Digital Ads--The Time Is Now

Publishers don't have to be Time Inc. to to make the move towards digital ad exchange. With the wealth of information and tools readily available, film should well be eliminated. All that's needed is education, cooperation and communication.Turning exception into the ruleAlan Darling, COO/CTO, Quality House of Graphics and DDAP (Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publication) chairman, admits that he's distressed over the volume of film that still exists in many advertiser/publisher relationships. The prepress suppliers are plagued with it, too. It's not unusual that as much as 50 percent of the work currently contracted out to prepress suppliers are film jobs. Darling candidly scoffs at the sluggish rate with which the print community has adopted accredited, standards-based digital ad production. He believes that, while a growing minority is taking a proactive role in the crusade, many still remain stagnate—paralyzed by relentless finger-pointing and blame-dodging. Skepticism is not a new phenomenon in the print industry, but Darling feels that the arguments have grown tired and trite. "Everyone blames everyone else," he bemoans. "Agencies fear that publishers can't handle digital files correctly, or that specifications are not up to date. And some publishers just can't bring themselves to say, 'no film accepted.'" He says that digital file standards are in place because they work—so why aren't more professionals capitalizing on their advantages? Darling advises the community, "If you're going to go digital, do it the right way." The new digital you Participating in digital ad exchange won't come without a learning curve, and to do it the right way, Darling suggests, publishers need to embark on a journey of discovery. Along the way, they'll be surprised by the number of dilemmas faced, but happy to know that available information and trusted partners can provide guidance. The DDAP mandates that digital ads be exchanged in one of two formats—TIFF/IT-P1 and PDF/X-1a. Tools to process these accredited standard files are plentiful (although some are more expensive than others), so there is no longer incentive to make or accept files in any other format—especially native application files. Digital ad specifications will largely be determined by suppliers' workflows and printers' file format preferences. While publishers work with suppliers to build the digital architecture to process digital ad files, internally, production staffs should be trained on all the minute details of the new digital workflow, too. Because the new workflow may require production managers to adopt new ways of receiving, trafficking, storing and transmitting ads. At the publisher level, production personnel must be trained and equipped to put the digital workflow in place. Each member of the staff should not only be aware of the publisher's digital ad specs, but they must also know when and how these digital ads are processed through the workflow once received. Beyond the understanding of the workflow, production personnel will also find themselves saddled with new responsibilities when it comes to communicating with prepress suppliers, ad agencies and advertisers. "I made sure our advertisers had specifications in hand by sending it to them either by fax or hard-copy media kit," explains Gina Montemurro, group production director, North American Publishing Company. "Then, I followed up with a phone call and e-mail to make sure they actually understood them. Some were open to instruction or guidance; some were not. Some wanted to [test] how an ad would reproduce, so we ran a proof and sent it to them to evaluate." To date, Montemurro reports that for the two magazines she manages, she continues to receive about 25 percent of the ads as film—way too much film, she admits. Instead, she'd like to see it eliminated all together, along with copy-dot scanning charges and extra production days built into schedules to accommodate film. "In 2002," Montemurro adds, "we took all references to film off our media kits and the Web sites." For publishers, there are plenty of sure-fire methods to get digital messages across: media kits, Web sites, the Digital Ad Lab online SPeC book, SRDS, etc. Many publishers also choose a hands-on approach, calling advertisers to advise them on proper digital specs, scheduling face-to-face meetings to discuss workflow and sending periodic fax and e-mail reminders to advertisers and their agencies. Publishers that continue to accept film will suffer the consequences of copy-dot scanning charges and difficult-to-integrate DCS files. But if they accept digital ad files in formats other than those mandated by the DDAP Association, they also accept the risks, responsibilities and costs associated with processing and reproducing ads. Darling says, for a publishers going into the digital transition, they must become digital ad advocates. To this end, digital specs must be clearly and constantly evangelized.Making milestones and moving mountains John Dunn, production director, Wizards of the Coast, recalls first hearing about PDF/X-1a at last year's MagazineTech conference in New York City: "I came back from the conference and told our guys that we really need to make a move in this direction to stay SWOP compliant." Dunn's publications are printed by R.R. Donnelley & Sons and Quad/Graphics, so his first order of business was to launch discussions with both to determine the workflow that was best suited to their facilities. Donnelley, Dunn reports, worked well with PDFs and immediately tested the PDF/X-1a exchange. Quad/Graphics, on the other hand, had better success with, and preferred, TIFF/IT-P1 files. "I've learned," Dunn shares, "that you should not force a file format down a vendor's throat, because if something goes wrong—then the finger-pointing begins. Donnelley wanted PDF/X-1a and Quad wanted TIFF/IT-P1. We were equipped to provide each with what they wanted, so we agreed. Our only real challenge from that point on was to get our advertisers on board." Testing of the PDF/X-1a workflow began with Donnelley in April 2001, and several rounds of tweaking ensued before ridding the workflow of bugs. Donnelley originally requested separated PDF files, but Dunn says the Wizards' workflow was not optimized for a separated workflow. Instead, he offered the printer composite PDFs, with the promise to test indefinitely, until Donnelley was comfortable with the format. The compromise satisfied both sides. "[Internally,] we knew that we wanted to batch process our PostScript files to PDF/X1-a," Dunn explains, "so we opted for Apogee Create. We also bought X-CheckUp from Apago and used it as plug-in to Distiller for the final file conversion." With the new digital architecture in place and many advertisers supporting the spec change, Dunn happily reports that his PDF/X-1a pubs are live. The latter rounds of testing proved that many of the minor problems could be traced back to faulty preparation in the native application files. For instance, dimension was inaccurate. But now, the Wizard team knows to anticipate these types of problems and can easily resolve them at preflight.Communicating needs The DDAP Association recommends that publishers' digital ad specifications should be readily available to advertisers and agents. They should be clearly written and include the following information: bleed, trim, live area dimensions, preferred and accepted file formats, CT/LW resolution, proofing requirements, removable media accepted and methods for available electronic transmission. "We published two different digital ad specs, one for TIFF/IT-P1 and one for PDF/X-1a, depending on the magazine and where it's printed," Dunn remarks. "The TIFF/IT-P1 spec is small, and we recommend that if an advertiser is not equipped to make the file, they should retain the services of a prepress supplier. The PDF/X-1a spec is much longer—19 pages long! We didn't want the length to scare off advertisers, so we recommend that they focus in on the section directly applicable to their operation. "The first part of the spec," Dunn adds, "takes them through the 'whys' behind PDF/X-1a. After all, we have to sell this to the advertisers, and we want them to know that there's a rationale behind the new spec. It's not just that I woke up one morning and acted on a whim. The rationale is SWOP, and it's in their best interest to be SWOP compliant." Wizards of the Coast has had remarkable success in getting its ad base to adopt the new specs. A minority of ads continue to come in as other formats, but Dunn has a plan in place to handle those, too: "If an ad comes in out of spec, we'll call the advertiser and ask if it would like to supply another file or if it would prefer to have us convert it for a fee of $200. Some seem very relieved when we offer to convert the file and are happy to pay the $200 for the service, but we make it very clear to all our advertisers that we do not want to become their prepress vendor, and so we continue to work with them and educate them on how to prepare their files the right way, before they send them to us."Determine your own destiny Whether preparing digital ads in-house or through a prepress supplier—advertising agencies must take a stance, and mandate that only digital ads will be sent to publishers. Even if publishers cannot internally accept and process digital files, chances are printers will be more than happy to integrate them into the workflow at their level. But for publishers, it is a little more complicated. During this hard-hitting ad drought, it may be a tough sell to risk turning away advertising if it's not supplied digitally. But how often does that really happen? Even if it is a legitimate claim, this, too, can be easily overcome with the right amount of preparation and communication. "You get what you give," Dunn suggests. "You have to be compassionate and provide excellent customer service to your advertisers. Be professional, but be firm. Most advertisers are willing to be a part of this. A lot of it depends on sales technique. Our initiative was to satisfy SWOP, not to be trailblazers." But in some cases, being a trailblazer is a good selling point. "We told our advertisers that by complying with our PDF/X-1a specifications now, they were making history. And many are proud to be such an integral part of the effort." -Gretchen Kirby

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Digital Ads--The Time Is Now

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