Patent Publication Number: US-2006006637-A1

Title: Web printed booklet containing advertisements on cover pages including directors to interior advertisements

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/586,443 filed Jul. 8, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates to web printed multipage booklets with glossy stock imprinted covers or partial covers, and more particularly to such a booklet in which ads appear on the cover directing attention to ads formed on the interior or back of the booklet.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Certain web printed booklets, such as TV listing guides and catalogs, may consist of a multicolor printed cover or partial cover which extends over at least portions of the front and rear of the booklet and possibly a multicolor insert on glossy stock in the center of the booklet. These multicolor pages typically contain advertisements, and advertisements may additionally be formed on the balance of the pages which are typically of newsprint. The booklets are typically bound adhesively.  
      Advertisements on the front cover of the booklet have the greatest exposure to viewers, the rear cover pages have somewhat lesser exposure, and the interior pages even lower exposure. Accordingly, the advertising rates for the front cover are the highest, the back cover the next highest, and the intermediate sheets the lowest.  
      Clearly, it would be advantageous for an entity selling the advertising contained in these booklets to increase the value of ads on the interior pages since there are numerous interior pages but only a single cover and back page.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to increase the advertising value of the intermediate sheets and/or the back cover of such a booklet, relative to the advertising value of the front cover, the present invention devotes a portion of the front cover and/or alternatively the back cover to “director ads”. These are small ads placed at one margin of the page, preferably the top, and containing a small ad featuring the name of an advertiser on the back or interior pages, and possibly including an arrow and notation such as “See pages 20-21” or the like. A major portion of the page containing such a director ad is devoted to a primary ad on that page.  
      In this manner the value of the intermediate pages which contain the ads identified on the front or back page are substantially increased in value. Moreover, the value of the primary ad on the front or back pages is not significantly reduced since it still occupies the major portion of those pages.  
      The present invention is preferably directed toward booklets such as TV schedule guides of the type that are distributed weekly with newspapers. These guides are typically formed with a majority of their interior pages web printed on newsprint. The front and rear pages or partial pages, which cover only a portion of the newsprint booklet, are formed on glossy stock preferably by a web process. Booklets may typically include an interior insert printed on glossy stock by a web process. The booklets are normally adhesively bound. By printing the director ads in multiple colors on the glossy stock, the interior ads, particularly those on the newsprint pages, will be given a heightened prominence and accordingly will bear a substantially higher advertising price. The financial return to the party distributing the booklet and selling the ads will accordingly be substantially improved.  
      Since the major share of the interior pages on newsprint could be printed in a single color, or two colors, at a relatively low cost, the present invention could substantially increase the advertising value of these low-cost pages. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Other objects, advantages and applications of the present invention will be made apparent by the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention. The description makes reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a multipage, web printed booklet formed in accordance with the present invention in partially open condition; and  
       FIG. 2  is a partial perspective view of the back page of the booklet of  FIG. 1 .  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to the drawings, the present invention comprises a multipage booklet formed in a web press. The booklet is generally indicated at  10 . A typical booklet may have thirty to sixty interior pages  12  printed on newsprint using a web printing press. Typically, a number of pages, printed on both sides, are formed on the web. The printed sheet is heat set and then folded. Afterwards it is inline adhered and trimmed on three sides to form the interior sheets of the booklet. The exterior sheets, and sometimes center inserts, may be similarly formed on a web press on glossy stock and combined with the newsprint sheets. The combined glossy stock printed cover and back sheet  14  may be folded over the exterior of the booklet. The title of the book may be imprinted on an exterior page  12  of the newsprint. The front cover sheets  14  and rear cover sheets  16  are the most prominently displayed to users of the book  10  and accordingly are imprinted with advertisements that bring a substantially higher price than ads imprinted on the sheets  12  within the interior of the book. The front and rear cover sheets may have the same dimensions as the interior pages  12  and fully cover the front and rear of the booklet  10  or may alternatively cover only a portion of the front or back adjacent to the bound edge.  
      In accordance with the present invention a cover sheet  14  or back sheet  14  may be imprinted with small ads directing the attention of the reader to ads imprinted in the interior of the booklet. The director ad on the front page  18  and the director ad on the rear page  20  both include arrows pointing to the balance of the book and indicating the page on which the main ad for the purchaser of the director ad is contained. This allows ads formed in the interior of the book to be sold for a higher value because of the prominence provided to them by the director ads on the exterior of the publication.