The Washington Post will run a two-inch strip across the bottom of its front-page on Sunday, the UpshotNewsBlog on Yahoo reported yesterday.

For the very first time, the newspaper ran a cover-wrap ad campaign for Capital One on its Sept. 5 print edition, which gave information about the conversion of Chevy Chase Bank to Capital One, Edito & Publisher reported today.

Image: UpshotBlog on Yahoo! News

With a sharp decline in advertising revenues observed by all major print publications in recent times, many leading newspapers are embracing the front-page display ad as a creative route to maximise ad revenues, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

"A number of other newspapers have done it as well," Wendy Evans, vice president of advertising at the WaPo, was quoted on the Upshot Blog as saying. "It's not new in the industry, but new to us."

This move by the newspaper, "does not necessarily signal the beginning of regular front-page advertising in the Post," according to NewsandTech.com. Without getting specific about dates and details, Evans hinted that the Capital One campaign will continue over the forthcoming weeks and months with advertisements on print and online. She further added, "I can't say whether anyone else will approach us and whether we will accept other front page ads. We will take each opportunity on a one-by-one basis and evaluate it."

However, the newspaper did not reveal any particulars about charges for the ad and said, "it's too early to tell whether more front page ads will follow, but that it will be interesting to see if other advertisers approach the paper with campaigns that make sense for both the paper and the advertiser," according to MediaBuyerPlanner.com.