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“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English) – Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll
It’s usually a sign of desperation when a media title hits out at its peers in an effort to boost its own business.
And if you do, you better get your facts right. Which the latest blazing-yellow email from The Decision Makers that dropped into my inbox (and no doubt those of many others) today most certainly did not.
“DID YOU KNOW?” it begins in big black capital letters underneath a 1960s lightbulb icon just in case anyone missed the question and the fact that a powerful revelation was coming next.
“You could spend over €3000 on a single ad in a ‘Cannes issue’ trade magazine that is seen once and then discarded.”
I’ll deal with that misleading, misinformed question/presumption in a moment, one that ranks right up there with Donald Trump’s claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been stealing pet dogs and cats and eating them.
Having read the half-question, I just knew there was an ‘or’ coming up. And indeed, like a Kamala Harris retort to the former President’s barking-mad canine claim, it didn’t take long.
“… OR (there goes that big black capitalisation again in case you have fallen asleep in class) you could invest less budget in a full-spectrum, year-round, updateable advertising and editorial showcase in DM Cannes Showcase that presents your brands and company to TR buyers repeatedly before, during and long after the TFWA show.
No other trade media offers this.
Find out more now” (The underlining clearly necessary in case any reader might prefer to do it later or, quite likely, not at all.)
Being inquisitive by nature, I decided to click the now underlined button. Upon which, as with Alice after she descended down the rabbit hole, things became curiouser and curiouser.
For there to greet me was a series of claims and statements as half-baked as an underdone pizza, including:
- Travel retail’s most influential business marketing platform
- The ultimate travel retail resource
And then, and this is where things get nasty:
- Unlike standard trade press, DMs provides unique and essential brand/company information.
- DMs’ intuitive format means that your advertising stands out to buyers important to you, ensuring maximum ROI and effectiveness – no more “buried” ads lost against irrelevant editorial.
I won’t go on (though the website does). Nor will I stoop to criticising The Decision Makers as a title. Actually, I think it’s pretty good. Its Publisher Tony Richardson, a decent bloke, has been in the travel retail world for almost 27 years.
But it appears he (or one of his over-excited sales people) is stranded back in those pre-digital days (The Moodie Report, as it was known, would not be launched until 2002), judging by his team’s marketing email.
The allegation for example that an advertisement in a ‘Cannes issue’ trade magazine is seen once and then discarded hardly stands up to scrutiny given that we not only produce in print form at the show but also digitally to our entire global readership. Moreover, the issue in question is archived permanently on our website.
Our opening levels, freely available to our advertisers, are outstanding; and the feedback over the past two decades constantly positive.
Not only that but it is also distributed in print form at The Trinity Forum a few weeks later (an event full of decision makers by the way, Tony). Seen once and discarded? I don’t think so.
I don’t know how The Decision Makers defines ‘standard trade press’ nor how they reached the conclusion that only their title produces ‘unique and essential brand/company information’.
Oh yeah? Perhaps the company knows something our readers don’t. For the fantastically loyal and appreciative readership we have built up over the years express their appreciation time and again via feedback, contributions, support, stories, exclusive invitations, and, yes, advertising.
All for a complimentary – yes, this time I will use bold lettering because it matters – service and platform that I think can legitimately lay far more claim to being ‘the ultimate travel retail resource’ than those who would denigrate us in the unseemly pursuit of a buck.
No more ‘buried’ ads lost against irrelevant editorial, eh? Besides insulting the (yes, decision-making) capabilities and investment choices of our business partners, that is also an affront to me, us and most of all our readers.
Have you read any of our digital and print magazines, Tony? I think you have as you are a (complimentary) subscriber. Want to compare Similarweb stats?
DID YOU KNOW what I think? That you should go and talk to travel retail’s equivalent of the good citizens of Springfield, Ohio and establish some facts. Then let’s have a debate. You play Donald, I’ll be Kamala. ✈