Fifty percent of advertising at MIP-TV is a waste.

Look around you as you walk the aisles, the Croisette, or lounge in an insouciantly important manner in the lobby of the Martinez or Majestic and you will see one thing, if you see nothing else: Advertising. Whoever said, "It pays to advertise," would be in his element at MIP-TV. Aside from the stands, the leaflets, the hoardings, the painted cars, the bicycles and printed placemats, there are the magazines. Just like this one.

It might come as a surprise, but no one, not even Reed Midem, actually knows how many magazines are distributed at the market. But an informal survey of those buying advertising suggests that the figure is well in excess of 50 titles and that between them they carry a minimum of 1,500 to a maximum of 2,000 pages of advertising. The question, with all due respect to our Dom Serafini, is why? After all, every advertiser has a sales team, and every sales team will, if nothing else, make sure that every potential buyer is aware of their content and, if at all possible, views it. So you might ask yourself, if the buyer has viewed the content and decided against it, is one ad in such a plethora of advertising likely to cause them to change their minds? And, if the answer is no, then why advertise? The answer, unsurprisingly, is as complex as the business itself.

"Our marketing strategy," said Mark Levine, senior vice president, Marketing, Nickelodeon International (MTVNI), "reflects the creativity and innovation that drives our brands. During a market," he continued, "everything should be viewed as a potential marketing opportunity, and the more complementary they can be, the better." Levine was clear that, "Our marketing is designed to engage the client wherever they may be--from branded taxi receipts to branded people carriers we provide as a free shuttle service to clients. We strive to provide a great experience for both established clients and potential clients while at the same time ensuring great visibility."

Greg Phillips, president of Fireworks International, a subsidiary of ContentFilm, believes that, "advertising in general, and print advertising in particular, does have a role to play in 'beating the drum' and creating awareness and excitement in general." And this ability of advertising to create a sense of well being and importance around a company seems to be far more important than any perceived ability to sell any particular title.

And markets such as MIP-TV and MIPCOM do seem to be the preferred vehicles for advertising spend. While Nickelodeon's Levine would not be drawn on specifics, he was prepared to offer the observation that, "MIP-TV and MIPCOM are very important content distribution markets for MTVNI, and we budget our advertising spend accordingly."

In a similar vein, head of Press and Marketing at the U.K.'s All3Media, Rachel Glaister insisted that, "the percentage of our annual advertising budget spent at such markets does vary," but she was also happy to acknowledge that, "the percentage spent at MIP-TV and MIPCOM is a significant percentage of the annual budget."

Not everyone approached was happy to talk to us on the record. Advertising budgets and strategies are, after all, understandably sensitive issues. But the general consensus of those who were prepared to speak on the record was that a daily publication was of much greater value than a "one-off" and the overwhelming consensus was that it is vital to "get in early." One senior PR person who was not willing to be quoted by name told VideoAge, "I would take one piece in one of the early editions of VideoAge Daily or MIP/MIPCOM Daily, rather than three pieces in any other magazine."

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There was also a broad consensus amongst those to whom we spoke that the size of the magazine was also important. The majority view was that beyond a certain size, it became counter productive as people had neither the time to read a vast tome at the market, nor the weight allowance to take it home. And even if they did do one or the other, advertising became lost in the forest of print.

Then there is the question of cost. The view was that, for many magazines, a four-color, full-page ad would set a company back between $3,000 and $4,000 depending on the publication and the deal. Major companies with significant annual budgets able to commit to an annual level of spending obviously get better deals than companies buying single ads here and there.

But even so the general consensus was that the cost of advertising was at stable with deals available to major companies with significant annual budgets to commit, but with print advertising holding its place in a changing market place. The mood was perfectly caught by Fireworks' Phillips who commented that, "While there are ever-increasing ways of reaching our customers, for me, print still has its place. Although, along with all the others, it still lags behind getting on a plane and meeting your customers in person."

Nonetheless it is clear that print advertising is viewed as an important part of the overall promotional mix at events such as MIP-TV and MIPCOM. MTV's Levine summed up the mood, saying, "In general our print advertising choices are used to complement a wider marketing strategy which is always market specific," citing as an example, "our TODO TV campaign at MIPCOM 2007 highlighting our programming for our Spanish-speaking audience."

And that is the clear message: if you are doing it right, you are doing it everywhere you can, and that includes print advertising, as well as other forms of promotion at markets. As Nickelodeon's Levine said, "At markets such as MIP-TV and MIPCOM, our marketing has a dual purpose, both to promote our products and portfolio of brands and to provide our clients with an MTVNI experience." And he is quite clear that print advertising is part of that mix.

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For those still in doubt as to the value of advertising there is the comment of one buyer who told VideoAge, "I always count the ads companies are placing. The more they advertise the richer they are, and the less they need a deal. Which means I can't press them as hard on price. While by contrast those who don't advertise very much need the money and will almost certainly take a tougher deal."

You see, it's true--it really does pay to advertise. However, like the ad agencies like to say: "Fifty percent of advertising s a waste, but we don't know which 50 percent."