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Editorials
The power of print advertising
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The mind-boggling success of last Thursday's Observer Fashion's Night Out has brought two significant points to the fore.
The first is that consumers will respond to good deals, despite the harsh economic times, and the second - at the risk of betraying our paternal pride - is that print advertising is a powerful tool through which to reach consumers.
Our report in today's edition on the event - which we must emphasise is not to be confused with the Vogue event of a similar name that is staged internationally - gives irrefutable evidence of the first point.
Retailers have told us that their sales tripled last Thursday, compared to a normal Thursday. Indeed, Mr Andre Harris, the owner of Xtras, told us on Friday morning: "If we normally sold $100,000 on a regular Thursday, we did $300,000 last night".
Today's report also documents the experiences of other store owners who all benefited from participating in the event which we at the Observer had planned with the intention of stimulating commerce and giving consumers a break. For we are unapologetic in our commitment to the survival of businesses which, we all know, keep the economy going.
It is simple, really. Once businesses are thriving, people will be employed and the country will earn revenue from the taxes in order that the Government may provide the goods and services that are necessary to make the lives of the Jamaican people more comfortable.
The second point is just as important to us, as it confirms a fact that we have been declaring for many years, that print media offers tremendous value for money and extraordinary reach to advertisers.
It's important to make this point in the context of what is being perceived to be a shift away from newspapers and towards the Internet.
Last Thursday's event was heavily advertised and promoted on the pages of the Observer for three-and-a-half weeks. In the normal run of things, three weeks is hardly ever enough to achieve the superlative success witnessed in this shopping frenzy.
In fact, on the morning when the first ad appeared, our phones rang off the hook. People who had seen the advertisement wanted more information and retailers, recognising the potential value of the event, committed to participating.
Of course, we complemented our print advertising campaign with radio and television spots in the last four days before the event. However, any honest assessment of the event's overwhelming success cannot ignore the fact that a solid foundation for the night of shopping was set by the ad campaign in the Observer.
There is, too, a third element to this occasion: the fact that it has given our tourism marketers another event with which to promote Kingston, in much the same way that the Observer Food Awards and a number of other events that do not rely on state support have done.
It is our hope that they will grasp the opportunity.
Finally, we won't pretend to be shy about acknowledging the obvious indication of the might and reach of the Observer after only 16 years.
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