This document provides guidelines on what constitutes an advertisement, how it is posted and charged, and exemptions, as well as policies for news announcements.
Guidelines published by the OVCAG Publications Group in March, 2011
OVCAG has two primary news publications. The OVCAG website is a complement to these publications.
Greenware is a quarterly hardcopy publication mailed to the OVCAG membership and archived online on www.OVCAG.org. As customary with a hardcopy newsletter, the layout allows placement of advertisements that are either display ads (text and graphics boxed in pre-defined sizes) or line item ads (text only) published in the “Opportunities” section (space permitting and at the discretion of the editors).
The Blast is a text-only e-newsletter that is released monthly; because of this, Blast content is time-sensitive. Since it cannot contain display ads, all news released in the Blast has traditionally been considered announcements.
An advertisement is a detailed description for some item or activity that generates income for the person or business requesting its placement. It is not necessarily date-driven. Examples of ads: item for sale, service for sale, specific workshop or class information, new offerings at a studio, or a business opportunity. Advertisements are PAID (but see “Exemptions,” below).
The Communications Group has proposed a policy shift that will allow the two publications to handle ads differently:
Greenware is a traditional hard copy news vehicle. It is edited, laid out, proofed, printed, then mailed out to OVCAG members. For display ads, Greenware is able to create or accept a digital file (text only or images and text), then size and place the ad within the page layout per the request of the person placing the display ad. The Greenware editor generates an invoice for display ads placed in this manner, as well as for line-item ads included in the “Opportunities” section. Greenware will apply the definition of an ad in order to determine whether to charge or not.
The Blast, being an electronic, text-only communications vehicle, cannot run display ads. To eliminate any confusion about whether the Blast should charge for line-items ads, the Blast will adopt a compromise policy of simply running a brief announcement for any revenue-generating news item. The text will be limited to 140-character or less (the “Twitter treatment”) and will then point all interested reader to the relevant website for complete information. The philosophy here: creating and posting a brief news item and link to something considered in its entirety an advertisement is still of benefit to the OVCAG membership as well as our sponsors. Also, since the Blast is more time-sensitive than Greenware, it makes sense to provide a way to facilitate posting all items in the Blast.
OVCAG members are exempt from paying for advertisements, be they display or text, either for their own items or an OVCAG-sponsored event.
Sponsors are exempt from paying for the first display or line-item ad they run, and they have reduced rates for subsequent ads (see Greenware rate sheet information).
Definition of “announcement”: An announcement is any date-driven item; its primary purpose is news that benefits our readership. Examples of announcements: field trips, speaker events, meetings, OVCAG website alerts, pointers to upcoming workshops and classes, clay-related shows and sales, updates to events, non-profit news items. Announcements are FREE.
Members’ News Items
A personal news item provided by any OVCAG member regarding participation in exhibitions, open studio sales, recent awards, etc., is considered an announcement and is welcomed for publication. However, we want to begin encouraging members with significant announcements to take advantage of using their online artist pages to post their detailed information. Our proposal for personal announcements is to also follow the “Twitter treatment” and post up to 140 characters. If the member’s news item exceeds this limit, we will include a link to the full text of the member’s information on his or her artist page. We are striving for an appropriate balance of our member’s news with the broader group news items.