Why should the rules be any different from any other newspaper? The answer lies in the tabloid format adopted by these free dailies. If its not clear still, travel by tube at peak office hours and you will get the answer which I presume most of the marketers don't.
The peak hours when the tube is packed, and people are jostling for space while trying to get a grip of the latest news or celeb gossips, there is little space for anyone to open both the pages of the newspaper and read it as you would expect them to. The newspaper is folded and at times folded twice so that the visible part is only half of the page or even less. Just imagine your computer screen cut into 4 parts horizontally because the space around you does not give you the luxury to read it wide open. Or even if a person is comfortably sitting and reading the newspaper, there still is a space constraint because reading it wide open means you open your arms as much which is not possible.
In such a scenario, a full page ad is ignored for convenience sake. Although it does catch attention first time but people are more interested in quickly getting a gist of all the newsy stuff before they get to work and prefer moving on instead of browsing through your full page ad the second time it comes.
Now for an announcement value ad, you would want to go for a full page ad like you do in any other print media but the same is not applicable to these tabloids. Whereas a smarter and smaller size ad which may not give a 'mega' feel, can get better attention. And if it is absolutely important to go for a bigger size ad, go for a 3/4 page ad with some news around it for people to stop by to read the news and in the process get exposed to your ad.
A good example is Lufthansa full page ads which have been appearing regularly in all of them - Metro, London Lite and London Paper and seem to be a waste of money. The fact that its neither an announcement ad to attract attention and nor is it smartly planned front loaded campaign, it gets ignored where as a Wilkinson Sword ad with smart layout and format gets noticed and talked about.
Its only common sense and needs small observation on part of the marketers but if ignored reduces the ROI and effectiveness.
The peak hours when the tube is packed, and people are jostling for space while trying to get a grip of the latest news or celeb gossips, there is little space for anyone to open both the pages of the newspaper and read it as you would expect them to. The newspaper is folded and at times folded twice so that the visible part is only half of the page or even less. Just imagine your computer screen cut into 4 parts horizontally because the space around you does not give you the luxury to read it wide open. Or even if a person is comfortably sitting and reading the newspaper, there still is a space constraint because reading it wide open means you open your arms as much which is not possible.
In such a scenario, a full page ad is ignored for convenience sake. Although it does catch attention first time but people are more interested in quickly getting a gist of all the newsy stuff before they get to work and prefer moving on instead of browsing through your full page ad the second time it comes.
Now for an announcement value ad, you would want to go for a full page ad like you do in any other print media but the same is not applicable to these tabloids. Whereas a smarter and smaller size ad which may not give a 'mega' feel, can get better attention. And if it is absolutely important to go for a bigger size ad, go for a 3/4 page ad with some news around it for people to stop by to read the news and in the process get exposed to your ad.
A good example is Lufthansa full page ads which have been appearing regularly in all of them - Metro, London Lite and London Paper and seem to be a waste of money. The fact that its neither an announcement ad to attract attention and nor is it smartly planned front loaded campaign, it gets ignored where as a Wilkinson Sword ad with smart layout and format gets noticed and talked about.
Its only common sense and needs small observation on part of the marketers but if ignored reduces the ROI and effectiveness.
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