Larry Light, a seasoned advertising agency executive and marketer, with senior positions at IHG, McDonald’s and BBDO writes about a trend in the USA. He notices a stark increase in long copy print advertising.
“The majority of these full-length, full-page communications are focused on betterment while some are attempts at rectifying past corporate behaviors. It used to be that these long-form ads were normal. But with the proliferation of digital, short-form communications were considered the best way to speak to people. Discussions about people’s capacity for anything longer than a minute or two captured the attention of brand leaders and marketers. But, all of that seems to have changed, at least for the moment. The recent Sunday New York Times carried at least six different long-form print ads with actual copy, one of which was a two-page spread from MasterCard.
It is quite astonishing that one of the outcomes of the pandemic and the cries for change is the reappearance of full-page print ads in newspapers, a medium that was supposed to be dead. Along with our reintroduction to Campbell’s Soup and Kraft American Cheese, we are taking a (literal) page from an advertising approach that is over 50 years old.”