Well red

Established in 1843 to campaign on one of the great political issues of the day, the Economist remains true to the principles of its founder. James Wilson, a Scottish hat maker, believed in free trade, internationalism and minimum interference by government, especially in the affairs of the market. Though the protectionist Corn Laws which inspired Wilson to start the Economist were repealed in 1846, the newspaper has lived on, never abandoning its commitment to the classical 19th-century liberal ideas of its founder.

The Economist is a weekly international news and business publication, offering clear reporting, commentary and analysis on world politics, business, finance, science, technology, culture, society, media and the arts. Printed in six countries and published on the internet, worldwide circulation is now in excess of 908,382.

The Economist is perhaps best described as "a weekly debate between two intelligent friends" and it has a singular tone and breadth of social and political coverage that belies its title. Since 1988 the Economist’s image has been enhanced and its UK circulation significantly boosted by one of the longest running and most iconic outdoor campaigns of recent times.

The context

In 1988, faced with an explosion of information sources and aggressive price competition by rival publications, the Economist recognised the need for a new advertising campaign to prompt re-evaluation of the Economist brand.

Research indicated that consumers made a link between reading the Economist and business success. So, rather than advertise the content of the publication, the marketing team decided to promote the emotional benefit of reading the title to the primary target audience – ambitious, busy business people.

As the overall objective was to increase readership, the strategy was to build on the premise that reading the Economist would give readers an edge over non-readers. The substantiation of this would come from the breadth and depth of coverage in the newspaper. The ads would also have to be witty, well-written and not overly worthy in order to reflect the personality of the brand and to correct the misconception that it was a dry and academic read.

The creative idea

For the last twenty years the Economist advertising has been handled by Abbott Mead Vickers (now AMV BBDO). David Abbott, founder and creative director said ‘It wasn’t in the brief to do posters, it was just having the magazine on the desk and looking at it. The idea came from the masthead because it was more or less the shape of a 48-sheet poster. I thought, red and white, that would be a dramatic way of doing it, it would make the posters look very different’.

By selecting top quality sites, the media department was able to demonstrate that outdoor was an effective way of reaching the affluent business people the Economist wanted to target. When David Abbott came up with the first poster – Management Trainee - both he and the Economist felt that they were on to a winning formula.

Seventeen years on, there have been 34 campaigns, using more than 200 different creative executions on more than 35,000 individual poster sites and taking up 7.14 million square feet of advertising space.

Evolution

Whilst creatively consistent, the campaign has evolved through new and different propositions to reflect the changing business, social and economic climates.

In the late 80’s, the advertising focused on business success against the backdrop of the conspicuous consumption of the Thatcher era, with the proposition ‘The Economist gives you the edge in business’. This resulted in ads like: ‘It’s lonely at the top, but at least there’s something to read.’

In the early 90’s in the context of John Major’s struggle with sleaze and recession, success was redefined as surviving recession and hanging onto your job. The proposition changed to ‘Don’t get found out’. It produced ads like: ‘If you buy it just for show, sooner or later it will’ and ‘In real life the tortoise loses’.

At the end of the 90’s with the election of Tony Blair and the celebration of ‘Cool Britannia’ there was a quest for a more inclusive society and the proposition changed to reflect the shift towards more inwardly-focused personal success. The proposition evolved into ‘Surpass yourself’. Examples of ads from that era are : ‘Would you like to sit next to you at dinner?’ and ‘Great minds like a think’.

Following the events and repercussions of September 11th, the subsequent uncertainty about global politics and the gloomy predictions of a worldwide recession, the Economist re-crafted the proposition to ‘Stay one step ahead with the Economist’. For example, ‘In a meeting of minds would you be sent out for the biscuits?’ and ‘What exactly is the benefit of the doubt?’.

The medium

A big and bold medium, the outdoor format offers high impact, frequent exposure and great creative opportunities. Since exclusivity is defined as much by those who are not members of the club as those who are, the use of outdoor enabled the Economist to become famous amongst readers and non-readers alike.

New and different outdoor opportunities have been exploited through the years in order to keep the campaign salient. For example, the bus top (‘Hello to all our readers in high office’) and taxi-sides (‘The Knowledge’). Also, ‘No spin’ on rotating poster sites and ‘360 degrees’ on revolving sites at Heathrow.

Each burst of road-side advertising is seen by over 7 million ABC adults. Factoring in the posters at travel points and railway stations, Outdoor Connection calculate that 16 years worth of advertising equates to 3.3 billion impacts, ie the number of times that the Economist ads have been seen.

Global appeal

As with most advertising campaigns, the Economist has to take account of the differences in consumer behaviour, cultural norms and market conditions. The aim is not simply to replicate the UK campaign, but to retain the same brand values, look and tone of in our marketing in the US, continental Europe and in Asia.

The Pay-back

The Economist brand advertising has contributed to growth in circulation and ad revenue that outstrips its competitors. The publication has increased its circulation by 73% in the UK over the twenty-year campaign period i.e to the end of 2003 (Source: ABC).

Building the brand has also led to other broader business benefits such as a huge increase in customer loyalty (subscribers have increased by 113%) and scope for additional revenue streams through brand extension and expansion.

Econometric modelling proves that the outdoor campaign delivers 2.4% of newsstand sales and 5.7% of subscriptions, and pays back in revenue terms at a ratio of 1:1.4.

The campaign has also paid back creatively. There have been 93 creative awards for the Economist ‘White out of Red’ campaign between 1988-end of 2003. These have included D&AD, Cannes, One Show, Creative Circle, Campaign, IPA, Euro Effies and Clios.

The future

The Economist will continue with this strong advertising idea for as long as it remains an effective way to sustain and grow our business.

It has a proven ability to adapt to a constantly changing world and has been an important part of building the Economist business over the last twenty years. However we will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertising and check for any signs of wear-out of the work through qualitative research, brand tracking and econometric modelling.