Democrat-Gazette Launches TV Ad Campaign

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently launched a television campaign to promote its Northwest Arkansas edition. Blackwood Martin/CJRW, the newspaper’s agency, produced the ads, which are apparently a series of testimonials.

Sue Cearley, the account executive working with the newspaper, wouldn’t say much about the campaign because of client confidentiality. She did say, however, that the ad format was produced at the client’s request.

As of the first week in September, spots had aired locally featuring Rebecca Garner, president and chief investment officer for Llama Asset Management Co., and Miles James, chef at James at the Mill.

Garner says she did the spot at the request of a friend who works at the ad agency. The ad was edited from a 40-minute, unscripted conversation taped in Garner’s Fayetteville office.

Although the finished commercial focused on the D-G’s Sunday supplement, Northwest Arkansas Business Matters, Garner says she talked about various newspaper-related subjects — including her expectations of various publications.

“I’m not looking to them to be a local paper,” Garner says about the D-G. “I take it because I want the state news.” Garner says she subscribes to the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas and the Northwest Arkansas Times, both of which she expects to provide local news.

Garner says her expectations are different for each publication. “I hold [the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal and Arkansas Business] to a higher standard for business news than any of [the daily newspapers.]”