Journalists are beginning to tell stories differently, so advertisers also must explore new ways to reach people.

While much has changed in journalism — and now in advertising — it’s still all about The Story — which is why Dr. Mario Garcia chose that name for his book.

During Wednesday’s Webinar, The Importance of Creativity and Design in Advertising, the CEO and founder of the global consulting firm Garcia Media and senior advisor for news design and adjunct professor at Columbia University talked mobile advertising, how newsrooms and advertising teams should work together, and storytelling with INMA members.

“You need to make sure that whatever content you prepare is not just for one format,” Garcia said, advising that news media companies “start with the smallest format” — mobile — when planning stories, design, and advertising.

“It’s all about mobile. Today 82% of all content is looked at on mobile device. We must take into account where and when they will be consuming information.”

He shared examples of how news media companies such as Aftenposten, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal are integrating mobile into their promotional campaigns and changing the way they present stories.

Garcia pointed out that people visit their mobile phones an average of 114 times a day, and companies that are not thinking mobile-first are missing out on a significant (and growing) opportunity. They should also be looking at components like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality as part of this rapidly changing environment.

Artificial Intelligence is playing a prominent role in the transformation of news media companies, and Garcia urged INMA members to not just pay attention to what is happening with AI, but to work with it actively.

“I have a daily chat with my AI friend,” he said. “I practice with it every day because you cannot ignore the fact that this is coming, and in a few years, Artificial Intelligence will be part of what you do.”

Perhaps the most important transformation that needs to take place is that advertising and newsrooms need to work together — but that’s something Garcia said he has rarely seen happen.

“I have been in the business 52 years, and I know that advertising was always on the second floor and we were on the first floor,” he said. But coming together has become a “necessary evil” in today’s environment: “You need to meet with the newsroom people, the decision-makers, every day because you need to draw inspiration from what they’re doing.”

How storytelling is changing

As the world leans into visual storytelling, it changes the way news media companies must present stories. Instead of a vertical, side-to-side approach, readers are scrolling up.

In 2023, Garcia said, the “text and image” format is key: “You write and then you show. Why write three chapters and then add images at the end? That is not what we do now. We write, then we show.”

It’s a successful and engaging approach that should integrate video and audio whenever possible. And, unlike print, it should include advertising in the copy.

These visual breaks in the copy — whether images, audio links, or ads — are effective in attracting readers’ attention: “The average time spent on a [mobile] story is 12 seconds,” Garcia said. “But with images, it is 120 seconds. If you are running mobile ads, you’re connecting with your audience.”

If a company’s newsroom has embraced mobile storytelling, the advertising department should be embracing mobile ads. But, Garcia noted, that hasn’t yet gained the traction it deserves: “This is a strategy the advertisers have not tapped into,” he said, adding that it is the opposite of how print has been approached.

The new rules of design

Ads play a different role in linear mobile stories and could appear different, too — such as a video that’s strategically placed within a story. “In print, it’s the opposite. In print, all the photos appear together, and then you read.”

He shared examples from news media companies to show how ads can be integrated into a linear format and how the way journalists outline stories for mobile is similar to how a movie director creates a storyboard.

Advertising needs to become involved and decide where their advertising can fit within that format, he said. The ideal placement would be on top of one of the images that go with the story because it will already have the reader’s attention.

“This is the new anatomy of stories,” he said. “That’s why you cannot separate how the journalists work and how [advertising] would work. The days when the advertising department was one box with an ‘X’ at the bottom of a page [are gone]. You need to integrate yourself.”

This is the best time for advertising departments to begin creating interesting messages through mobile, but it must be done in conjunction with the journalists, Garcia said. The first step is for advertising to become aware of how mobile the newsroom is: “Once you find out that, how can you incorporate your ads in a totally new way?”

One other trend that is changing design for newspapers online is the presence of “giant ads” above the publication’s banner. These ads may take up two-thirds of the screen when a reader visits the publication’s home page, but Garcia said the mega ads are successful:

“This will make you money. This is beginning to happen. This is the equivalent of putting a full front-page ad in a newspaper. It’s costly, but it’s also a great revenue producer. Experiment with it.”

Garcia is optimistic about the new options for presenting content and attracting readers: “These are the best times to be storytellers and content providers.” However, leveraging the opportunities means committing to exploring the possibilities.

“You need to go back and integrate yourself with your newsroom,” he said. “To the average person reading a mobile device, the reading experience [must be] seamless. In terms of consuming the content, they are moving linearly. And so they bump into your ad, and they will look at your message and go on and read something else.”

Today’s sophisticated audiences understand the difference between an ad and content, Garcia said, but regardless of which it is, they want to see it flowing in a linear fashion. He urged news publishers to look at what they are doing compared to the possibilities that are available to them.

“Are you doing some of this, or are you still creating campaigns and content that is static and doesn’t appeal to the senses?”

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