Advertising with Gyro

Check out advertising PowerPoint presentation (3M), or our FAQ

Booking an ad is as easy as the 4 steps below:

If you have questions please see our FAQ below, or contact us.

Step 1
Download our Rates Card and choose the size and shape of your ad, and which dates you want to be in.

Step 2
Who is designing your ad, & when is it due?

Photo-ready: If you are supplying a photo-ready ad to Gyro (ie you or your design agency are are supplying Gyro with copy of the ad), final copy of your ad is due at Gyro seven days before publication.
Technical mumbo-jumbo: Tell your designer the ad should be in Greyscale or CMYK colour, at 300 dpi, in .tif, .jpg, .eps, or PDF format (don’t worry, they’ll know what all that means). Sizes & dimensions for ads can be found here. They can e-mail copy to me, along with the name of the ad, the advertiser, and the issue date.

Gyro designed: Gyro are able to design and produce simple ads for free. These ads should be booked and necessary content (eg logos, wording, images, etc) supplied to Gyro at least 14 days before publication.
Gyro can design more complex ads for you at a competitive rate. Please enquire. Bookings need to be done 14 days before publication.

Step 3
Download our Booking-Form/Contract, fill out the details and fax to (03) 477-6974, or post to PO Box 5381, Dunedin. Note - we need one form per each ad you book. Please feel free to also confirm your booking by e-mail or telephone.

Step 4
Ensure your ad copy gets to us on time, and sit back and enjoy the benefits of advertising with Gyro.

Thank you for your interest,

Advertising Contacts:

Nathan Millar, Advertising Booking Agent
cell: 021-181-3151

Mark Baxter, Design & Technical
tel/fax (03) 477-6974, or 021-1146-753

Lesley Scoular, Accounts
tel/fax (03) 477-6974

Advertising FAQ

What is Gyro?

Gyro is a free student magazine distributed monthly around the Dunedin North and Central Otago campus areas (especially the Polytechnic), and selected sites in Dunedin city. Gyro carries news, features, columns and reviews of general and specific interest to students and often features a strong local angle (Gyro's Wikipedia entry).
Selected articles from Gyro are also published on the web-based version of Gyro.
Gyro is published by the Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association, and is a member of Aotearoa Student Press Association.

Will I be noticed in Gyro?

Yes. Gyro deliberately has a lower ratio of ads-to-content than other publications. Gyro typically aims to have a ad loading of between 10 to 20%. This means you will not be competing for the readers’ attention with a host of other ads.

Does Advertising to Students work?

If you’re in any doubt of the number of readers who pay attention to ads in Gyro - take up the Gyro challenge: We’ll give you a totally free ad - if you print a no-catches voucher giving your product to readers for free. You’ll soon see how effective Gyro is for getting your message out there...

What other Publications can I advertise in?

OPSA produces a Wall-planner and Hand-book Diary every year. Please go here for further information.

OPSA also welcomes Sponsorship of its events it holds through the year. Please contact Mark Baxter for further information about sponsoring an OPSA event.

Can I advertise on the Gyro website?

Yes of course. See the rates card for details.

What is Gyro's Distribution?

Gyro is read by around 2000 readers per issue. High demand months (eg Orientation) often see an increase in the number printed, we don't charge any extra for advertising in these higher print run issues.

What's the advantage of a Monthly?

The advantage of publishing in a monthly publication rather than a weekly or daily is that your ad will be seen by potential customers for an entire month, rather than being fish-and-chip paper the next day/week. Would you rather 2000 people see your ad on just one day, or over a whole month?

What’s our Demographic?

The Polytechnic has a very wide demographic of students:
- The average age is around 30, ranging from around 16 to over 80 years old.
- The ratio of men-to-women is tilted towards women.
- Courses range from skilled labour courses (eg carpentry and hairdressing) to professional courses (eg nursing & information technology).
- Many of our younger students live in typical flatting situations; but many others are taking a year out from the workforce and live in ‘normal’ conditions.
- Incomes range accordingly, and spending patterns range from highly-disposable to basic-survival.

What is the Print Quality like?

Gyro is printed on glossy paper. Please ask for samples if you wish.

Can I use ads Designed Elsewhere in Gyro?

Yes certainly. Though you may need to check ownership and design credit details with the original designers.
Most standard ad sizes are be easily resized to fit Gyro (eg our ad sizes are identical to Critic's). Most simple ads are easily able to be altered to suit. However, if the ad is likely to need significant changes you may need to have the original designers supply an editable (ie layered) copy of the ad or source files to Gyro.

What sizes are your Ad Spots?

Ad sizes and dimensions can be found here. We can also do custom sizes if necessary - please contact me if out off-the-shelf sizes don't meet your needs.

What Format should digital copy be sent as?

Black and White: 'Grayscale', correct size at 300 dpi, in .tif, .eps, PDF, or .jpg, format.

Colour ads: 'CMYK' colour, correct size at 300 dpi, in .tif, .eps, PDF, or .jpg, format.

Other digital formats can be supported, please ask me. Don't worry if you don't understand all that - your designer will.

What can I expect if Gyro Designs my ad for me?

Gyro is happy to design simple ads for free. Most simple ads can be done in a couple of hours, especially if the advertiser supplies logos and images etc. Handy tip: Try and supply us with quality copies of your logos etc, rather than low resolution images used on web sites. Your ad will look far better...
Gyro can also design professional ads at a competitive rate of $22 per hour. Please feel free to ask us for some samples of Gyro designed ads.

Who Owns the finished Gyro designed ad?

You do of course. If you choose to use your Gyro designed ad in another publication - you are more than welcome to (though a design credit may be asked for). Gyro are happy to supply digital copies of your ad to you.

Can I request a Specific Position?

You can certainly request it, and we will work to put advertisers as close as we can to be where they want. But there are generally no guarantees (unless you buy the back cover of course).

Can I have a Discount?

We are certainly happy to consider a discount for multiple or regular bookings.

Why would Gyro Refuse my ad?

Gyro is reasonably liberal in what it prints - we only ever refused a single advertiser - but we do reserve the right refuse material as unsuitable:
-Aesthetics :: ie an ad simply looks poorly designed and reflects badly on Gyro and your business. Though of course we're more than happy to help you fix such an ad.
-Detrimental to students' or human rights :: eg ads advocating or promoting: racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
-Unnecessarily offensive or bad-taste:: eg “Wifebeater Wednesdays” type promotions.
-Illegal :: ie a potentially libelous ad, or breeches ad standards.

Can I buy Editorial?

Sorry, no. Gyro's role as a semi-independent critic and conscious would be seriously compromised if we simply sold content. If you have something newsworthy to tell students send it to the editor and it may well be printed anyway - for free!

And we won't run ads that try and look like a bonifide article either sorry (even if they do have the word 'advert' somewhere in small letters).

What other Perks do I get ?

OPSA welcomes Gyro advertisers and can offer some extras to you:

We can e-mail all of our members with any offers or deals you have.
We allow advertisers to have a presence on OPSA notice-board around campus (others are removed).
And for regular advertisers we may give you free or discounted direct access to our members.
OPSA is also happy to create events around your ad or products.

Again thank you greatly for your interest, and please do not hesitate to ask us any questions,

Advertising & Promotions:
Mark Baxter, tel/fax (03) 477-6974, or 021-1146-753