Allen & Gerritsen Takes Next Steps To "Protect Our Press," With New Product to Enhance News Literacy

This product includes hundreds of professional news websites and apps to provide consumers' freedom over investment choices, and help brands tap into local news reading audiences.

BOSTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Allen & Gerritsen (A&G), an independent, creative-led advertising agency, today announced the next phase of its signature "Protect Our Press (POP)," initiative launched in 2021 to combat the widespread decrease in local, professional journalism by galvanizing the advertising industry to prioritize and reinvest ad spending with local news outlets.

A&G is implementing the next phase of the initiative with Zeta Global, its partner for marketing activation within the Zeta Marketing Platform, which will launch the Protect Our Press product that will include hundreds of professional news websites and apps that would often not be included in general programmatic buying schedules. This Private Marketplace or Inclusion List has been hand-vetted for brand safety, and to ensure that recognizable news outlets are included. This product will give customers freedom over investment choices, and can be added to their digital buying mix to be able to tap into these valuable local news reading audiences.

A&G conducted further national outreach to encourage publishers to join and become eligible for the additional associated revenue. Participants include ownership groups like Gannett and Hearst, major regional newspapers like The Boston Globe and The Star Tribune, along with hundreds of smaller outlets that might otherwise fail to receive programmatic revenues from national marketing campaigns.

"Protect Our Press was founded with the belief that without the Fourth Estate, there is no check or balance on truth. In a world where feed based news is overwhelming verified news, we must rise to this challenge and support the professional news industry. The good news is that there is no question that news-literate audiences add value to a marketing plan by offering scale and diversity to help brands improve performance on important KPIs such as site visitation from news adjacent paid media units," said Will Phipps, Senior Vice President of Media at Allen & Gerritsen.

Since its launch, Protect Our Press has received 3,038 pledges as well as approval from The Ground Truth Project, Report for America, The 4As, The Association of National Advertisers, as well as support from agencies and publishers including Havas Worldwide and the Association of Alternative News Media. A&G, alongside their clients, have moved the percentage of investment into news adjacency from 13% to 20%, and continue to encourage other agencies and brands to consider making the same impact.

"While we created the infrastructure to support this pledge, our entire industry needs to work together to protect the free press in this country," said Andrew Graff, chief executive office of A&G. "We are asking other agencies, brands, publishers and individuals to join this initiative with us through a range of actions from a 20% pledge in favor of news environments, to an individual subscription, to a local publisher. Every action contributes to more free and independent journalism, one of the core hallmarks of democracy."

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About Allen & Gerritsen
Allen & Gerritsen (A&G) is an independent, integrated, creative-led agency that is driven by strategy, data and humanity to generate sustainable results for modern brands. Our agency brings out a brand's best self through strategies that truly understand people and the ideas that connect to them. Our headquarters are located in Boston and Philadelphia and our clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Citrix Sharefile, Comcast, Fresenius Medical Care North America, National Organization on Disability, Philadelphia Flyers, The TJX Companies and more. A&G builds our own best self by embracing the diversity of our talent and taking pride in creating a warm, curious, genuine, thoughtful culture. A&G was ranked twice by Advertising Age as the #1 "Best Place to Work in Marketing & Media." To learn more, check out http://www.a-g.com and follow the agency on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Media Contact

Matthew aliberti, Allen & Gerritsen, 1 7815583436, maliberti@a-g.com

SOURCE Allen & Gerritsen