April 1, 2008

Ad for a play is news?

Aaron Alexander              posted 1 Apr 2008, 03:44 PM

Just noticed the ‘News’ headlines on the homepage including a press release for Toi Whakaari’s latest “stirring” production. I don’t think it’s typical to give such a platform to an ad for a show, is it? I’ve had a quick look through the news section for the last year and spotted just two other effective ads for shows (a return season and tour announcements, respectively), and one for an opera.

What’s the criteria for getting your show’s advertising posted as news?

Heck of a floodgate to crack open, I would’ve thought…

John Smythe      posted 1 Apr 2008, 03:58 PM

Absolutely right, Aaron – it’s very ad-hoc and not to be taken as a precedent.

Usually the contents of media releases are used to populate the production page of a reviewed production (i.e. the producer gets to have its own say about its show there).  In the case of the 2nd year Toi show, it won’t be reviewed, the media release was sent, so I decided to pop it in the news section and add a heads up in the feature box.

One day, when we have a pay-on-line facility and the wherewithal to manage advertising cost-effectively (earning more than it costs us to do it), a better way of doing it may emerge.