WSJ runs cover wrap

Nat Ives of Advertising Age reports Thursday that The Wall Street Journal has used an advertiser’s cover wrap today for the first time in its history.

Ives writes that the cover wrap is “covering one-third of the front page and all of the back with an ad for Dell. Cover wraps are common among New York City’s Post and Daily News tabloids; just Tuesday, the Daily News distributed copies free to commuters wrapped in ads for the new ‘Tomb Raider’ video game. But The Journal has traditionally declined to obscure its front page with overlaid ads.

“Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer at Journal parent Dow Jones, said the move was part of an ongoing series of recent changes, and not just since Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought the company. ‘We launched the Weekend Edition, we launched Personal Journal,’ he said. ‘There’s lots that has happened over the last five years.’

“Dell and its agency Enfatico are pulling out of some long-term magazine buys, but remain heavy users of print advertising.”

Read more here.