Reaction to the ComBase program remains solid with high-praise coming from a variety of different people across Canada.
QUOTES/TESTIMONIALS
Bob Reaume, Association of Canadian Advertisers, Toronto
ÔÇ£I attended your presentation in Toronto yesterday, and I wanted to take a quick moment to congratulate you and everyone who has worked on the ComBase project to bring readership data for Community Newspapers to this stage. This is very welcomed news for Canadian advertisers, and we look forward to following your progress from here. If there is anything that we can do for your organization to help advance your objectives in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. We wish you every success with this venture. CongratulationsÔÇØ
Jeannette Hrywkiw, Results Media, Regina
ÔÇ£Thank you for the presentation – ComBase will be a great addition to the entire media buying process. Should you require an objective media voice from the Prairies to join your board, I would ask that you please consider me. To ensure that I could invest the resources required, It would be important to discuss the time commitment, investment required, etc. Look forward to hearing from you soon! Thank you!ÔÇØ
Patricia McGregor, Vice President, General Manager, Genesis Media, Toronto
ÔÇ£Many of our clients have expressed an interest in community newspapers because they instinctively feel that there is some value there, but when the agency is pressed for data to support their suspicions they are frustrated by the lack of consistent measurement.
In my opinion, the greatest hurdle that community newspapers face in attracting national ad dollars is the lack of a single source readership measurement study. Some newspaper groups have done a better job than others in measuring their readership and providing ongoing readership data. Van-Net is a perfect example of how to attract national ad dollars using research. However, the problem is that among those who do bother to evaluate their readership, the methodology is inconsistent. As a medium community newspapers do not have a single-source measurement tool to assist agency planners in making recommendations to their clients and this puts them at a clear disadvantage when competing against daily newspapers. Often what results is a discussion about the value of a paid subscription vs. the unknown of controlled distribution. In most instances clients will go with, for lack of a better term, “the devil you know” and opt to funnel all funds into daily newspapers. This isn’t to say that daily newspapers don’t have value — our clients have been very successful using daily newspapers — they just may be more comfortable expanding their lists to include community newspapers if they at least knew who was reading them. The perception often is that community newspaper readers are somewhat downscale in comparison to the daily newspaper reader. Hopefully this study will shed some light on the value of community newspapers and open up opportunities for both our clients and community newspapers. What it will take is a little vision on the part of the community newspaper industry.ÔÇØ
Hugh Dow, President, M2 Universal, Toronto
Called Black Press to encourage them to participate in study. Has offered his help enlisting support from other corporate groups.
Jane Nesbitt, Genesis Media, Vancouver
ÔÇ£Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the presentation this morning. It is very exciting and incredibly impressive!ÔÇØ
Bob Anderson, Senior Planner/Buyer, Venture Communications, Calgary
ÔÇ£Thank you for coming to Calgary yesterday and filling in our agency community re: ComBase and how it will help us plan and buy community newspapers. I applaud the inclusion of Red Deer as a test market: There are so many competing publications that I often question the value of many – especially