According to Ofcom, 96% of UK adults consume news across a range of platforms, yet concerns about news environments continue to influence advertising decisions.
That contradiction sits at the heart of a new campaign launched this week by The News Alliance which is calling on marketers to reconsider the role of trusted news media in modern media planning.
Launching during Journalism Matters Week, the #AskForNews campaign is aimed at senior marketers, encouraging them to challenge assumptions that have led many brands to avoid news environments, says The News Alliance.
Built around the line "There's a funny thing going on in advertising", the campaign uses satirical humour to highlight what The News Alliance believes is an increasingly irrational industry behaviour – avoiding a media that reaches almost the entire adult population.
Developed by Bountiful Cow’s inhouse creative team, the campaign argues that the greater risk for brands is not appearing alongside trusted journalism, but missing audiences altogether.
The activity will run until the end of November across print, digital and audio news environments including The Guardian, The Standard, The Telegraph, Reach, and Sky News as well as leading trade titles, Campaign and The Media Leader.
Sarah Jones, chair of The News Alliance, said: "News media remains one of the most trusted and widely consumed media environments in the UK, yet all too often, it is overlooked during the planning process. Through #AskForNews, we want to encourage marketers to reconsider the misconceptions that have developed around news and recognise the real value it can deliver for their brand and business."
While the campaign is primarily aimed at senior marketers, The News Alliance has deliberately chosen to run the activity within news environments themselves. The coalition believes this demonstrates confidence in the quality of trusted journalism, allows marketers to experience the campaign in context and reinforces the role news can play in delivering effective advertising outcomes. It also recognises a simple reality that marketers are news consumers too.
The News Alliance hopes the campaign will stimulate wider debate about the role of news in modern media planning and encourage more advertisers to actively consider trusted news brands across all platforms as a valuable part of their media mix.
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