What would possess them?

While flipping through last Sunday's New York Times, I came across a full-page ad for the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs.  The same day, the $3-million dollar show closed, after only one week.  The same day, the NY Times published a story speculating on why the show flopped.   Common reasons were suggested:  no big stars, poor marketing, and passé comedy.

But here's something very interesting in light of the NY Times' speculation:  Michael Riedel of the New York Post reports that Brighton Beach Memoirs' producers struck an advertising deal with the New York Times that may have lead to the show's demise.  Here's the column, but in short, the NY Times offered deep advertising discounts in exchange for exclusivity.  According to Riedel, this meant that the show could not advertise through any other means – not even direct mail.  Riedel adds this advertising detail to the long list of possible reasons for the show's massive failure.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would give exclusive advertising rights to a newspaper … even the NY Times.  Sure direct mail is expensive, but it's one of the most, if not the most effective form of advertising.  So I'm left wondering what would possess anyone to strike such a deal in this day and age.  Sure, much of Neil Simon's comedy may be dated … even passé to some … but an advertising campaign resting solely on one newspaper is really behind the times.  I'm of the opinion that if you cannot saturate the airwaves, web, networks, and print with your ad campaigns – you probably shouldn't bother with general awareness advertising.  And as newspapers continue to shrink in content (and quality), I'm beginning to believe that newspaper ads are rarely worth the investment.  But even with a deep discount (Riedel doesn't give a figure), what could possibly be the benefit of such a deal?  

If you've ever flipped through the NY Times Arts section, there is so much advertising "noise" that at times it is hard to find the articles.  Sometimes there is page after page of full page ads.  The reader learns to block out the noise, keep flipping until they see some text.  It wasn't until I read about Brighton Beach Memoirs closing, that I realized I had noticed an ad for it the same day.