Black newspaper publishers challenge Microsoft for fair share of ad dollars

By Heather Faison and Shari Logan
NNPA News Service
(July 10, 2007) The National Newspaper Publishers Association, representing more than 200 black newspaper publishers around the nation, gave new meaning to the so-called "Microsoft Media Skins Challenge" at the corporation's headquarters in Seattle recently.

Amidst a passionate-sometimes heated-exchange, Microsoft Corporation officials, who represent black and other minority business and organizational interests for the multi-billion dollar corporation, conceded that Microsoft is among major companies that often think advertising in white-owned newspapers is a catchall-even in the black community.

"To be very frank it's a challenge," said Jose Piñero, Microsoft's director of diversity and multicultural marketing. "Part of the issue is ignorance and part of the issue is they think that, 'Hey if we just put out advertising in USA Today, it reaches everybody,'" he said.

But, several of the approximately 150 NNPA members, who participated in the three-hour conversation on the Microsoft campus, were not in the mood for excuses.

The publishers and advertising managers in Seattle for NNPA's summer conference challenged the corporation, arguing that the multibillion- dollar technology company is advertising solely in general market newspapers while neglecting the Black Press.

While Seattle Medium Chairman Chris H. Bennett, the host for the event, said his relationship with Microsoft has improved over the years, Theodore "Ted" Eubanks, publisher of the Seattle-based Skanner Group, said he has been trying to get Microsoft to advertise in his papers for 10 years to no avail.

Speaking heatedly in the large auditorium, Eubanks said that the Black Press gets the "crumbs" when it comes to advertising dollars compared to white newspapers and that the chances of other blackowned newspapers getting the company's advertising are slim.

"I'm in Seattle, I'm right in your market and I can't even get the time of day. So God knows how these other publishers who are outside your market are going to reach Microsoft," said Eubanks.

NNPA Chairman John Smith, citing a demonstration of Microsoft's new Windows Vista, questioned the company's corporate philosophy about marketing in the black community.

"Windows Vista is an operating system that we all will have to use at some point. So how in the world can we all use this system, and these guys can't hear?" Smith mused.

It's a long held challenge for the Black Press, the often futile attempt to convince large corporations that its unique perspective and large, faithful readership gives businesses rare opportunities to market directly to the black community. They are often told they must prove their advertising impact. This discussion was no different.

Piñero encouraged the publishers to put their advertising value in measurable data that will display circulation numbers for the papers to prove that they are a profitable business opportunity for the corporation.

Piñero's solution of providing more data seemed to raise the eyebrows of some publishers who said that process would create more difficult work and expense, especially for smaller papers.

Mary Thatch, publisher of the North Carolina-based Wilmington Journal, said she believes the lack of advertising from large companies has more to do with the controversial editorial content from black-owed newspaper than circulation figures.

"Essentially they are saying, 'We don't like what you're saying so we're pulling our funds," she said pointing to the Black Press' crusade against workplace discrimination and racial injustice. "They [corporations] know our numbers. They know more about the readership then we do. So what's really the problem?"

Piñero conceded that the black and other markets of people of color have an extra burden in proving their business value. He was optimistic about the progress made in Microsoft, but said some Microsoft groups are more interested in investing than others.

Representatives from both Vista and the Xbox gaming system made full-scale presentations to NNPA publishers and members promoting the advantages of their products to NNPA readers and offices.

"If I go to Microsoft Office, they're not listening today," said Piñero. "If I go to the Zune, who's marketing music, or to Xbox… they're starting to look at it and they're starting to look at opportunities. And, they're not there yet but at least we have a good dialogue."

Smith concluded the forum by thanking Piñero and Microsoft for at least having ignited the long awaited dialogue. He said the organization is open to forming a measurement program to solidify the value of the Black Press to large corporations.

Smith's sentiments were reaffirmed by Ken Smikle, founder and president of Target Market News. Smikle later told publishers in a workshop called "The African American Market" that a 21st Century advertising market is more digital, more numbers-oriented and far more technical.

Some publishers, however, rejected Smikle's message, contending that after realizing that even when they had the data, advertising executives still do not give them the time of day.

"Data does not necessarily do the deal," said James Washington, publisher of the Dallas Weekly. "Doing business with us is new; we have to show our value beyond readership and circulation."

But, Terry Artis of Limelight newspaper in St. Louis agrees that the Black Press must make some change in its advertising strategies: "They don't want to hear 'its good for the community' anymore; they want a win-win situation."


 

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