Ad Placement Notes

Submitting Placement Notes is for the publisher to communicate the desired placement of ads to the production team. The use of production notes minimizes the need to make changes during the Review Rounds, ultimately avoiding wasting edits on Ads Placement/ Moves.

1. In ARC, navigate to the Reporting page on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Under “Choose a Report,” select Ads List from the drop-down menu.
3. Select the correct month and year and click “Display”.
4. Locate and click on the client you want to update the Placement Note for.
5. ARC will automatically populate the Agreements Tab.  Once that page loads, scroll down until you see “Current Agreements” and select the agreement you would like to modify.
6. When the page loads, scroll down until you locate “View Insertions” and click to populate.
7. Locate the month’s insertion you would like to modify and add the Placement Note under the “Notes” column.
8. Once the notes have been completed, scroll down to locate the green button titled “Save Notes”.
9. Once saved, you can go back to the Reporting page on the right-hand side of the screen and click “Display” again to refresh the report and verify that your Placement Notes were saved correctly.

The Purpose of Placement Notes

Placement Notes determine where an ad(s) should be placed within the magazine.  The Production Team is able to see the entered Placement Notes locked into the contract for the active deadline when paginating the magazine. Placement Notes can be changed monthly for every client by the Publisher.

Common Placement Note examples might include the following:

• “Place next to Realty Report”
• “Do not place Dance Company X next to Dance Company Z.”
• “Place Next to Events”
• “Inside Front Cover - Left”
• “Inside Front Cover - Right”
• “Place on Page 10”
• “Place on opposite page of City Scene”

Common misconceptions about what people think Placement Notes are used for:

• “TBD/ None”
• “Back Cover”  (When the Insertion is already designated as the Back Cover)
• “Anywhere”
• “Place ½ page ad next to another ½ page ad”
• “Finance Notes”
• “Filler Ad - Not to be used every month”
• “Try not to stack with another half.”
• “May want to switch from horizontal to vertical from time to time.”

The corporate team will never adjust an ad based on instructions in a Placement Note. The Placement Note area is for Production Team communication only. It is only for communicating ad placements, not for general notes. 

• Ex. “Make this a full page after the first month.” 
  • This may be a simple note/reminder for the Publisher; however, placement notes are exclusively for communication with the production team. The production team or corporate will take no action based on any placement notes that do not directly relate to ad placement. 

The Production Team will follow the instructions of the placement note as long as the placement makes sense with the rest of the magazine's organization and does not violate any established policies.

Fractional Ads on Back Cover Policy

Fractional ads — including ¼, ⅓, ½, or ⅔ page ads — are not allowed on the back cover of the magazine. This position is reserved exclusively for full-page ads.

Placement Notes requesting a fractional ad be placed on the back cover will not be honored. Publishers may not sell, promise, or submit fractional ads for back cover placement under any circumstances.