The Web Marketing Association is proud to present this 2016 Internet Advertising Competition Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Internet Advertising.

THE ECONOMIST / AGENCIES PROXIMITY AND UM


THE ECONOMIST RAISING EYEBROWS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS CAMPAIGN

Share to Facebook  Share to Twitter  More...  More...

 

Best Magazine Online Campaign, Best Media Online Campaign, Best News Online Campaign, Best Publishing Online Campaign

It’s easy to fix the damage wrought by a bad advertising campaign. But how do you handle the unintended consequences of a brilliant one? The Economist’s iconic poster work of the past two decades cemented its reputation as the house publication of a corporate elite. It was clever and flattered its readers’ intelligence. Unfortunately, it worked so well that people who saw themselves as outside this closed group felt distanced from the brand. A whole generation of people grew up thinking The Economist wasn’t relevant to their lives. The readership peaked and plateaued. A radically different approach was needed. One that shone a light on the publication’s excellent content, not its existing customers. Recognising that, ‘There is nothing more provocative than the truth’, we created a campaign that leveraged the audience’s intellectual curiosity to emphasise the wit, incisiveness, and accessibility of The Economist’s content. By targeting people who were already reading about a specific topic, we could pique their interest further by serving them up headlines that linked to articles closely related to that very subject. Then, using the ‘mini-epiphanies’ created by this engagement, we proved that The Economist is just as relevant to new readers as it is to our traditional audience. A whole new audience was opened up to build on The Economist’s past success. We delivered, at the most conservative estimate, £12.7 million in revenue and an ROI over 10:1. And (our primary task), we engaged 3.6 million new people – more than 5 times our target – and demonstrably shifted their perceptions of The Economist. In doing so, we turned doubters into people who will become the dedicated Economist readers of the future.

Contributors:

EVP, Brand and Digital Marketing, The Economist: Mark Cripps
SVP, Digital Media and Content Strategy, The Economist: Mark Beard
Managing Partner, UM: Alan King
Digital Strategy Director, UM: Neil Peace
Group Account Director, Proximity: James Dyer
Senior Manager, Proximity: Jos Canavan

THE ECONOMIST

Location: United Kingdom