Easy as ABC: Blurring the Line Between Ad Sales and Editorial - Dennis Camlek - MediaBizBlogger

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ABC. It's a classic mantra that some in media sales probably have written on an index card and pinned to the walls of their workstations. Always Be Closing. Words to live by. For those who need additional motivation there's also AIDA. Attention. Interest. Decision. Action.

You've heard these words before, in the form of Blake, the no-nonsense sales honcho stunningly portrayed by Alec Baldwin during the outset of the film version of "Glengarry Glen Ross," David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the cutthroat world of real estate sales. We all know this scene. I can probably recite it word for word, specifically the part about how coffee is for closers, and that for this month's sales contest the winner gets a Cadillac El Dorado. Second place is a set of steak knives. Third place is you're fired.

"Oh, do I have your attention now?" asks Blake.

He does indeed. The brilliance of Mamet's cautionary tale certainly rings true, specifically the cruel irony of closing the deal. In order to close, the salesmen need the "good leads," the premium list that management won't hand over because they haven't been able to close the old, deadbeat leads. This Catch-22 is rather evident in today's publishing world. The print landscape is a mine field. Magazines are closing down, newspapers are getting KO'd; it seems each week we wait for the latest media alert to pop into our email In Boxes about which title is the newest casualty.

As media evolves by the day, marketers have no choice but to develop campaigns that will elevate their brands. Your clients - and mine too - demand creative solutions and first to market opportunities, anything that will help their brands build longer-lasting connections with consumers. This can be tough to pull off in print advertising, although you can't blame sales teams for not trying. Select books have taken a beating in the press lately because they are generating more high-impact advertising solutions that, based on who you talk to, are blurring the lines between Ad Sales and Editorial, that once untouchable journalistic holy ground. This Church and State issue is of course nothing new, and it would come as no surprise if those two departments were not even allowed to share the same box of Krispy Kremes during weekly status meetings.

My side of the desk allows me the opportunity to serve as conduit between marketers and sales vendors, and while I have been known to charge my media partners to challenge the status quo, I also manage my expectations. Whenever I ask the "integration" question, nine times out of ten I get the textbook reply about how Editorial needs to maintain integrity and would never allow that. While that's a given, recent evidence demonstrates that progress is being made, that publications are starting to dip their toes in the proverbial integration puddle. While it's unrealistic to expect a sea change any time soon, it's promising to see some publications willing to push the envelope.

Several examples come to mind. The Los Angeles Timesfeatured NBC's "Southland" on its front page, in an obvious "mock article" that apparently ruffled a few feathers. But the ad garnered some strong press attention, which was probably NBC's intent all along. Other entertainment marketers have done the same. Earlier this year The Discovery Channel and History promoted their programs through integrated Esquirecovers. ABC touted "The Unusuals" in an Entertainment Weeklycover-based pull out tab; and for its "Grey Gardens" film HBO partnered withUs Weeklyin creating the first ever cover wrap, a unit that tried to capture what the magazine might have looked like back in the heyday of Big and Little Edie Bouvier.

While these ads may draw some protest from trade associations and some consumers, they serve as important reminders that the tables have turned and consumers are starting to call the shots. Let's continue to give readers the benefit of the doubt. They must realize that in order for print to survive in these troubling times advertising needs to evolve. I imagine a consumer is willing to allow this line to blur if it means his/her favorite magazine doesn't shut its doors. At the end of the day, is this really any different than watching Bravo's "Top Chef" and seeing the blatant product placement for GE and Glad, or Simon Cowell drinking from that red plastic Coca-Cola cup?

Perhaps we're simply more used to this happening on television, but it's a good sign that Ad Sales and Editorial are starting to set aside their differences and sit in the same foxhole. This is a new day, governed by a struggling economy that has given too many of our colleagues their walking papers. While none of us really needs a Cadillac El Dorado, a well-cooked steak does taste good from time to time.

It beats the alternative.

Dennis Camlek, VP Account Director, PHD