DALLAS (23 September 2021) – The International News Media Association (INMA) today launched an Advertising Initiative designed to provide actionable, media-focused insights into emerging opportunities.

The announcement from the new lead of the Advertising Initiative, Mark Challinor, came at the conclusion of the association’s What New With Advertising Sales Master Class.

The Advertising Initiative aims to focus on how to rejuvenate data- and research-backed media advertising sales for a resurgent post-pandemic market.

Specifically, the initiative will look at:

• The rise of ad formats: Best-in-class case studies on contextual advertising, content studios, branded content, self-serve advertising, and programmatic. 
• The revised sales team: Getting the right talent, motivating sales teams, emerging team structures, selling first-party fueled advertising, franchise sell, and where e-commerce fits. 
• The new role of print: How to leverage print’s advantages in an increasingly digital world and where print fits in the emerging marketing mix. 

“We believe national and local economies are coming back to life, and advertising will be vital to the success of companies rebuilding brands, sparking foot traffic, and selling goods and services,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA. “What we aim to do with the Advertising Initiative is focus INMA efforts to surface best practices and trends – and make certain media companies aren’t leaving money on the table for the reboot ahead. With our focus on ad formats, sales teams, and the role of print, INMA has its finger on the pulse of the big trends happening next.”

The Advertising Initiative joins INMA’s suite of topic-based initiatives that have provided insights for news publishers around the world: the Readers First Initiative focused on digital subscriptions; the Digital Platform Initiative focusing on Big Tech developments; the Product Initiative eyeing methods, strategies, KPIs, and prototyping; and the Smart Data Initiative and its focus on audience and content metrics, analytics, and workflows.

Like many of the deliverables from INMA, the Advertising Initiative will include a bi-weekly newsletter, bi-monthly video meet-up, master classes, reports, conference presentations, and the “Ask Me Anything” sessions for which INMA has become known.

The Advertising Initiative was conceived by the association’s Board of Directors and implemented September 1.

Challinor is a London-based media executive with extensive commercial experience in marketing and mobile spaces. His more than three-decade career includes senior roles at Associated Newspapers, Telegraph Media Group, and Trinity Mirror (now Reach), and today he consults with media companies, is a panel member with the U.K. Committee of Advertising Practice at the Advertising Standards Authority, and co-hosts the U.K. Brand Show on business radio. In addition to his role with the INMA Advertising Initiative, Challinor is the association’s executive producer in charge of Webinar programming and a former INMA president.

About INMA

The International News Media Association (INMA) is a global community of market-leading news media companies reinventing how they engage audiences and grow revenue in a multi-platform environment. The INMA community consists of nearly 19,000 members at 900+ news media companies in 77 countries.

INMA is the news media industry’s foremost ideas-sharing network with members connected via conferences, reports, Webinars, virtual meetings, awards competitions, and an unparalleled archive of best practices. INMA leads the news industry with initiatives dedicated to better understanding digital subscriptions, smart data, product, advertising, and the emerging relationship with Big Tech platforms.