Philippine papers in fresh push to revive readership

<p>MANILA: The growing appeal of the internet as a source of news has </p><p>prodded the Philippines' top broadsheets and tabloids to kick off a </p><p>joint readership drive. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The Print Advertising Organisation of the Philippines (PRADO), which </p><p>groups nine dailies, is spearheading the print campaign to re-emphasise </p><p>print's role in the dissemination of public information. The campaign </p><p>was developed by DDB. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The group, which comprises Philippine Star, Today, Manila Standard, </p><p>Malaya, Business World, Freeman, Abante, Pilipino Ngayon and People's </p><p>Journal, has a combined circulation of three million copies a day. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>There are plans for the group to merge with the older Print Media </p><p>Organisation (PRIMO), which has Philippine Daily Inquirer and Manila </p><p>Bulletin in its stable. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>With the market leader, Inquirer, in its fold, PRIMO has a daily </p><p>circulation of 1.2 million copies daily. The other leading dailies are </p><p>Star and Bulletin respectively. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The Philippine Advertising Board is expected to approve the merger of </p><p>the two print associations this month, which will lead to the formation </p><p>of the Alliance for the Print Media of the Philippines. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>PRADO vice-chairman Remy Bicomong said the alliance would strengthen </p><p>efforts to revive newspaper reading. "We are just waiting for the super </p><p>body to be formed," said Bicomong, Malaya's advertising director. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>She insisted that the readership campaign was not linked to a </p><p>circulation drive. "The newspapers haven't suffered a sales decline but </p><p>we do want to re-orient the new generation of computer and short message </p><p>service users." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>DDB creative director, Roger Pe, added: "The main message of this </p><p>campaign is that newspapers are still one of the best sources of </p><p>information available." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The campaign has three executions, "Dumb Bell", "Vitamins" and "Bowl", </p><p>featuring a newspaper in those shapes to highlight the positive benefits </p><p>of newspaper reading. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>