nast Media Group earned almost $100 million in revenue from custom work in 2008. It has created campaigns for the department store chain Dillard’s, the vodka Grey Goose, LG Electronics and the luxury car brand Lexus, which have included in-store events, parties and television programs. All the advertising it creates must run in Condé Nast magazines and Web sites.
Richard D. Beckman, the president of the media group, said that it offered advertisers relatively cheap projects.
“Of course I’m making a profit margin on their investment in print,” Mr. Beckman said. “But everything else we provide, from creative development to events to anything, are done at the actual costs of those programs. Now that becomes very appealing for a client.”
Once upon a time, I frowned on this practice because my POV was agencies do better work, work that’s worth the investment. Now, that this is a practice AdPulp is pursuing, I see it a bit differently. We’re working on some new display ads for Talent Zoo, which we’ll provide gratis to our friends in Atlanta in thanks for their continued and loyal support.
Interestingly, Condé Nast prohibits their clients from running the ads they create in other non-Condé Nast media venues. But I don’t have a problem with that. I want AdPulp to be a valuable partner to our advertisers and that means going above and beyond what’s common or expected.
