When I wrote the post below defending the New York Times decision to run the MoveOn.org smear ad attacking General Pertaeus I was being just a little bit disingenuous. I meant what I said about believing the Times should be able to sell ad space to whoever it wants, at whatever rate it wants, for what ever reason it wants. I also meant it when I wrote that the Times should tell Rudy Giuliani to take his demand for "equal time" and deposit where the sun doesn't shine.

I knew that wasn't going to happen. I know a thing or two about how the advertising game is played. It's part of what I do for a living.

I knew that the rate card figure of $181,000 for a political ad was for a full page ad on a specific day, on a specific page of the newspaper. I knew that while almost no one would pay full price, no one was going get that big a discount for guaranteed placement. (Sort of.)

I assumed that MoveOn.org bought the ad on the standby rate. They said when and where they wanted it to run, but the Times was under no obligation to give them what they wanted. They could have run the ad a day later in the fashion section. But that wasn't going to happen. The Times was going to give MoveOn.org exactly what it wanted - if not a better position. They were going to do that because they agreed with the ad, and they new it would generate a lot of buzz.

Giuliani is not a stupid man. He probably understands this. If he doesn't you can bet the people he hired to do PR and advertising do. He could have run his counterpoint ad just by calling and purchasing an ad on standby. But there would have been nothing to gain from that. Better to grandstand and make the ignorant believe you are fighting back against a media giant.

The Times had nothing to lose by "agreeing" to Rudy's demand. They just sold another full-page ad on standby. And as they could have done with the MoveOn.org ad, they could have buried it in the least read section of the paper. But that wasn't going to happen. They ran it on the day Rudy requested, but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get the page he wanted.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 03:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment