The 2024 Local Media Association Digital Innovation Awards spotlighted some of the most creative and impactful revenue and sponsorship strategies from newsrooms nationwide. In this winners’ spotlight, we talked to Alec Crecelius of The Sheridan Press, which earned an honorable mention in this year’s LMA Digital Innovation Awards.
What was the big idea behind your revenue or sponsorship initiative — and how did it come about?
We wanted to find a way to engage local kids in our newspaper creation process. Drawing ads for local businesses was an easy way for kids to participate and get parents excited about having their child featured in the paper.
How did you identify the right partners or sponsors for this project?
It was important to reach out to as many sponsors as possible for this campaign. Businesses from all different industries could participate and the variety led to many creative designs. It also allowed kids to create for a business that they identified with which made the designs feel genuine.
What made this campaign or initiative stand out from typical ad models?
Typically, advertisers rely on our in-house design team or provide creatives ready to run. In this case, we allowed kids to generate their own ideas and put them into action. Since kids had the ultimate creative choice, we had tons of fun and excellent designs.
What tools, platforms or strategies were key to your execution and success?
We had created similar types of designs before, but this is the first time we’ve taken advantage of some unique tools in our advertising CMS. We booked space for the main frame ad, which was a full two-page spread. We then restricted all the sponsored ads to run alongside the main frame ad. Usually, we would have booked everything separately, but tying each ad to the frame led to very easy booking and processing for our creative team, as nothing could be booked outside of the process we set.
Additionally, we had examples from a similar campaign run by one of our sister publications. These helped bring advertisers on board by getting them excited about having kids create fun ads that promote their businesses. We also leveraged strong community support for schools to generate interest in the campaign since proximity to education is important for our sponsors.
What were the results — and what did success look like for your team?
A large part of the success was simply getting people excited about having local kids’ art in our paper. Promoting interest in the newspaper for a young audience and their parents is monumental in building momentum towards future growth. We simply need more young people interested in the paper, and this significantly contributed towards that goal.
Of course, the money aspect was important as well. We wanted to earn and grow revenue opportunities as that is what keeps newspapers alive. It isn’t just one successful campaign, but rather a series of great campaigns that keeps the community engaged and advertisers interested.
What kind of feedback did you receive from the community and your sponsors?
Our reps loved selling this product due to the overwhelming support we got from sponsors. Many were quick to jump on board once they knew how we were incorporating kids into the project. We got also got tons of direct positive feedback from community members whose kids were involved in the process. Our office got several calls from interested parents who just wanted to know more about the project and that was amazing to see.
What would you say to another small newsroom trying to innovate in this space?
Most newsroom staff should have the necessary tools to produce these kinds of creatives for print. The real challenge is coordination between schools, creative teams and ensuring a reasonable timeline for sales and pagination. Make sure you have a solid plan first, then bring that to the schools. You’ll need them on board first before contacting sponsors.
How are you building on this success moving forward? Any plans to evolve or repeat the initiative?
We will definitely be repeating this in the future. Our community loved the effort, and there are always new kids that we can get involved, even if they didn’t participate last year.