The Art of Attraction: Newspaper Front Covers

What really jumped out at me when I saw the newspaper covers at newseum.org was:

What are they advertising?  The Name, or the Headline. 

Before I even clicked on a link, I noticed the name of the paper for The Salinas Californian and the headline "City, 49ers in a traffic jam" on another paper.

It seems to me that The Salinas Californian sold on its own merit.  They didn't need a crazy headline to capture the audience.  They assumed that people would pick up their paper just because of what paper it is.  It has a good reputation. 

On the other hand, The Examiner San Francisco, also from California, needed a HUGE headline to capture the attention of readers.  Not only that, but instead of putting any articles on the page, they just filled it up with pctures and content directories.

Who are they advertising to?

On further inspection, I noticed that The Salinas Californian advertised to younger adults on its front cover: text alerts, Wal-Mart news, "Ransom found in art thefts," and coupons for Mexican food.  While The Examiner San Francisco also advertised to the younger crowd with its bright colores and lack of words, it advertised to older adults with some of it's more boring blurbs: advertising for teaching jobs, talking about presidents and City Hall, advertisement for aquarium discounts.

 

What are their main concerns?

For The Salinas Californian, it was getting the news out.  The Examiner San Fransisco was more concerned with selling papers.  Instead of offering news stories that really mattered, they offered bling.  Case in point: can you really find a decent news story on it's front page?

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More on Newspaper Front Covers:

The Front Page is a Map to the Middle