News Corp embarks on digital subscription drive with journalists at heart of campaign
News Corp has today kicked off one of its biggest marketing campaigns in years with the relaunch of its tablet apps used as the catalyst for a major digital subscription drive.
The media firm is investing $5 million in the campaign – a figure which doesn’t include internal channels – with News Corp pushing the “quality and integrity” of its journalists and columnists as a key reason to subscribe.
TV ads, created by Archibald Williams which won News Corp’s creative account earlier this year, will air from Sunday with public transport commuters the key target. The commercials will be supported by outdoor, search, mobile-focused digital marketing and cinema, with the slogan ‘Extra Extra’ underpinning the campaign.
News Corp Group marketing executive Damian Eales, who lists David Jones and Westpac among his previous employers, described it as “by far and away the biggest campaign I have worked on in terms of media value and the opportunity to grow our base.”
Is this ironic
The marketing campaign will focus on News Corp’s journalists and columnists with Eales claiming they are the point of difference between News Corp and other media firms and publications.
Ooh, maybe people will start paying for digital subscriptions this time? It hasn’t worked the previous 96,543 attempts but something about this new strategy makes me think it’ll definitely turn the corner. $5m marketing budget will definitely pay off.
Of course, it would also help if people had an internet infrastructure that made downloading massive amounts of content something that they didn’t have to think about. Especially when setting off for the daily commute.
But then all those baddies in the media campaigned to get the NBN canned. Didn’t they News Corp?
I don’t think so. They are different than the journalists and columnists at other media firms and publications – but not in a good way 😉
“Quality and Integrity”
I can’t believe the amount of money News Corp has spent over the last few years trying to get people to sign up to their digital subs. It hasn’t worked, particularly for the tabloids. Yet they keep trying. If I were a shareholder I’d be asking questions. The reactionary right-wing bullying style of journalism in the tabloids, particularly the Tele, only ‘works’ for print. The type of readers that appreciate that content, particularly older, cranky, conservative males, aren’t at the forefront of digital uptake. I think the SMH will remain the king of digital for some time to come.
Many of the journalists who work for News Corp have also worked at Fairfax and the ABC. Many will also work for those organisations again. It is more than a bit hard to say they are better when at News that the other places. May be if News Corp tried better quality editors…
You do have to admire their guts in campaigning on weakness (integrity).
It would be like Tony Abbot campaigning for Prime Minister on the back of his feminist credentials and hoping that the only media owner in town would support him….oh wait…..
Genius strategy really.
a turd in glitter is still turd.
I don’t really get this either. I’m not going to get on the bandwagon of news corp is evil but I don’t understand their target audience at all. Maybe they could go down the quality target as their papers do have a large local content (which is even more valuable in one paper towns). The people who desire those sort of stories are, typically pensioners who are, for the large part, not public transport users. Public transport users want their news in bite size chunks. Furthermore if you look on the most read stories on news corp sites they are all tabloid, click bait stories. Why would public transport users pay when they can get new.com.au, the daily mail etc. This just doesn’t make any sense.
quality and integrity!! classic! April 1 seems to roll around later every year.