Subtle advertising

[matrix]

This Bad Penny strip has some funny captions in it, especially the third where she gets hit in the face by the ball.

In caption one, Mr Baxendale has added a "Buy Wham" banner, making it look like someone from Wham! has sneaked into the strip via the drain to advertise their comic.

I know comics like Tammy self advertise a lot by having their characters read Tammy especially on the front pages, but the Bad Penny example is advertising a different comic than the strip is in. Although subjective, I think he got a free advert for Wham! in the strip!!

I know they were sister comics in which Mr Baxendale had connections with both, but I would think this is a rare example of the heading, or is it?

[Niblet]

As Krazy entered its final few months, it was given 3 'subtle'? mentions in strips in spin-off comic, Cheeky Weekly. On 2 occasions the message 'Save a comic, buy Krazy' was seen. One example can be seen here on the Sunday evening page http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2011 ... -1978.html

The third occasion on which Krazy got a mention in a strip (maybe not so subtle this time) was in the same week in which the final Krazy appeared. http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2011 ... krazy.html

btw, matrix, I hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but your Bad Penny scan is too small to read.

I recently posted an example of a DC Thomson title being advertised in an IPC comic http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... smith.html

[matrix]

Thanks for those links to your blog Niblet, as always very informative! I need to read them more often, time, sir time!

To be honest I did not expect a reply especially with examples like that. Do you think they were really trying to drum up readership or trying to make it look good for loyal Krazy readers? As they are quite desperate examples are they not, and as you mention they must have known "the writing was on the wall".

I wonder with the Wham! example if sales were dropping for it at that time as well?

Thanks for the heads up on the scan being small sorry about that but I do not know how to put bigger examples on here, I can see it if I change my zoom level.

[blackpuddingbertha]

Thanks for those links to your blog Niblet, as always very informative! I need to read them more often, time, sir time!

To be honest I did not expect a reply especially with examples like that. Do you think they were really trying to drum up readership or trying to make it look good for loyal Krazy readers? As they are quite desperate examples are they not, and as you mention they must have known "the writing was on the wall".

I remember those panels in Cheeky (and indeed the cover of Krazy saying to save the comic by buying it) - I just took them as an example of the crossover between the cheeky strip. I didn't actually realise the comic was in trouble.

Did Cheeky have substantially more readers than Krazy when it started? 6 months is quite a short length of time for a spin-off comic to take over from the parent surely?

[Niblet]

I would love to know the circulation figures for Krazy and Cheeky Weekly. I can only speculate that the launch of the spin-off may have brought forward the demise of Krazy as a significant number of readers dropped it in favour of Cheeky Weekly. I suspect that Krazy would have folded fairly swiftly as was the fate of many launches of the period, but maybe it would have lasted a few months longer had CW not been launched.

[Lew Stringer]

I know they were sister comics in which Mr Baxendale had connections with both, but I would think this is a rare example of the heading, or is it?

Odhams did it quite often. I remember 'Buy Smash' being sneaked into Wham! strips when Smash was launched in 1966.

Usually it's done to plug the comic the strip appears in. I've added similar plugs for comics in the strips I've done, such as 'Buy Oink!' in Tom Thug. I once ended a Combat Colin serial by having Colin promote various other Marvel comics, surrounded by the comics.

The most famous must be 'Never Be Without A Beano' which often appeared in various Beano strips in the 1960s.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

I've seen a Sweeny Toddler story in Whizzer & Chips recently which has the characters reading Oink! throughout...

[Jonny Whizz]

Over the years there must have been countless examples of strips plugging the comics they appear in. For instance, there have been stories which have promoted a free gift that appears in the comic the following week, or where the characters read the comic - in more recent times, often the covers of that week's issue have been digitally added to the strip, whereas in the past generic covers would tend to be drawn on by the artist.

[matrix]

Odhams did it quite often. I remember 'Buy Smash' being sneaked into Wham! strips when Smash was launched in 1966.

Usually it's done to plug the comic the strip appears in. I've added similar plugs for comics in the strips I've done, such as 'Buy Oink!' in Tom Thug. I once ended a Combat Colin serial by having Colin promote various other Marvel comics, surrounded by the comics.

.

Lew, thanks for the info, so they used this in strips not just when a comic was at an end, but the beginning as well.

In respect to your strips and promoting the comics in this way, who made the decisions and what were the reasons? Eg were sales slow at that point, or was it just right for that strip? Would it be possible to post an example, thanks.

[Lew Stringer]

In respect to your strips and promoting the comics in this way, who made the decisions and what were the reasons? Eg were sales slow at that point, or was it just right for that strip? Would it be possible to post an example, thanks.

I just chose to add things like that myself, inspired by those old Odhams comics.

I can't remember which issues they were in now, sorry.

[matrix]

Here is one of the strips mentioned earlier with the free gift in it, in this case ( the very first Milly) Milly is struggling to get pearls for a necklace, then along comes her dad with a copy of "Princess Tina" with a free pearl necklace, very clever!