Via internet to newspaper

By ADAM GIFFORD

Herald publisher Wilson and Horton is working on software to allow ads to be filed over the internet for its print edition and then automatically copied onto its website.

Advertising projects manager Steven Holmes says the company has been working since last May with Australian software company Lizard Research to add new features to its AdLizard software.

The system allows advertisers to create and proof their own print display advertisements online. The advertisements go from the software into the newspaper's publishing system as portable document format files.

"We want to be able to strip out the body copy and use it to build the website," Mr Holmes says.

The initial focus is on job ads, but real estate and car advertisers are potentially big users of the service.

With the new Cybergraphics software, which is being introduced for ad production to replace the current Atex system, advertisers will be able to go online to book space in the newspaper.

"We're then looking at providing a link through to the AdLizard software, so they have the option of using that to create their ad," Mr Holmes says.

Mark Ottaway, the general manager of W&H Digital, says the online section of the Herald saw the potential of AdLizard early in its development and has been keen to push the limits of the product.

"We will only succeed if our clients succeed. This is an efficient way for those who need to communicate with the newspaper on a regular basis," he says.

All job vacancies run in the Herald are also run online by a process of database querying. Because of the newspaper's size in the market, the MyJob section of the site often carries the highest number of ads on any New Zealand site - about 10,000 last week.

AdLizard will initially be targeted at large advertisers. It is being piloted with some large recruitment firms, including MBT and LaceyLee.

Templates have been prepared for their preferred styles, which they then populate with data.

LaceyLee office manager Anna Bethell says it has dramatically reduced the amount of work she needs to do to prepare her company's regular half page of job ads for Wednesday morning.

"It used to be I'd start on Friday creating a Word document, which I would e-mail to the Herald at 10 am Monday to be made up," she says.

"I'd get a proof faxed back, so there would be bits of paper flying everywhere. Now I do it all on the screen and the Herald doesn't get it until I'm happy with it. I can start on Monday morning and send it off in the afternoon."

Mr Ottaway says the Herald is rethinking its online presence, taking into account three years of learning about what newspaper sites can do. Initially the company thought it needed to tackle specialist sites like Monster.com or Seek head-on.

"What we found is we were taking on the big players and ignoring our heritage. We were trying to create a new product and we were doing it without even presenting ourselves as the Herald brand.

"We're now trying to look at it from our customers' point of view. How are they trying to succeed and how can the Herald brand assist their marketing needs?"