Media: . . . And get this? You don't have to be a member of Mensa

WORRIED newspaper proprietors, other than Rupert Murdoch, may be relieved by the Sun's latest poster advertisement. At least it means the paper's cover price cannot go below 20p - unless there really are pixies, writes Martin Rosenbaum.

The poster is highly praised by Dominic Mills, editor of the advertising trade magazine Campaign. 'Any agency will tell you that doing advertising for a newspaper is terribly hard,' he says. 'Editors want to plug their next scoops rather than establish a brand value. The trick is matching the tone of the ad to that of the paper, which is what the Sun ad does perfectly. It's cheeky, irreverent and conveys just the kind of matey humour the Sun reader likes.'

The poster, displayed on hundreds of sites nationwide, was created 'unofficially' by Simons Palmer Denton Clemmow & Johnson, Britain's fastest growing agency. Officially the Sun is between agencies, and Simons Palmer is one of six on its shortlist. Its creative director, Chris Palmer says: 'It has a smile on its face, it talks to the young person in you and it gets noticed.'

Mr Palmer is not impressed by the argument that some people actually think it is an ad for the Daily Mirror, telling you that the Sun is too expensive. 'When you have a poster up everywhere, the important factor is that people get it in the end. You don't have to be a member of Mensa to get this one.'

(Photograph omitted)