House Ads

Click on the thumbnail to see a number of examples of good content promotion house ads from a variety of newspapers.

Takes One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Newsday, Long Island, NY
This clean, uncluttered ad for Newsday's Olympics special has all the elements of good design: Color, a large image, a small amount of text, a focus on the reader benefit (your guide), a clear message focused on a single subject.

Chicago Tribune
This house ad for the Sunday Travel section is a model of good design. A large graphic image in the upper left, where the eye naturally settles first. The image leads the eye to the main headline, and the headline leads the eye down through the copy, finally to the newspaper logo at the bottom of the ad. A textbook example.

Takes One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chicago Tribune
Another well-done house had from the folks at the Tribune. This promotion for content during the upcoming week focuses first on the subject of the content. (Too many house ads focus first on the section in which the content will appear.) The headlines are cleverly written and draw the reader into the copy.

Takes One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Newsday
Newsday uses “the donut” to overcome production hurdles that can sometimes get in the way of creating house ads on short notice. It creates attractive house ads in sizes to fit a variety of common ad holes with generic copy in the donut, leaving a standard-size hole in the donut into which live copy can be dropped.

Takes One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chicago Tribune
A classic newsroom objection to upcoming content promotion is that it will enable competitors to steal the newspaper’s best stuff. The Chicago Tribune operates in one of the most competitive news markets in the country, yet finds ways to alert readers to its upcoming investigative series. Here’s one way to do it: the question headline. This one is strong enough to touch a nerve with any parent of school-age children, yet doesn’t give a hint to competitors how to steal the story.

Takes One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

The Oregonian, Portland, OR
The Oregonian runs this full-page calendar that touts a month’s worth of upcoming content promotion with a vibrant, colorful presentation.

Takes One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Raleigh News and Observer, Raleigh, NC
The N&O created one of the most innovative approaches to content promotion we have seen yet. It drops into its classifieds random mini-promotions for content. Each looks just like a classified ad, so the close reader of the section encounters them unexpectedly.

Click here to return to the main page of the Gallery