Philippine papers in fresh push to revive readership

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

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