The Facts. Our Future.
Add comment July 12th, 2009
Today, we concluded our seven-day advertising campaigned called “The Facts. Our Future.”
Each ad appeared on page 4A with a message from Register Star President and Publisher Scott Bowers that started with this:
For more than 154 years, we have been the Rock River Valley’s leading news, information and advertising source. I am committed to our future – in print and online. We are neither dead nor dying. It’s time to state that clearly, to set straight the half-truths, and reassure our readers and advertisers we are here for your and our future.
The seven separate messages were:
1. Our “diversified portfolio” makes us more than a newspaper, broadens our audience and drives results for our advertisers: Unlike our competitors, Register Star Media’s portfolio is not limited to one or two products. We have a diverse lineup that includes: the daily and Sunday Register Star, rrstar.com, Rockford Woman magazine, BusinessRockford.com, HealthyRockford.com, The Weekly, Boone County Weekly, RockfordWheels.com and RockfordHomeOnline.com. We also include RiverView Printing, which has increased its commercial printing volume since the launch of our new offset press in May 2006.
2. Seven days in print and always online: Here now. Here in the future: We publish the Register Star seven days a week. We will continue to publish seven days a week. We will continue to develop our Web sites. We are a viable business. We have weathered the economic declines in the Rock River Valley.
3. More adults read the Rockford Register Star today than in 2005: Seventy one percent of adults read the Register Star over the past seven days. That’s 189,100 adults 18 and over – an increase of more than 8,023 readers since 2005. On an average Sunday, we reach 57 percent of the adults in the market, an increase of 12,279 readers. Almost three of every four adults is a Register Star reader. Our readers mirror the diversity of the Rock River Valley. They are young and old and in-between. It is not true that “only old people read the Register Star.” We deliver a diverse and extensive audience every day. No other medium comes close.
4. RRStar.com is the most powerful news and advertising Web site in the Rock River Valley: We reach more than twice as many online users in a typical month as our local online competitors. RRStar.com is by far the leading local Web site in terms of past-month reach. The nearest competitors reach only 10 percent of the market in a typical month. The chicagotribune.com reaches only 5 percent. RRStar.com’s “sister sites” include RockfordWoman.com, BusinessRockford.com, HealthyRockford.com, RockfordWheels.com and RockfordHomeOnline.com.
5. Television and radio cannot deliver audience and results like Register Star Media: No single television station reaches more than one in three adults – in any time slot. No radio station reaches more than one in 10. The Register Star will reach almost one in two adults with its average weekday reach of 45 percent – greater than the reach of any single television or radio station in the market.
6. We connect advertisers with their customers – and get results for both: Almost six of 10 adults in the market say the Register Star is their primary advertising source for the stores where they shop. More adults consistently turn to the Register Star than to other media for advertising for vehicles, real estate, groceries and jobs – making the newspaper and rrstar.com the primary source for advertising in the Rock River Valley. Over the past five years, over 1,140 Rock River Valley businesses have invested consistently in advertising with Register Star Media, placing ads every year since 2004.
7. We make a difference. We get results. We are what you know. Now and in the future. These are remarkable times that challenge the men and women of the News Tower. We know and accept our responsibility to serve the Rock River Valley as the leading information source that empowers our community, while never compromising our principles. We hold our elected officials and our community leaders accountable. We demand that they do the public’s business in public. We give voice to those who are the least among us. We care for our customers and ensure they get the results they expect. We value each reader – in print and online. We stumble at times and we admit our mistakes, learn from them and move on. We strive always to do the right thing – now and in the future. Whether we do it in print or do it in holograms, we will remain the leading information source in the Rock River Valley – now and in the future.
Each was concluded with this:
We are number one in the country in combined newspaper and online reach. We reach 87.6 percent of adults 18-and-over in Boone and Winnebago counties. That’s almost a quarter of a million people.
