Co-op Advertising or just A Co-op?

An unexpected and unplanned for obstacle has become apparent within the concept of Ad Chiclet, my quite young co-op magazine advertising agency. After a short lifespan of only forty days the prospect of successfully organizing Co-op magazine advertising for small businesses on a large scale has become no-longer a possibility. This is quite distressing, but after reflection, perhaps this once major setback is yet another kink along the road and will only contribute to the success of long-term goals.

For now, for a time, I need to re-assess and analyze the concept of Co-op magazine advertising and the obstacles which have caused progress to slow. I do not have an answer to the current problem yet and it leaves a sense of “What now?”. But with the loss of one idea comes the emergence of others. While it is not possible for me to promote a Co-op magazine ad in a single publication it is possible to promote and enable cooperation among small businesses.

This is the direction I believe I will need to move in. Beyond simply organizing co-op ads I need to look at the Indie community as a whole and ask out loud, “Where are we losing money only because our businesses are small?”. I’m sure this must be taking place in more than just our advertising. It is prevalent throughout the business world.

Large orders, and big accounts get the good deals while the small companies, which perhaps support a single family are left paying full price. Our competitors are not our fellow small businesses or even poorly made imports. Our competitors are big business, who for too long have overlooked small companies, exploited employees and pushed a hard bargain in the name of profit. If we work together we can push for a hard bargain too.

So tell me, What does you business need that you feel your not receiving the best price on? Is there something you would like to purchase regularly as a part of a co-op? Is there a reason you do not already use Co-op purchasing?

I’m off to ponder the present obstacle to Co-op advertising in greater detail… perhaps an answer will present itself.