More than 80 clients have been told their regular ads, with a collective value of over £30,000, will be printed as usual at no cost to them. The ads will range from full pages, to half pages and quarter pages. It is also publishing adverts for smaller independents who have never had the budget to pay for adverts.
The privately owned weekly, which is a free publication, says it is taking the unprecedented step to support local businesses and the local community.
“It’s our way of going the extra mile to help others as we come out of lockdown,” said Editorial Director Richard Moore. “As far as we know it will be the first time it has happened in the UK. Some newspapers have given free ads but not for the entire run of the paper.
“We were launched five years ago with a remit to support local business and the community and that’s just what we’re doing in these unprecedented times; taking our own unprecedented action.”
The move comes after the Times of Tunbridge Wells ran a month long ‘Back to Business” campaign profiling dozens of smaller businesses and independents free of charge earlier this summer.
“This new initiative is also our way of thanking those advertisers who have supported us since the first lockdown,” continued Richard Moore. “We rely solely on an income stream from advertisements to keep us in business.”
Advertisers are ‘over the moon’ at the ‘fantastic’ offer. Typical was the comment from Emilia Sanders at Culture Exchange: “I am so happy…it’s a brilliant initiative to help the community.”
Richard Moore said the newspaper itself, which distributes over 10,000 copies each Wednesday, aims to break even and that ‘sometimes that actually happens’.
He added: “We are able to provide free adverts because we are a privately owned business.”
The newspaper is owned by One Media and Creative Ltd which is part of the Markerstudy Leisure Group of companies.
