Hearst joins UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox and Race Online 2012 campaign partners including the Scouts, Unionlearn, Jobcentre Plus, Post Offices, Three, Mecca Bingo Clubs and UK online centres to inspire, encourage and support the rest of Britain to use the web.
As part of the campaign, Race Online 2012 is planning the biggest-ever consumer-focused day of action on 30 October, to coincide with when the clocks go back. Go ON Give an Hour challenges the 30 million daily internet users in the UK to use this extra hour to pass on their skills to those who aren’t yet online.
Hearst Magazines UK, which publishes 23 magazines and 22 digital assets, will use some its heavyweight titles to help raise awareness of Race Online 2012 and the Give AN Hour campaign, with editorial coverage in Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Prima, Prima Baby, Best, Real People.
Hearst Magazines UK’s websites, allaboutyou.com, digitalspy.co.uk and netdoctor.co.uk, have also committed to supporting the initiative with editorial coverage and features during the lead up to the national day.
As one of the UK’s leading publishers, Hearst Magazines UK is dedicated to engaging readers online and is one of the biggest media players in the country, reaching more than 16 million adults in print and 20 million monthly unique users online.
Arnaud de Puyfontaine (pictured), Chief Executive, Hearst Magazines UK, and Executive Vice President, Hearst Magazines International says, “We are delighted to be supporting Race Online 2012 and to be associated with Go ON Give An Hour - the UK’s biggest consumer-focused day at the end of the month. The partnership with Race Online is a natural alignment for Hearst Magazines UK – we are dedicated to engaging our readers online 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. As an innovative and successful media company we are proud to be able to reach out to the millions of people throughout the UK who read our magazines and use our websites.”
UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox says, “There are still 8.7 million adults in the UK who have never used the internet – yet it’s impossible to imagine life without the web for anyone who uses it regularly”.
“We live in an age when ‘digital’ is a vital life skill: as basic as knowing how to read and write. 90% of new jobs require it: you’re 25% more likely to get work when you have web skills and once in work you’ll earn up to 10% more. It’s simply unacceptable that so many people are still unable to benefit from what the web can offer. An hour is long enough to give everyone a taste of the web, and show people the amazing benefits of using the internet”.
Individuals can pledge to give up the extra hour and show someone how to use the web at www.go-on.co.uk/giveanhour.
