2015 highly commended: The Economist, Effective Marketing Communications - case study

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’, The Economist 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, The Economist 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, they 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.

They delivered, at the most conservative estimate, £12.7 million in revenue and an ROI over 10:1.

And (the primary task), they engaged 3.6 million new people – more than 5 times our target – and demonstrably shifted their perceptions of The Economist.

In doing so, The Economist turned doubters into people who will become the dedicated Economist readers of the future.

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