The eight week campaign aims to remind people of the unique role newspapers play for advertisers, readers and society, says Newsworks.
The campaign, which will appear on digital platforms as well as in the papers, will highlight the remarkable level of attention and influence that newspaper brands still command.
One ad shows a picture of two news presenters resting their hands on some newspapers beneath the headline: “The front page news on TV every night? Ours.”
The six ads will remind people that the 36 million people who still pick up a paper each month spend more than an hour reading it, and are not distracted by other media. Readership of news brands reaches 46 million when all platforms are included.
An accompanying 40 second film, Media Butterflies, develops the idea that it is hard to find any audience today that gives you its undivided attention as they are all “surfing, scrolling and skipping”. By contrast newspaper readers are: “receptive, engaged and absorbed. Whether it is in our news or your advertising.” The tag line for the campaign is: “Nothing works like news works.”
Digital revenues and audiences continue to grow for publishers, but the newspapers themselves remain the biggest source of ad revenue. Advertisers spent £1.37 billion in national news brands last year, according to the latest AA/Warc figures, including £214 million on digital platforms.
The ad campaign, created by Holmes Hobbs Marcantonio (HHM), emphasises the spending power of newspaper readers and makes the point that more 18-24 year olds turn to news brands, not the TV, for their news.
Rufus Olins, chief executive of Newsworks, the marketing body of national newspapers and the organisation behind the campaign, said: “Technology and the arrival of tech organisations has transformed the way all of us find information, which means the important role newspaper brands play can sometimes be overlooked. We felt it was time to remind people about the job they do and extraordinary influence they have over people’s opinions and decision-making.”
Alfredo Marcantonio, a partner at HHM, said: “National newspapers are now more widely read than they were in Fleet Street’s heyday. Not only this, but people are faithful regardless of format – they’d no more change their newspaper than their football team.”
The campaign will appear in the Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, i, London Evening Standard, Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and Metro from 2 September for eight weeks across print, online, tablet and mobile.
