Broadening the appeal

The market for news is overcrowded and harshly competitive. It's therefore incredible to think that the Economist's global circulation has been growing continuously for 26 years. According to the latest figures (ABC UK/US, Jan-Jun 2007), the magazine has reached a global circulation peak of over 1.2 million, doubling circulation in a decade. Even in the UK, our home market and therefore the most mature, we are still growing by 7% year-on-year and circulation is approaching 173,000.

Sales of many international business titles and news magazines are either flat or declining. Moreover, the combined circulation of the 'quality' national daily newspapers in the UK has fallen by more than 10% over the last ten years. You could end up thinking that people are just not that interested in the world around them. But we firmly believe that is not the case. People are no less interested in global affairs. But the way they get their news has changed dramatically. This is the age of the email news alert and the TV sound-bite. But, as our circulation figures show, up-to-the-minute headlines are not enough to satisfy everyone. There is a significant need for the kind of concise analysis and opinion that the Economist offers every week.

Among the curious, affluent and educated - whatever their age - the Economist is a ritual pleasure to be savoured. People read us in the bath, on the train, at the gym, and they tend to want to do that in print. For us, they make time and space in their lives. If you look at Facebook, there are over 11,000 people discussing what they read in the Economist. They are really engaged with the brand and they respect the quality of our editorial. The Economist is justifiably famous for its sharp writing style and breadth of global content - although as John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief, recently noted: "We have sadly undercovered Britney Spears."

Origins of a classic

One of the secrets of our success is our ever-popular brand campaign. The classic red and white Economist ads have become one of the most recognised ad campaigns in the UK over the last nineteen years, winning over a hundred creative awards including prizes at the Campaign Poster Awards, Cannes Lions, Creative Circle and D&AD. Everyone seems to have their favourite, whether it's an oldie like "It's lonely at the top, but at least there's something to read" or one of the more recent ones like "Can you keep people interested or are they easily ooh look, a pigeon." The distinctive look and tone of the ads resonates across our marketing communications - from point-of-sale tactical ads through to our direct mail. It is this consistent, comprehensive approach that has helped make our brand so recognisable.

Nineteen years is a long, long time in advertising. The red and white ads first launched well before the internet - back when satellite TV was the latest thing and the Berlin Wall had yet to fall. Inevitably, the campaign has evolved over the years to reflect shifts in the tastes of consumers and changes in the social and political backdrop. But these changes have been gentle — evolution not revolution — and the look of the campaigns has remained quite consistent. As a result, people tend to think the ads have always remained the same. It's only when you compare the early ads to the more recent ones that you really start to notice the changes.

The strategy was first developed in the 1980s, when the newly-appointed Abbott Mead Vickers advertising agency was getting to grips with the Economist’s UK advertising brief. The magazine was fighting for readers against a raft of high-spending national broadsheets. It needed a high impact, clearly branded campaign that would cut through the advertising clutter on a relatively modest budget. When pondering the brief, David Abbott noticed that the distinctive red Economist masthead was in exact proportion to a 48-sheet poster. That observation was the inspiration for the now-famous red and white campaign that has since generated hundreds of individual ads.

Changing propositions

Economist ads tend to be more about the reader than the product. The campaign has steadily built up the idea of the exclusive 'club' - to be an Economist reader is something to aspire to. In the Thatcherite eighties, the magazine was as much a sign of success as an expensive watch. At the heart of the Economist propositions, between 1988 and 2007, is the notion of success. But the definition of success changes over time. So the key to keeping the campaign relevant was to keep up with this evolution in people’s aspirations.

In the late 1980s, the proposition was all about individual, professional success: ‘The Economist gives you the edge in business’. This was definitely not the age of teamwork. In the recessionary early 90s, the proposition played people's fears as the economic future started to darken: ‘Don’t get found out’. In the more optimistic and egalitarian atmosphere that followed Tony Blair’s arrival in Number 10, the proposition changed to ‘Surpass yourself’. The campaign recognised that success could be multi-faceted: social and intellectual success was just as important as career progression. The Economist became a dinner-party conversation starter. This gave way to the harder-edged message of ‘Stay one step ahead’ as New Labour optimism faded in the politically and economically uncertain period after 9/11.

A new take

The campaign has never stood still; it has never allowed the formula to become formulaic. We have regularly taken a step back from our classic, short headlines, such as "To be" or "Shine and rise", by running ads using graphics without text, or special builds, or different fonts and colours. We even ran a few without the logo. Continuing in this spirit, the Economist introduced a new take on the classic red and white 'look' in September 2007 with a six week brand campaign. The new work drew on some of the core elements of the previous advertising - with intelligence and wit resonating through the headlines and still with the famous Economist red signifying the brand benefit. However, the specific messages, and the visual treatment, have subtly evolved. The campaign, still created by AMV BBDO, now demonstrates that reading the Economist is the best way to be well-informed about connected global issues - rather than playing purely on the idea of success.

The role of the campaign going forward is to reflect and build on the broad appeal that the Economist has for readers. The advertising proposition is ‘You might be more of an Economist reader than you think’. The concept of success is increasingly defined by the individual's perception of what success means to them, rather than a blanket definition. The Economist 'club' - although still aspirational - has moved away from exclusivity and elitism towards open-minded meritocracy. Our readers turn to the Economist for intelligent analysis in a world of ever-more commoditised news. More than just a status symbol, they consider the magazine to be a stimulating and invigorating ally that enables them to get more out of both business and social encounters. And they love the variety. It's always fascinating to ask readers which bits they read first as you never get the same answer twice.

Psychographic profile

The magazine has always attracted people with a certain mindset, an uncommon kind of curiosity. We value the demographic profile of our readership - which can be summarised as well-educated, affluent achievers - but it is the psychographic profile that is really fascinating. Economist readers are special: they are internationalists, love new ideas and like to stand out from the crowd. They have a very strong, emotional connection to the brand and the new ads are acutely conscious of that. The headlines, developed in tandem with the illustrations, evoke the aspects of the magazine most beloved of the Economist’s readers. The latest ads recognise our expanding readership in the UK. They speak to a spectrum of intelligent people - from designers, scientists and marketers to bankers and lawyers. The tone of voice is fresh, energetic and accessible.

Perhaps what is most striking about the new ads is the black-and-red colour scheme and the range of typographic and illustrative styles evident over the seven executions. The ads follow a varied visual route - executed by several world-class illustrators, including Seymour Chwast and Geoff McFetridge - whilst the coherent message and the strong colour-scheme lock the campaign together. Each individual ad has its own personality, but they work best as a unified whole.

Media strategy

The media strategy for the autumn 2007 campaign also evolved. Whereas our previous campaigns mainly used roadside and tube 48-sheets, this one ran in a variety of new formats, such as digital escalator panels at key London tube stations, Coffee Republic table-tops, 6-sheets in leisure clubs, 16-sheet cross-tracks on the tube and black cab tip-up seats.

There was also a significant press campaign in quality weekend newspapers (including the Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Observer, Independent, Independent on Sunday, Scotland on Sunday) and a strong online presence (including New Scientist, National Geographic, Wallpaper, Guardian, Times, Independent, Yahoo.co.uk, Square Meal, Timeout London and Reuters). All of the media have been selected after extensive audience analysis, but another key criterion was dwell time. The creative executions needed people to have time to engage with and de-code the messages, to get the 'reward'. The media choices meant that our target audience were likely to see a mix of the ads several times, exposing them to the complementary messages.

The strength of our brand – as well as our relationship with AMV BBDO – allows us to take risks with our marketing to ensure we stay in tune and up-to-date. The more familiar, core Economist brand campaign will continue across the world, where its look and tone have become iconic in brand advertising over the last nineteen years. Everything we do with our UK marketing is designed to get people to think about our brand - to communicate our distinctive writing style, our global coverage and our relevance to them. The Economist is a household name, we are available in almost every newsagent and most big supermarkets. Our challenge now is to broaden the idea people have of the brand, take it to new readers and get them excited about our editorial. We're proud of the magazine - there are so many great things to say about it - so this is a challenge we truly relish.