the economist (academic brief)

The Economist K1228101 & K1228841 Page � of �1 29

THE ECONOMIST - HOW DO THEY ATTRACT 11% MORE FEMALES?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE BRIEF 3

THE ECONOMIST 4

THE MARKET 4

DECLINE IN PRINT 4

TRENDS 5

PORTERS 5 FORCES 5

PEST ANALYSIS 6

SWOT 6

PRIMARY MARKET RESEARCH 7

STRATEGIC B.B.C VENN DIAGRAM 8

GET. TO. BY. - PLANNING MODEL 8

THE SOSTAC PLANNING 9

THE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY 9

OBJECTIVES 9

ACQUISITION STRATEGY 10

COMMUNICATION PLAN 11

CREATIVE EXECUTION 12

THE IDEA 12

EXECUTIONAL TACTICS 12

THE ACTIVITY PLAN 19

MARKETING BUDGET DISTRIBUTION 19

MEASUREMENT METRICS (KPI’S) 19

MAPPING THE NEW CUSTOMER JOURNEY 21

GLOBALISATION ROLL OUT 21

RETENTION PLAN 22

REFERENCES 23

APPENDIX 24


Word Count (body of work): 3792

THE BRIEF Continue to grow the UK subscriber base whilst increasing the percentage of female subscribers from 29% to 40% by the end of 2017. To deliver upon this execution a fully developed integrated marketing

communications plan will be devised for the brand. This will utilise existing marketing communication practices as well as developing new strategies and ideas.

The Economist has been struggling for some time to attract and retain a female viewership. This may be down to their overall culture or their current alignment in the market but as a brand they are willingly to attract a newer readership base.

With a marketing budget of £500,000 + VAT this strategic plan will identify key targets and message deliverables to execute this brief.

This report will include: • The key challenges the brand will have to

overcome. • Direct and digital strategy, including objectives, acquisition strategy (including data targeting and segmentation) and a communication plan with the proposed weight of paid, earned and owned media. • Distribution of the marketing budget over the campaign period / by channel to get a maximum Return on Investment (ROI). • The big campaign idea and creative recommendations • KPIs and recommended measurement • Test and learn plan, including how we could use the UK pilot to inform global roll-out • High level considerations for retention of new female subscribers in Years 2 and 3.


THE ECONOMIST The Economist is highly regarded as an independent weekly magazine journal. However, they adamantly call themselves a newspaper. The publication dates back to early roots all the way back to 1843 when James Wilson founded the publication. Since it’s early formations and strong ties to the London School of Economics it has become a major player in the international news space with a strong foothold in the US market.

The publication is owned and belongs to The Economist Group. The group is partly owned by the Rothschild family and the Agnelli family. 50% of the group is held privately by individual investors. The year to date March 2016 the Economist declared a healthy operating profit of £61m.

The main goal and aim of The Economist is to take an editorial stance of classical and economic liberalism. All authors and contributors are published anonymously which lends it’s self to a great real of freedom of speech. The publication actively describes itself as “a product of the Caledonian liberalism of Adam Smith and David Hume”. This comes through their mission statement: To take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”

THE MARKET DECLINE IN PRINT Since the turn of the ‘digital-era’ there has been a gravitational shift in the consumption of print magazines. With so much content at the fingertips for consumers without an outlay of cost it has become a problematic area for any publication. Warcs annual study (Appendix 1) of the media landscape has found that there is a 9.3% decline in the magazine industry from 2014-15 (Advertising Association, 2016). The same study also notes that National Newspapers are down 13.4% on the previous year which attributes to the decline in the market in which The Economist operates in. The Economist has been very progressive in their current business expansion to the digital era. The Economist app is one of top trending apps on both the Google and Apple App Store and is used frequently with high engagement levels prevalent. Ofcom’s study (Ofcom, 2015) (Appendix 2), into the use of internet as a news resource and active social media users, found that 61% of 61-24 year olds fell into this category. However, they furthered their study and looked at the 55+ age bracket and found that this use fell sharply with only 26% of the respondents using the platform. From the study we can also see that 33% of the respondents, in the 55+, category have a heavy bent towards relying on apps of newspapers and news sites. A further interesting insight is the fact that the rise of social media platforms are becoming a consumption vehicle for news. 16% of 16-24 year olds only consume their news through social media with no direct alternative outside of the platforms.


TRENDS Women are a main target for The Economist to actively pursue an increase in readership. Women are known as the ‘catalysts’ of change. This is seen across the four key dimensions: Decision making (workplace and economy), Communication, Identity and Innovation. Dayna Dion, Cultural Strategy Director of Ogilvy & Mather, (Warc, 2013), found that women are “86% more likely to start a discussion on a social network” than men. She goes on to note that women are “the ones commenting, liking, sharing” across their networks.

Deloitte’s study into the changing face of the UK media consumer, found that 92% of females aged 16-24 have access to a smart phone in their household. They found that 26% of this demographic used social media to communicate as soon as they woke up. To further this pen profile developed by Deloitte they found that 60% of these females watched short videos at home with 40% actively watching a minimum of 30minutes everyday. Deloitte’s extensive research lead to the findings that “5% of 16-24year olds use social media to keep up-to-date with their favourite brands”. (Deliotte, 2015)

PORTERS 5 FORCES Using Porters 5 Forces model we are able to analyse and assess the current competitor landscape and trends in the industrial landscape the business currently operates in.

New Market Entrants (LOW/MODERATE) The rise of new media outlets (Buzzfeed, Refinery 29, Huffington Post etc) has captured consumers to engage with content across different un-traditional media platforms. Snapchat Discover and Instagram stories has created a new entrant to markets for news outlets. There is little to no geographical resistance as The Economist is global. However, this has become a barrier with the perception of the brand being only for the ‘Elitists’. Supplier Power (LOW) Strong brand identity and is regarded as a pivotal journalistic voice amongst the current news offerings. A list of credible authors who are granted anonymity that adds to the element of controversial opinions that spearhead the curious debate. Strong retention of customers and following across social networks. There is a heavy bent towards following the brand instead of subscribing for weekly content. Competitive Rivalry (HIGH) Straddles both the newspaper realm and magazine industries. Main competitors: Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Money Week and Business Today. Competitive pricing with similar pricing across the board. Competitors focus primarily on a male dominated audience who are solely interested in the business political aspect of the news. Little to do with social change and opinionated journalistic points of view. Buyer Power (HIGH) Buyers can switch their content consumption at any time and it is usually seen as luxury item - not a necessity. Product an Technology Development / Different ProductsThe rise of social media and platforms enabling everyone to be content creator. The Economist K1228101 & K1228841 Page � of �5 29

Saturation of the market as result of tech development meaning there is a lot of ‘noise’ that consumers are exposed to.

PEST ANALYSIS Political The Economist is a liberal journalistic publication. Anonymity - to have the freedom to write freely. Freedom of expression - fundamental but not absolute. The story is more important than who writes it.

Economical Weekly print edition - £5 Print & Digital - £5(best value) Digital - £5 3 months for £45 (Print & Digital)

Social The economist has to communicate itself as a global brand. Although they claim to only report the most important news, they have to ensure that readers are able to relate to the stories covered. Technological Newer readers are finding The Economist for the first time on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). The Economist needs to interactively engage - fully integrate itself across social media platforms. The Economist needs to keep ahead of how their readers are utilizing technology.

SWOT Strengths: - Well, respected and highly credible. - Growing readership over time. - High levels of engagement with their existing mobile device application. - Un-biased opinions. - Anonymity of their authors. - Witt and controversial pieces.

Weaknesses - Decline in print.

- Current perception as being money / business orientated. - Male dominated messaging. - Subscription based model (Consumers want immediacy).

Opportunities: - To create a new market with aspiring females as a change in empowerment has come to a

prevalent place in society.


- To grow content segments by rewording and packaging the existing content to appeal to women more.

- To start a movement and champion what it means to be a ‘progressive’. - Become the digital player in the content news game.

Threats: - Decline in print over the last five years - Rise of new media platforms such as Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, Elite Daily and independent

bloggers has spirited a change away from existing communications - The disconnect from real world anti-establishment societal beliefs have effected media

consumption

PRIMARY MARKET RESEARCH As part of the response to the brief we undertook primary market research to get an understanding of what the existing overarching thoughts are of The Economist. The aim of this initial survey was to get a flavour for qualitative thoughts that would help craft our strategy before reviewing the research group once again later in the creation of the messaging. By implementing a brief Google poll, amongst women aged between 24 and 35, we were able to get a feel for what women’s pre-existing thoughts are towards The Economist. The main words that women associated with The Economist were: Business and Money. Out of our initial sample poll it is noted that 81.3% think the current offering by The Economist is too expensive.


Describe the Economist in one word.

Do you think that The Economist is too expensive?

STRATEGIC B.B.C VENN DIAGRAM

GET. TO. BY. - PLANNING MODEL

Get Get pre-existing Economist subscribers to refer their friends to subscribeGet businesses to sign up their employeesGet male subscribers to give the gift of The Economist to they partners Get universities to subscribe students on their behalf at a procurement discounted rate Get aspiring curious women who are interested in world affairs Get environmentally focused women Get business savvy women who want to explore money more

To To share The Economist with a friend for a referral rateTo write their own piece of opinion work To demonstrate their progressiveness To own what it means to be a thought leader


CULTURE

CUSTOMERThe Economist

Aspirational Women Liberated and open to new ideasEducated

WittyProgressive Controversial OpinionatedNot a Magazine

BRAND

To read content for free and build up credits that offset the cost of their subscription To only read and pay for the content they want to / pick n mix

By By getting women to share their ‘progressiveness’ By highlighting progressive women By championing the controversial nature of the economist with wit By sharing what it means to be progressive

Get aspiring curious women who are interested in world affairs to demonstrate their progressiveness by sharing what it means to be progressive.

THE SOSTAC PLANNING Using the SOSTAC planning system we are able to create the perfect marketing plan. The plan was created by PR Smith (Smith, 2003) and allows marketers to assess the situation, analysis, create, implement and monitor their campaigns.

THE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY OBJECTIVES The main objective of the campaign strategy is to increase the subscriber-ship of The Economist by 11% amongst women. To take this subscriber base from 29% to 40% by the end of 2017 by implementing the campaign to attract 24-35 year old females.

Another objective is to grow Snapchat audience of the newly formed The Economist Discover weekender page. With the swipe up function we aim to offer The Economist at the current 12 weeks for £12 offering. Using the platform and the discover features we aim to capture 34% new subscribers through the in app purchases and landing pages.

There will be many beneficial side affects to this and measurable KPI’s that we can monitor to ensure the strategy is on track. The aim is to become the champion of curiosity and to start the conversation. News isn’t just a one way conversation - it is a two way communication with differing points of view. The objective is to get women to share their ‘progressives’ and talk passionately about their beliefs - because this is what The Economist is all about.


ACQUISITION STRATEGY

Segmentation Top line acquisition segment - Women aged 24-35years old / Who are passionate and curious about the world. Pen Profile Annabel - 29 Years Old‘Currently, living in the suburbs of London but commutes daily to work. She commutes via public transport and is impassioned to make a change. On the weekends she volunteers at the local netball club - as she loved playing the sport growing up. Her 9-5 is working as a media consultant for a large organisation that has an entrepreneurial flare. She is interested and conscious of her impact on others around her and admits she may have neglected those beliefs whilst at University. She sees a divide in equality between men and women and wishes for change. She’s empowered by all that’s going on around her and is active on social media - using it as a tool to share content with friends.’

Targeting Using the data and research we have undertaken we look to acquire the 24-35 year old female customer. From the data we find that they are more receptive to a digital campaign.

We polled 30 respondents via a secondary Google Poll. The respondents were all between the ages of 24 - 35 years old and have career aspirations. The respondents didn’t necessarily go through higher education but openly admitted to self-studying and wanting to be curious. The respondents also felt that they were passionate about progress and change. The secondary poll gives us a better insight into how a sample of our target market consume content. RESULTS:

Positioning The positioning of The Economist should not shift to the left or the right but highlight some key brand identifiers and values that they already hold. The idea and notion that Economist readers are ‘Progressives’ will feature heavily in our communication. Conjuring emotion and calling people to act upon their progressive nature will spearhead the idea of


curiosity. The Economist satisfies ‘the naturally curious with a distilled view of world affairs’. This is what we want to highlight throughout our messaging.

COMMUNICATION PLAN

PAID Snapchat (Discover and Geotags)Utilising the existing The Economist Discover channel to build channel awareness. This will then lead to the incorporation of Snapchat Geotags. By purchasing Geotag’s around the main commuter train stations it will aim to drive awareness. (Appendix 6) Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Using Clear Channels new camera focused digital activation points around high traffic locations it will be very important for DOOH to drive awareness for the User Generated Content (UGC). Passers by will be entered into the ‘We the progressive’ campaign to target them and grab their attention.

PAID / EARNED Facebook The Economist currently boast a very modest 7.4m Facebook likes. This is a large pool of ‘interested’ people that have shown that they like the content The Economist produces. As we’ve noted earlier through background research and primary research we undertook with our representative sample - it is noted that amongst our target demographic 90% of them consume news through social media. Backed up by the point that Women are more likely to women are 86% more likely to start a conversation on a social network (Warc,2013). Boosting Facebook posts that women are primarily interested in and purchasing ‘We the Progressive Facebook and Instagram ads monthly will aid to the awareness of the campaign.

OWNED The Economist AppUsing the app to implement and grow existing subscribers. Each time an existing subscriber sends a referral code via the ‘We the Progressives’ in app tool they will be rewarded if the end subscriber signs up. This is seen as a peer to peer affiliate style marketing tactic. The referee and the referral will benefit in this transaction as they will get the first month free and pay nothing till month two.

‘We the Progressives’ landing page A curation of pictures from DOOH. Facebook and Snapchats that are user generated. They will feature on the We the Progressives page as a collective group. In real time they will be filtered onto the page with the hover acting as a tool to see how each person is progressive in their own words. You will also be able to create your own picture on the site for upload and can link your picture to Linkedin for networking purposes.


CREATIVE EXECUTION THE IDEA

Get aspiring curious women who are interested in world affairs to demonstrate their progressiveness by sharing what it means to be progressive.

Using DOOH to build awareness and digital Geographical filters we will aim to target the desired consumer at the point of their search. Looking at our own independent qualitative research it is noted that consumers in our target demographic are prevalent on social media. Move from ‘Content Kings’ towards ‘Connected Maestros’. High levels of interaction and high levels of content. (IBM, 2011 Appendix 4).

EXECUTIONAL TACTICS

Snapchat - Create Geotag filters at high commuter footfall locations- Adapt and expand on Snapchat Discover by having stories in bitesize content pieces that allow for click throughs to be measured.

Paid Search - Purchase Keywords and phrases such as ‘Progression’ and ‘The Economy’ via Google Ad Words.

Social Media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) - Boosting targeted posts that speak to the female audience. Stories and articles that will have a high foot volume of traffic.

Digital Out of Home - Using real time cameras to put passers by in the advertisement and call them progressives. This will then take a picture of them and be sent to the UGC page in The Economist splash page where they can engage in the content.



Cross uses of creative

Cross uses of creative


Facebook / Instagram Push Ad




DOOH (Camera)


DOOH FIXED

Snapchat Geotag


Google Ad Words

Facebook Targeted Post


Referral user generated picture

THE ACTIVITY PLAN MARKETING BUDGET DISTRIBUTION TOP LINE YEARLY CHANNEL BUDGETS Snapchat Year Budget: £165,182 Google Ad Words: £75,000 (75,000 CPC @ £1 a click) (Salesforce Marketing Cloud, 2016) DOOH: £125,000 (Costed by a phone call with Caitlyn Pinner Ogilvy & Mather, London) Facebook: £90,000 (19,389 CPC @ $5.75 a click)(Salesforce Marketing Cloud, 2016) Facebook Content: £15,000 Instagram: £30,000 (14,705 CPC @ £2.04 a click)

MEASUREMENT METRICS (KPI’S) CPCCPC is an important form of measurement as it measures and determines how many prospects have engaged with the ad. Every time a prospect clicks on our ads, CPC means that we will pay for each click that ad has received. Adwords We will purchase Google Adwords that a new prospect would be searching for. This will determine whether the effectiveness of our ads is working. Google Adwords that we will purchase: “Social Change” “Progression” “The Future” “Family” The Economist K1228101 & K1228841 Page � of �19 29

Subscribers To determine and measure new subscribers, we will use mobile app tracking tools such as Mobile app Tracking, we are able to install SDK (Software development kit) into The Economist app. This will have to be done as part of the app update. This unique device fingerprint helps to determine where the prospect (who intends to downloaded The Economist app) originally saw the ad. This will also help to determine the amount of new subscriptions. Followers Facebook As 90% of our target audience consume news through social media we can easily track and measure what people are saying about The Economist through the Social Mention tool. Social Mention is a social media analysis platform which collects user generated content and feeds it all into one stream in real-time. This will help us track sentiment amongst our audience. In order to measure the effectiveness of our Facebook posts we will measure how many likes our Facebook posts receive on the “We The Progressives”. We will also measure the amount of new Facebook followers from beginning to end of campaign. Referrals By using tools such as Google Analytics, we can determine traffic origins. By inserting a HTML code into every page of the website, we will track which channels are driving prospects to The Economist’s Website. This could be referral, direct, organic search, paid search or through a social network. Impressions (Facebook) We can track the amount of viewed impressions on a prospect’s desktop and mobile. For example, we will measure viewed impressions of The Economist’s ads on Facebook (un-viewed ads will not be charged for).Snapchat Unique Views - Counts how many people watch a video or see a photo. This is an accurate measurement as, although the same user may watch the same content multiple times, this metric only counts a single view once. It will help us to determine how big our audience is. Screenshots - Serves to measure the level of engagement with the campaign, by measuring how many screenshots a prospect has taken in a Story, or of a photo - the same way Facebook has a “Like” button, and Instagram has a “favour” button. Completion Rate - A quantifiable approach of measuring. This helps us to determine the percentage of how many people have watched a Snapchat Story from beginning to end, compared to dropping out of the Story halfway through. Completed Stories - Similar to Completion Rate, this is a quantifiable means of measuring how many people have watched a “Snapchat Story” from beginning to end. This also reinforces level of interest and engagement, which in turn reflects the effectiveness of our campaign.

NO. OF STORY COMPLETIONS / NO. OF UNIQUE VIEWS X 100 = % COMPLETION RATE

Fallout Rate - This helps us in terms of optimization for future campaigns, depending on how engaging our content is to begin with. This is done by looking at points in the Snapchat Story where fallout rates are the highest in order to decrease dropout rates and improve.

DIFFERENCE FROM ONE SNAP TO THE NEXT / NO. OF VIEWS FROM FIRST SNAP X 100


MAPPING THE NEW CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Awareness of the Campaign DOOH / Snapchat Geotag / Facebook Targeting Explore the campaign Exploration through using the content and interacting with the discover stories to create user generated content via the DOOH, Snapchat Geotag filters and website landing page.

Buy By sharing the ‘We the progressives’ campaign via the landing page and sharing a unique code existing subscribers get a two months of free. The new customer also benefits by getting two months for free.

EngageShare content that is specifically target at them through Facebook boosted targeted posts.

Move from ‘Content Kings’ towards ‘Connected Maestros’. High levels of interaction and high levels of content. (IBM, 2011) (Appendix 4).

GLOBALISATION ROLL OUT As the campaign has heavy weighting on Snapchat as platform to generate subscribers it is noted that the US market would be an ease of roll out target. The current offering of The Economist amongst US reader base is high and the penetration of Snapchat in US markets is growing daily. With programatic advertising and Ad words easily targeted this campaign could be re-targeted to attract a globalised market. However, as our primary qualitative market research is a selective sample group taken from suburban city dwellers it is difficult to The Economist K1228101 & K1228841 Page � of �21 29

Customer Journey Map

Awareness Discover Purchase Use Bond

Website Go on to read the story in more depth online for free.

Read content online and engage in debate

Instagram

DOOH

Facebook Share the Story on Facebook with their referral code.

Friends use referral code to purchase a trial subscription.

Share content with friends

Share their opinions on pieces.

Snapchat Watch Snapchat Discover Stories or use targeted Geotag

Word of Mouth Talk to peers about what they have read.

Email Email colleagues their referral code.

Post

comprehend and understand that if this is an insight or an observation. For a globalised roll out there would be a greater need to emphasise in studying a larger user base to target areas of attention at a more efficient scale.

RETENTION PLAN To retain the new subscribers it is highly important that there is a proposal plan to not waste the hard work that has been done.

Social CRM and Content Marketing From our research and observing the insights of females in our demographic group it is prevalent and highly important that the retention of subscribers is done via engaging content. Creating brand relevance to the consumers is the biggest obstacle that The Economist has had over the years. By targeting content posts through targeting tools available on social platforms it is recommended that The Economist doesn’t put forward the wrong content to people who would be disengaged with the articles. By publishing posts and boosting them to all users it is seen as a negative tool due to the fact of the large disconnect in engagement between male and female subscribers.

Year 2This is the most important year in terms of the customer feedback and loyalty loop. This is when customers are either going to fully buy-in to what you are selling or they are going to not see their needs be satisfied and leave. With a heavy emphasis placed on retention in future marketing efforts during this year. As subscribers after this year are more likely to continue their subscription consumers are creatures of habit.

Year 3During year 3 it should be assumed and looked at from a macro view to the point where The Economist should look to acquire new subscriber base. With the customer life-cycle it is easily assumed that there will be a drop-off rate of subscribers by this time.. By assessing and analysing the situation The Economist can survey their needs and look to implement a marketing plan that coexists with their expectations of market share.


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Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. Pearson.

Deloitte. (2015). Media Consumer 2015: The Signal and the Noise. [online] Available at: http://www.deloitte.co.uk/mediaconsumer/assets/pdf/Deloitte_Media_Consumer_2015.pdf [Accessed 21 Nov. 2016].

Edelman, D. C. (2010). Branding in the digital age. Harvard Business Review, 88(12), 62-69.

IBM (2012). Beyond digital: Connecting media and entertainment to the future. http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03 482usen/GBE03482USEN.PDF

Ofcom (2015). News Consumption in the UK: Research Report. [online] Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/77222/news_consumption_in_the_uk_2015_report.pdf [Accessed 21 Nov. 2016].

Salesforce Marketing Cloud. (2016). Advertising Index Q1 2016 Report. [online] Available at: https://secure.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/datasheets/mc-salesforce-advertising-index-q1-2016-advertising-studio.pdf [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016].

Warc. (2013). Women 2020: How women's actions and expectations are changing the future. [online] Available at: http://www.warc.com.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=d48ce890-87f9-4278-8fb0-defa6cd005e6&q=womens+magazines+purchase+behaviour&CID=A98594&PUB=FUTURES [Accessed 21 Nov. 2016].


APPENDIX


Appendix 1

Appendix 2


Appendix 3

Appendix 4


Appendix 4 - Qualitative primary market research (Google Poll)


Appendix 5 - Snapchat Geotag Locations


Appendix 6 - Yearly Budget