The refresh is backed by a heavy-hitting £500,000 marketing campaign which includes taking the Nuts brand into 49 football grounds across the UK. Premiership clubs including Tottenham, Chelsea, Everton and West Ham will host the month-long campaign to support the new-look Nuts, starring characters from the magazine’s hottest new signing: the iconic football comic strip, Striker.
Nuts editor Dominic Smith says: “Every issue of Nuts is read by over 900,000 people – and they know what they like. All our development focused on what the readers said they wanted more of from Nuts. They told us they love our classic mix of girls, sport, news, humour, gadgets and gear. The new look delivers a fresher, more modern feel to reinforce that mix, while introducing a new range of must-read editorial franchises every week, including an all-new Striker.”
According to the publishers, the Nuts refresh is the culmination of six months of extensive research and development work by Smith and Nuts art director Simon Freeborough and includes:
* A crisp and clean design refresh throughout the title that increases focus on the eye-popping visuals
* Striker – Nuts proudly charts the rebirth of the legendary Warbury Warriors, as the much-loved strip launches exclusively in the new-look issue
* Nuts About Sport – revealing the comic side of Britain’s weekly sport highlights
* A revamped news section with more fast and funny “hits” at the front of Nuts
* A renewed focus on accessible fashion, including Nuts’ 10 Must Haves of the Week, which also highlights the success of the Nuts online fashion shop
* More interaction throughout than ever before – both with reader-generated content and links through to bonus content on the brand’s website
Publishing director Jo Smalley says: “Nuts has been number one since day one, and men’s priorities haven’t changed. But their expectations and the media landscape have – even the biggest brands must work harder than ever to connect with their audience. With this refresh, Nuts once again redefines how print should engage young men.”
To support the new look, Nuts has partnered with in-stadia advertising specialist SportsRevolution in a six-figure deal featuring the Striker-spearheaded marketing campaign across all 20 Premiership football grounds. Throughout February, Nuts branding will appear across a number of ad formats in grounds including six sheets, in-washroom and concourse screen advertising estimated to reach 1.8 million football fans.
The marketing campaign will also run across other IPC brands including NME, Loaded, www.mousebreaker.com and Superbike, as well as on TV and online with external partners, such as Comedy Central and www.mtv.co.uk.
Head of marketing Clair Porteous adds: “The Nuts Striker in-stadia campaign not only exposes our core values to millions of UK men in their home from home, it anticipates this year’s biggest sporting event by reinforcing the message that Nuts will be the men's lifestyle magazine for the World Cup.”
The new-look Nuts hits the newsstands on January 26. The title is on sale every Tuesday, priced £1.70, and online at www.nuts.co.uk.
