Overview
The 14 staff members of the Property Magazines division produce up to 2,000 pages a week, and the yearly print run averages 35 million pages. All production and print processes are outsourced to a variety of pre-press solution providers.
The Challenge
Like most newspaper and magazine publishers around the world, ACP Media faces a rapidly changing media environment. The company constantly searches for new ways to streamline production processes in order to improve services to advertising clients.
In 2005, Pat Houlihan, General Manager of ACP Media’s Property Magazines division, noticed several clients used WDA – the parent company of Workstream Solutions – to create and deliver advertising pages. Those clients included Bayleys, and Barfoot & Thompson Ltd, New Zealand’s largest privately owned real estate agency.
“These are real estate agents with exacting standards, and it was clear WDA was able to meet those requirements using AdConstructor,“ says Houlihan.
For ACP Media, confirmation of AdConstructor’s ability to streamline creation and delivery of advertising came in 2006, when Barfoot & Thompson Ltd implemented the solution during its peak advertising season.
“The changeover went without a hitch,” says Houlihan.
Despite AdConstructor being the solution of choice for many of its clients, ACP Media had to be sure that any new solution was able to meet its demanding print run schedule. Several different solutions from different providers were considered.“We had to be satisfied that any system we implemented would not compromise our high print run and the need for tight turnaround deadlines,” says Houlihan.
The Solution
AdConstructor proved itself to be capable of delivering smarter business process and artwork tracking than competing solutions.
“We went through a long period of discussion with Workstream Solutions and quite quickly became sure that they’d be able to deliver,” says Houlihan.
In 2006, ACP Media formed a business partnership with Workstream Solutions, and chose AdConstructor to service its real estate advertising clients. The solution is marketed to ACP clients under the brand name PressAds and url www.pressads.co.nz.
The Implementation
During the implementation process, Workstream Solutions provided training for all advertising clients of the Property Magazine division.
“Workstream Solutions is one of the most professional companies I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with,” says Houlihan. “The training was very thorough, and every facet of the AdConstructor program was covered in detail.”
ACP Media Property Magazines division has an AdConstructor representative on staff who is involved in the rollout of the system to all clients. As Jori Scobie, ACP Media Client Manager at Workstream Solutions explains, the representative visits each client regularly.
“Having an AdConstructor representative on staff means ACP Media is maintaining relationships with its advertising clients without having to employ lots of staff,” she explains. “The solution does all the work itself, and the rep is the face of the solution.”
The Benefits
Scobie adds that publishers such as ACP Media benefit from the ease of use of AdConstructor over design programs such as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXpress.
Traditionally, advertising clients trained to use design packages to build their own ads are given a ‘rebate’ from the publisher. If the client is a big advertiser, the rebate often covers the cost of the advertising client’s staff member who puts the ads together.
This system can work well, but if that person is also creating ads for non-ACP newspapers, it means ACP Media is covering the cost of its client to advertise in competitor publications.
“By moving the clients to AdConstructor, publishers benefit because clients are using a web-based solution that only manages its publications,” explains Scobie. “Clients also benefit because it is easier to train a staff member to use AdConstructor than a full-blown design package.”
Once trained on AdConstructor, clients of ACP Media Property Magazine division reap the benefits of an easy to use web interface.
“It’s a simple, seamless way for them to provide us with their advertising material,” says Houlihan. “It creates certainty and accuracy in publishing. Also, the print quality is very good, which is the direct result of good pre-press services built into AdConstructor.”
Publisher Benefits
- Exclusivity of use
- Lower production costs
- Improved deadline enforcement
- Scalable to an unlimited number of clients or publications
- Smarter business process and artwork tracking
- Automated control over photographic reproduction
Client Benefits
- Instant artwork on-demand
- Stronger control of brand presentation and consistency
- Reduction in errors caused by double-handling of artwork
- Improved media management
More Information
Visit the PressAds website, or for more information about our client success stories, contact us.
More Information
“The most important benefit of AdConstructor is that it suits our advertising clients’ requirements. It’s a seamless way for them to provide us with their advertising material.”
Pat Houlihan
General Manager
Property Magazines
ACP New Zealand