Matt Hampel | matth.org

A while ago, I wanted to post an ad on Mlive for Shakespeare in the Arb. I had to fill out an online contact form — complete with fax number — just to get access to their crazy-complicated rate cards. Then some lady called me and tried to hard-sell me.

Here’s how the process worked with the Ann Arbor Chronicle: There are three ad slots. Each has a unique rate and format. We chose one, emailed a JPG file, and sent in our cash. Our ad appeared for a month. Fantastic — no hard selling, no commitments, no incomprehensible combo-packages. The Chronicle made it easy for us to give them our money.

(there were many other benefits — like supporting local journalists directly, and by publicly demonstrating the alignment of our event with the Chronicle’s style)

I’m worried that AnnArbor.com doesn’t understand this. First of all, it seems that their ads will be based primarily around what they call “Deals”. That is, ads will be expected to offer discounts, freebies, or special pricing. I’m not offering anyone anything like that.

At the AnnArbor.com tech advisory panel, I asked if there will be a way to manage ads online, without having to call and negotiate. The answer was no.

I think someone could make good money being the intermediary to this system. I want a place where I can select my timeframe (or clicks or views or whatever), ad placement, upload an image, and pay money.  I don’t need phone conversations and I don’t need bundled ‘ad products’.