Big brands featured in MPA magazine ad campaign

Underscoring just how effective magazines can be in engaging consumers directly - and how they can improve advertisers' results - four top-tier advertisers have joined the consumer magazine industry's new advertising campaign.

Ads featuring Charles Schwab, Hewlett-Packard, Saturn and Verizon Wireless have been placed in trade-industry publications.

The ads feature jagged portions of a full-page ad that appears to have been torn from a magazine as well as copy that explains why readers often tear ads out and respond to them.

The online components of the campaign include the Web site at www.magazine.org/beyondthepage and banner ads.

Advertisers see the campaign as an opportunity to present more direct, in-depth product information to consumers so they can take the ad with them or pass it along to others.

The ads will run first in Advertising Age, Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Automotive News and the Advertiser, as well as on the Web sites of those trade publications. The ads will also run on the Web sites of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Jack Myer's MediaVillage and the AAA SmartBrief newsletter.

At least 60 consumer magazines have committed to insert the ads in their complimentary copies this year. The copies are circulated to members of the ad community and in publishers' letters that accompany the magazines.

The campaign is directed by the MPA's Magazine Marketing Collation, which is comprised of MPA-member publishers and allied industries that include printers and paper manufacturers.

Their goal is to boost awareness of the effectiveness of consumer magazines in the advertising community.