Newspaper Association of America gets it all wrong

In the last month or so, the Newspaper Association of America has been running an ad campaign in an attempt to convince advertisers that newspaper advertising is still the way to go. While I believe that newspapers are not dead and advertising in them still makes sense for certain companies and brands, there is one fatal flaw in the NAA's ad campaign - the tagline.

A tagline is supposed to give your potential buyers a lasting memory of your message; the simplest, last thought to get them to buy into what you're selling. Some examples:

"BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine"
"Nike. Just Do It"
"Beef. It's What's for Dinner"
"Pork. The Other White Meat"
"Wal-Mart. Always Low Prices. Always."

You get the idea. So what does the NAA use for their lasting tagline?

"Newspaper Advertising. A Destination. Not a Distraction."

Wow. I hadn't consciously thought of advertising as a distraction lately, but thanks for pointing that out. Do my buyers look at my advertising and think it's distracting? Is advertising in the paper the right way to go?
These are not the thoughts you want running through the head of someone trying to decide how to spend their marketing budget. In my opinion, the NAA dropped the ball on this one.

This, of course, leads into the discussion of whether leading with advertising is the right strategy for your business or brand. But that's a deeper topic we'll leave for another day...