Marketing conference vendors woo papers with menu of offerings

By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor

ORLANDO, Fla. — As newspapers begin to secure their online footholds, tools such as self-service and community publishing were en vogue at this year’s Newspaper Association of America’s Marketing Conference.

The NAA reported initial attendance figures of 2,100, down about 400 from last year’s show in Las Vegas.

But the downturn did not affect the upbeat atmosphere on the exhibit hall floor. Vendor participation was at an all-time high for the show, with more than 160 companies participating, either as exhibitors or sponsors.

Forty of the companies will also showcase their services at this month’s Nexpo in Washington, D.C., a sign of things to come as NAA combines the Marketing Conference with Nexpo and presents the events as a single show, beginning next year.

“We are not planning a separate area for the remaining marketing conference exhibitors,” said Reggie Hall, NAA’s senior vice president of association sales and marketing. “We’re open to our exhibitors suggesting pavilions or affinity areas on the floor and continue to invite their input.”

Among conference developments:

•BrandMuscle Inc. demonstrated BuildMyAd, an online application that gives advertisers the capability to build and book display advertising as well as classified advertising themselves.

“Advertisers can go in and select if they want to place a display or classified ads,” said Nick Thompson, the firm’s manager of business development. “We know that a lot of newspapers already have classified ad solutions so we’re here promoting the display version of it.”

Users can create custom ads, determine the frequency and pay online or by credit card. A key feature, dynamic ad building, lets users click and drag images inside the template.

•Good2gether said it will launch its hyper local-oriented Web sites in cities including San Francisco, Houston, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta. The San Francisco Chronicle and Houston Chronicle are backing the site, which is aimed at letting non-profit organizations connect with volunteers and supporters.

•HarvestInfo formed a partnership with Azoogle.com Inc. that will allow local advertisers to create their own online ads and post them to newspaper sites.

•Impact Engine Inc. said it will launch a self-service display ad stores aimed at companies that want to advertise on newspaper Web sites. Advertisers will be able to visit a publisher’s ad store, access a catalog of ads and target and publish ads within minutes.

•Legacy.com added new features to its obituary pages that allow users to place additional information about their loved ones.

•MediaSpan Media Software announced new versions of ProductionManagerPro version 4.3 and CirculationPro version 3.6, which are shipping to customers, while MediaSpan Online Services announced wireless technology enhancements coinciding with its new partnership with Verve Wireless. The partnership will allow MediaSpan and Verve to provide their customers with content management and mobile marketing features.

•NewsGator Technologies said Cox Newspapers and The Denver Post will deploy its widgets software. Cox will build and track a series of viral widgets for a number of its newspapers including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post and the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.

The Denver Post will use widgets to virally distribute its sports, political and breaking news across the Web.

NewsGator, Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek, meantime, unveiled Candidate Tracker, a free application for Microsoft Windows Mobile phones. The app will enhance washingtonpost.com and Newsweek’s coverage of the 2008 candidates and elections, NewsGator said.

•NSA Media upgraded its print distribution-planning app iAnalyze, giving users more flexibility in sub-ZIP distribution of inserts via newspapers and mail.

•Rockledge Software displayed its SalesPoint Map and SalesPoint Schedule software, which allow ad reps to sell preprints or inserts by truck route.

Community journalism: Loud and clear

ORLANDO, Fla. — With new media at the forefront of discussion at this year’s NAA Marketing Conference, it’s only logical to expect multiple forms of emerging technology to transmit the message from the show.

Getting into the spirit of community publishing, the NAA hosted a live blogcast from the pressroom, presented via blogtalkradio.com. The cast allowed listeners to call in questions to vendors and attendees as they spoke with Mel Taylor of Mel Taylor & Associates.

“I’m a big fan of newspapers even though I’m primarily focused on interactive,” Taylor said. “I do believe that newspapers will never go away even though some in the newspaper industry may feel that interactive wants to hurt newspapers. In reality, it’s all going to work together.”