AP Develops New Ad Service

by Seth Fineberg, Jul 31, 2002, 12:00 AM

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AdSEND, the Associated Press’s digital ad delivery unit, is currently developing a new service that will streamline multi-market newspaper buys. Set to launch this fall, AP AdVantage will be a web-based service available to buyers and newspapers that will allow for easy placing and tracking of orders, consolidated billing and improved communication between advertisers and papers.

“One of the big problems in the newspaper industry is discrepancies with insertion orders and the overall bill itself,” says Paul Caluori, director of AP’s AdSEND unit. “The whole process of making a multi-market buy is also too complicated now. There are often different rates and different deadlines to deal with. And when you place an order it is typically faxed and you have to call all the papers, make sure they got it, and make sure there are no problems with the order. We want to do away with all of that.”

Caluori also says that the new service will be designed so that an advertiser (or buyer) can place multiple orders in one click. And once the ad runs, there will be one bill and a package of tear sheets from all the buys.

The new system will work with the buyer logging on to www.apads.biz and starting the insertion order. Buyers will also have the ability to export data from their own system as an XML format or in a format AP will provide. One data is uploaded to AP’s system, orders will show up in a draft mode, allowing buyers to look it over, and hit send once they approve. The system then sends email alert to all newspaper representatives, who can click on a link in the email and respond to the order. Newspapers can accept the order, suggest alternatives, or decline it. As soon as the representative does that, an email is generated to the buyer. This process can continue until there is an agreement. After the run, newspapers can enter in a confirmation of the run and wait for a tare sheet. The system makes all necessary calculations for the buy and can archive the information for future use.

Caluori says AP already offers service similar to AdVantage, but it is only a manual process. AP’s ad clients send them a spreadsheet or some format that shows all newspaper buys across the country. AP creates insertion orders, faxes them out and makes sure all of the terms are ok. After the run, AP does all of the consolidating, calculating, and the billing.

As for costs, the service will be free for buyers that want to do all of the aforementioned themselves. For newspapers, Caluori says AP will retain “a portion of a percent of the gross cost of the ad.”

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