Media
GIVEN AWAY: The Age’s freebie feast for readers
The Age’s desperate bid for circulation has descended into probably its final and most amusing stage: they are giving away free chocolates to anyone willing to buy the newspaper on a Saturday.
Some amused newsagents think the Age is in a very bad way if they have to make such an inducement.
“I don’t know whether it will work but I have no objection to what will probably be quite a successful promotion. But it’s a short-term fix isn’t it? It’s a newspaper in decline, I think it’s very sad” said one fair-minded newsagent to VEXNEWS this afternoon.
“Where will it end?” one advertising executive wondered out loud to VEXNEWS in an email today. “A give-away $10 note would probably increase sales but it would distort the real circulation numbers, just as this does.”
“The discounts they are offering from the rate card are getting deeper by the day. Their business model has shifted to being monopoly market-maker in real estate, jobs and autos to an essentially unsustainable business living on borrowed time. It’s not bad for reaching a particular demographic but its point circulation has probably now slumped below the critical, credible point.” he explained.
“Some of our clients like to be there but when we subject campaigns in The Age to any serious testing or analysis, it’s not pretty,” he candidly told VEXNEWS on strict condition of anonymity.
Discussion
33 comments for “GIVEN AWAY: The Age’s freebie feast for readers”
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Are you a professional journalist? You write very well.
especially love the line “Warn your customer that it may contain traces of nuts”. What about: “Please warn your customer that the age itself may contain traces of bile, venom, faeces and vomit.”
And as for the warning to newsagents: “Do not home deliver the chocolate.” If you’re a home delivery customer wants their 20 cent chocolate they have to cut out the token and go to their newsagent. Abysmal.
It appears The Age are about to give away the source of all their material – careless “Whispers”.
Is it true this promotion is to be sourced from the pay packets of Rick Baker and Nick McKenzie – or is this just another ill-informed rumour?
How much are the age giving to take the whole lot?
My Gerbils always need to make a deposit!
How much do they pay someone to actually invest in Fairfax? It would have to come close the the share price wouldn’t it?
Monsieur, they’re really spoiling us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P-nZZkQqTc
I am buying 100 copies purely for the chocolate !
@Southbank Patriotic Army:
Thanks Eddie Dale. You would love those chocolates.
Yum yum. Big in Beechworth.
I love chocolate and hate the Age
I love the Age but my vegan nutritionist says no to chocolate, unless it is certified fair trade and picked by Guatemalan lesbians approved by the international trade union movement.
I’m so confused these days.
At least Paul Austin shows me the love Robyn won’t.
There are several reasons why such promotion is being done.
– Fairfax is being abosolutely rooted by News ltd. as a result of the online media revolution; they need sales to increase their readership to increase their sales
– The fall in the intellectual standard of The Age in the last 2 years is appalling. The editors are probably aware of this and don’t take issue with offering ‘promotion’ to boost opinion in the same way as successful News ltd. papers have in the past
– The ethics are in line with media regulations
What’s brown and comes with every copy of the Saturday Age?
What will they give away next week? Boiled lollies?
Now they’ve got a grocer in charge of Fairfax it’s clear that the synergies between Woolies and The age are going to be ruthlessly exploited. Watch for the upcoming promotion of a free bag of parsnips with every copy of the Age.
My newsagent has a very bad comb-over and looks like a pedo. He can keep his chocolate balls thanks.
The Age is class, cultured and professional journalism.
The Herald-Sun is low intellect populist gutter crap that is not even worthy of wiping loose stools off ones anus.
That reminds me of Chef from South Park and his salty choclate balls. Is this someone at the age trying to be funny? Catherine Deveny, I’m looking at you.
Those chocolate balls looks suspiciously like Lawrence Money’s saggy old testes. The timing of Money’s emasculation and this promotion is just too delicious.
disclaimer: eating chocolate will not get the bad taste out of your mouth that reading the age puts in.
Dark Chocolate? I hate Dark Chocolate! Ferrero probably couldn’t sell them, so instead of dunping them on the tip they’re recycling them among the enviromonsters of Northcote and Fitzroy. The fat get fatter.
A lovely chocky, how super. Just the thing to go with my Saturday Latte.
I’m going to hang around outside my newsagent on Friday when the chockies are delivered. The A2s usually sit around on the footpath outside his shop before he brings them inside. The whole box will be mine! Mwahh ha ha
Dear anonymous, if you have loose stools on your anus, I would strongly advise against eating any more dark chocolate over the weekend, it will only make your bowel problems worse.
anonymous @ October 22, 2009, 11:39. You say the Age is class, cultured and professional journalism? What a joke! The Australian is vastly superior.
The Age is so awwful, it’s ridiculous. The only people I see who read it are confused Melbourne Uni leftists, who don’t know who they are or where they come from. Or where they are going for that matter.
I’ve heard som massive rumours about The Age and it’s *ahem* future.
The Australian is easily the best paper in this country…too bad it comes from the same stable as that shit rag the Herald Sun.
And just on Catherine Deveny. Seriously, how ghastly & inhuman is that woman? I can’t believe she actually breeds.
But on a more serious note, given her history of bitter attacks against the Catholic Church, it was interesting to note that she didn’t open her vile trap when she was sharing the stage with the Great Father Bob on the 7pm Project a few weeks ago. Bad at her job, bad at life AND gutless. How shameful.
The age has no future without me.
Death to Ferrero Rocher
And watch out for the shrunken age on Monday – their business section goes tabloid next week, and who knows, the whole paper may be next. Get on to that story VEXXY boy.
Those chocky rocks from Ferrero look suspiciously like one of the big nuggets I left on the bottom of the Fairfax loos
Yeh we have heard tabloid or Berliner whispers, which have not been so loud since Jaspan’s day when he nearly pushed it through.
Those who handle these should smell their fingers afterwards
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