Re-evaluating the ad market after a tragedy

These events have offered us the opportunity to analyze our business units, reallocating resources to areas of opportunity while shifting our thinking in ways that expand our footprint in the marketplace.

In our call center area, we shifted three positions to a targeted out-bound strategy to lapsed recruitment customers and larger employers in the market. This allowed us to install a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) component to ongoing recruitment sales.

We also shifted personnel toward selling job postings on our USA TODAY career site, selling individual postings and sweep packages for all career opportunities to larger employers in the market.

We also shifted one sales position to a department trainer/development position targeted at improving our new hire experience and creating individualized career development plans for each person in the department.

Reflecting back on the fourth quarter of 2001, we experienced several significant changes to our business. First was the decline in economic activity, which led to a change in momentum in our overall sales performance. Employment advertising, a leading indicator of economic health, had appeared in July and August of 2001 to be improving in Indianapolis, and unemployment trends appeared to have stabilized. But all of this momentum disappeared in September.

Since the events of Sept. 11, one positive employment factor at The Star itself has been a reduction in the employee turnover rate, which has improved 28 percent year over year. That has allowed us to retain a more skilled workforce. During our spring recruiting efforts, we also realized an improved recruiting climate at area universities. We were able to hire several promising graduates for entry-level sales and marketing positions.

The second big item post-Sept. 11 was that money became cheaper and more available through lending institutions. In the large-ticket categories of automotive and furniture sales, zero-percent financing programs were introduced to move inventory during the fourth quarter, which motivated consumer activity. This trend continued until recently as manufacturer inventories aligned with consumer demand. While interest rates remain attractive for consumers, consumer confidence may reduce retail activity.

As the Federal Reserve lowered prime interest rates, we experienced a rise in builder and real estate activity, as consumers looked to purchase big-ticket items. Banking and financial institutions increased their activity in traditional financial instruments like certificates of deposit and savings accounts through the first half of this year.

Advertising investment in the financial services category increased 50 percent as consumers looked to move their savings from equities to less-volatile investments. Associated with this segment was an increase in mortgage refinancing advertising, as area consumers looked to capitalize on lower mortgage rates.

On Sept. 11, we will publish a special Indianapolis Star edition that will be free of advertising content. It will be distributed to our subscriber and single-copy customer base. The issue will recount the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and look at how the events have impacted our lives, our city and nation.

The section will remain on sale throughout the week with proceeds going to local charities. In addition, we created a tribute-advertising rate for customers to use on Sept. 11 for institutional advertising, recognizing the events of the day and the past year. A few select clients are using this program. Our call center staff also developed a special house-of-worship directory, informing the public of opportunities for worship on the anniversary of the event. This will appear in the daily edition of The Star that day.

In the retail segments we have seen a shift in scheduling of major sales events for September to the days after Sept. 11. While overall advertising spending ratios did tighten after Sept. 11, 2001, we believe advertising budgets are running slightly ahead of 2001 levels for the majority of our clients. This modest growth rate has shifted our sales focus to more out-bound sales activities, focusing on the "value story" of our Star products and services.

At Gannett, we spend a lot of time and effort on having a value story that our sales people can take to the field. It is personalized by each sales person to reflect an experience they have had or one of their customers has had that demonstrates the value of The Indianapolis Star to a prospect.

While closing ratios have declined, we have repositioned The Star for the next economic upturn with a more proactive sales organization. We have developed additional bundled, integrated advertising programs across all business categories.

Advertisers appear to be seeking more comprehensive marketing solutions. During the past year we have expanded our free distribution product line, entered into cross-media platform selling and continued to seek ways to reverse our publishing model from the Internet. These sales initiatives appear to be yielding positive returns.

Until the events of Sept. 11, 2002, pass and consumer confidence stabilizes, we expect the coming year will continue to present a challenging advertising sales environment. The Indianapolis Star is now better positioned to meet that challenge. While strategies change, the mission remains the same Michael Waller The basic mission of The Sun has remained the same since Sept. 11, 2001: Our goal is to be indispensable to Maryland readers, especially those in Baltimore and its suburbs.

While our objective is unchanged, our strategies for achieving it have evolved over the past year. The priorities of our Washington bureau and our national and foreign staffs have changed. The terrorist attacks, the new emphasis on homeland security, the increased importance of foreign policy in coverage of the presidency, and issues such as government secrecy in the court proceedings involving detainees have had a profound effect on the focus of our news coverage.

There are new, heightened security measures in our Washington bureau. Everyone there is prepared to mobilize on a moment's notice, far more so than in the past. The prospect of further terrorist attacks, with Washington, D.C., a potential target again, shapes much of what we do. Even though the country has moved on, and subjects other than homeland security and terrorism demand our attention, the bureau and the city remain on alert.

What happened in the pages of The Sun was also discernibly different after Sept. 11. It was three months after the attack before a national reporter had a Sun Journal (a highly visible Page 2 feature) on an unrelated subject. And it was five months before the national desk was able to sell an offbeat story for the front page.

As the foreign correspondents necessarily turned much of their attention to the aftermath of Sept. 11, about 40 percent of the foreign staff stories were linked to the attacks, including articles from the Middle East, Russia, Western Europe and China.

To mark the anniversary, The Sun on Sept. 1 began a 10-day series on Page 1 reflecting on the year past. Kicking it off was a compelling report from Afghanistan by correspondent Todd Richissin. What he discovered was that amid unbelievable poverty and destruction, the Afghani people appear optimistic and even happy.

To commemorate Sept. 11, The Sun will publish a 16-page special section. The highlights will be a major essay by veteran writer Scott Shane and a photo essay by John Makely, who spent two weeks in New York last year. Included will be a dozen vignettes from Marylanders on what that tragic day meant to them and what they think the future holds.