MANILA – Print media remains to be relevant and strong, industry experts asserted following a statement from Globe Telecom chief operating advisor Peter Bithos that the telco company would no longer be advertising in the medium.
“People still rely on print when they want accuracy, length, detail,” United Print Media Group (UPMG) president and BusinessMirror vice president for corporate affairs Ricky Alegre told adobo in a telephone interview.
At the launch of Globe’s mobile advertising platform last March 27, Bithos said that the company decided to pull out of print and out-of-home media to improve on their ROI.
However, Alegre said that according to a cross-media study by GfK Research, print still presents the highest ROI.
The study, conducted in Europe, found that print advertising had an ROI of 120 percent, with magazines producing the highest ROI of all media channels.
“A lot of content of digital comes from us,” Alegre added. “Print is the biggest and only manufacturer of content in the world.”
Alegre also shared that the UPMG met with Globe Telecom’s head of corporate communications Yoly Crisanto, who assured them that despite Bithos’ statement, the company’s other business levels will continue to advertise in print.
“We’re confident. We do not fear digital,” Alegre said.
Meanwhile, Lucien Dy Tioco, UPMG corporate secretary and senior vice president for sales and marketing at the Philippine Star said “in the slew of things, whether you’re traditional or digital, the bottom line for any media is to evolve and to be current.”
“Advertisers have to see beyond the numbers and see the value of each medium and how it can help you reach those touch points…even if we have smaller numbers, we have a good number of influencers because of our credibility and the reputation that newspapers in particular have established,” he said.
“It’s sad that Globe won’t be able to appreciate what actual capabilities print can do in enhancing their brand image and reputation,” he said.
