The Free Ad Initiative

The Spartanburg Spark has never been keen on following the “rules” about how web-based media sites are supposed to work. One of the most fundamental media rules goes something like this: A media outlet makes money by delivering potential customers (readers or viewers) to advertisers, and charging for access to them via advertisements.

Allow us to offer an alternative model: Free banner ads to all local businesses, period. If your business is based in Spartanburg county, you’ve never advertised with the Spark before and if you’re part of the community in a meaningful way, we’ll give you a free ad for a month. It’s as simple as that.

As with anything too good to be true, some terms and conditions apply. The general terms are below, followed by specific rules for certain kinds of ads.

Submitting an ad is easy. E-mail publisher@spartanburgspark.com with the name of the business, the name and contact information for the business (in case we have questions), the URL you’d like the ad linked to, and the image of the ad.

General Rules

• You must be local. That means your business must be based in Spartanburg County. In some instances, particularly with non-profits covering a larger geographical area, we may make individual exceptions.
• You must have never received a free ad on the Spark before. This is a limit one per customer program.
• Local artists, bands, writers, bloggers and other aspiring creative businesspeople are eligible for this program. However, you must have some kind of established website, Facebook (or other social network, such as MySpace) page or other proof that you are seriously pursuing work in your field.
• One one ad is allowed per business, and all free ads are given the exact same “weight,” meaning they’re all equally likely to appear during any given page view.
• You have to provide the ad, and they have to be to our specs. These are simple: It’s a “Full Banner”-size ad, 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high, with a file size of no more than 20 kilobytes. It can be in either .jpg or .gif file formats, and .gifs may be animated, assuming they are under the file-size limit. There are several free, online banner-ad making services, and making a basic one generally only takes a few moments.
• There can be no “call to action” in the ad, meaning you can’t make any statement telling anyone to do anything. Likewise, it can’t be comparative, meaning you can’t say anything like “Bud’s General Store is better than Wal-Mart, ’cause it’s local.” And messages must be directly relating to the business. If you’re looking for a good model, think about the sponsorship messages you hear on NPR or see on PBS.
• You get what you pay for. This is a free ad in rotation with other free ads as a community service, with no inherent guarantees of any kind. We reserve the right to end the program at any time, and without notice.
• No bad neighbors allowed. Those businesses or groups that violate the basic goal of this program or of the Spark‘s mission may be excluded, based solely on the judgment of the Spark‘s management, and at any time.
• The ad must link to something. It doesn’t have to be a proper website, but it must link to a place where an interested viewer could learn more. This can even be a Facebook, MySpace or any social network profile.
• Ads that the advertise GLBT-friendly status of the business get an extended run. By adding a rainbow flag or icon to your banner ad (or similar icon or text), your ad will be set to run for three months, rather than the standard one.
• Ads don’t stay in the rotation forever. All ads will be entered into rotation for one month. After that, ads may be purchased normally.

Additional Non-Profit, Religious and Community Group Rules

• Churches and other religious groups are eligible for this program. However, no one likes being preached at, so ads which make unprovable claims about faith will not be allowed. Information about actual programs is fine, but saying your church “Saves souls,” for instance, won’t be allowed, since neither the existence of souls nor the merits of a specific methodology of saving them can be demonstrated to be accurate.
• Non-Profit and Community groups are eligible for this program. However, these must be generally informational about the group. Appeals for donations are not allowed.

Additional Political Candidate Rules

• Candidates in any election specifically relating to the city of Spartanburg, Spartanburg County or any municipality within the county are eligible for free ads. All of the above rules apply, including the restriction on comparative ads. You do not need to be on a ballot to be eligible, but you must have a website (or social network profile) clearly demonstrating your intentions to run for office.
• Local political party offices are eligible for ads. However, these can only be used to promote interest in the local party, and cannot be used to advocate for specific candidates. Informal political parties are also eligible. Political groups and parties promoting hate speech are not eligible.
• Although they are generally organized as non-profits, Political Action Committees (PACs) and “527 organizations” are not eligible for free ads. This is because of the temporary, campaign-based nature of many of these groups. Such groups must purchase advertising at the standard rate.

If you have specific questions, please contact the Spark at publisher@spartanburgspark.com.

UPDATED: Tuesday, March 30, 2010.