Where are the ads?

This was going to be about an ad for a great specialty retailer that I saw in The Georgia Straight. But when I went to the newspaper's website to see if I could find a PDF of the current issue, or some link to the ad, I found nothing.

The Georgia Straight is a free newspaper, and so advertising is its only source of revenue. In an era when most media are desperate for advertisers, you would think that it would make sense to provide some way for users of the on-line version of the newspaper to see find the firms paying to advertise in the print version of the paper.

I can search the classified ads, but not the display ads. This seems to be a big lost opportunity for the newspaper, its readers and most of all the advertisers.

So, I'll scan the ad and next time I'll talk about headphone bar.

I love the magazine, but I won't resubscribe

Almost all magazines have a date on the front cover. Generally the date is some time in the future. The September magazines will be appearing within the next couple of weeks. (Mid-August)

Of course there are exceptions. In the 1960s Mad Magazine's cover dates were three to four months later than their arrival on the news stand.

The other extreme are the magazines that arrive long after the cover date. I was a subscriber to Pedal magazine. This is a Canadian cycling magazine. Over the past year the magazine has been arriving later and later, often well after the cover date. The final straw was the May 2011 issue which turned up in late July. (Filled with ads for events that took place in May.)

In Pedal's defence, there was a postal strike on in June, but the May issue should have been in my hands long before the strike was on.

So, I will not resubscribe to a magazine that I like, about a sport I enjoy, with writers that I like reading. (And I can't imagine that the late arrivals are making the advertisers happy either.)

Keep the data, just don't use it

Every year, since 2004, I've done the TransRockies. This is a 7-day mountain bike race through the Canadian Rockies. Every year it has either started (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011), or finished (2006 and 2007) in Fernie, BC.

Like many of the racers, I arrive in Fernie on Friday, stay at a hotel for two nights, and then check out on Sunday morning and start the race.

I always stay in the same hotel, the Park Place Lodge, and I know they have me on record in their reservation system. (In the early days the hotel was the "Official" hotel of the race and it remains a favourite for racers.)

So, given the fact that the hotel knows that I'm a regular, and that they offer a special rate for loyal customers like me, why are they not completing the loop?

When I enquired by email about a special rate for loyal TransRockies riders I was given a great price, well below the "rack rate". Why doesn't the hotel contact previous guests to see if they will be coming back? A bit of proactive communications would likely help to keep the rooms filled.

With the high value of the Canadian dollar, and the general economic uncertainly, I would expect any business that is dependant on tourism to extract whatever value they could from their past customers. In the theatre business they refer to the need to get "bums on seats". Perhaps for hotels it might be "heads on pillows"?

When I get to Fernie I'll have a word with the hotel manager to see what she has to say.

BTW, this year's TransRockies, the tenth, starts in Fernie on August 7th and finishes in Canmore on August 13th. I'm trying to convince my younger brother to join me for the 2012 race.