NMA still has a big communications job to do…

Raymond Snoddy questioned why the Newspaper Marketing Agency’s (NMA) budget has been cut by so much at a time when newspapers most need marketing at MediaTel Group’s Future of National Newspaper event yesterday morning.

The BBC presenter and Newsline columnist said the newspaper industry needs to market itself properly and asked whether the NMA budget has been reduced by 50%? Rufus Olins, appointed to replace Maureen Duffy as chief executive of the NMA in January, responded from the audience.

“We do have a reduced budget but it is sufficient to do what we need to do,” he said. “We have lots of interesting plans,” he added but did not elaborate further.

“The NMA needs to run a multi-platform operation and reflect the industry as a whole,” Olins continued. “We need to work together – I have seen lots of goodwill. We are on the brink of changing things.”

Dominic Carter, commercial director, said News International is doing “a lot of work with the NMA… it is fundamental to the growth of our business”.

However, Carter pointed out that the industry needs to do more with research to make sure it achieves cross-media attribution. Vanessa Doyle (pictured), head of press & cinema at Initiative Media, agreed with Carter and complained that “Google is taking all the credit for the last click”. She supported newspapers and their ability to build brands, adding that online is “a small part of brand-building”.