When Philadelphia Eagles star centre Jason Kelce announced his retirement from the NFL during an emotional 40-minute speech in March, people all over Philadelphia stopped what they were doing to tune in — and to shed a tear.

While The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial teams covered the breaking sports news live and in-depth, the media company’s marketing and creative side also jumped to action, capitalising on the opportunity to riff off the news in The Inquirer’s new brand campaign.

The next morning’s digital and print editions carried a full-page ad: “Unsubscribe from ‘No one likes us,’” — a phrase Kelce made famous after the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl win — “Subscribe to ‘No one like him.’” Sandwiched between the lines was The Inquirer’s iconic “I” logo in Eagles green, with the Mummers-style cap that Kelce wore at the team’s Super Bowl parade perched on top.

The Inquirer’s first large-scale brand campaign launched in October with clever, provocative, and funny “Unsubscribe from/Subscribe to” ads on over 60 Philly-area billboards, plus digital and print displays on transit and across The Inquirer’s products.

Leaning into Philly’s personality and humour

Produced by award-winning Philadelphia-based firm Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners, the campaign utilises a distinctly Philly voice to inspire people to reframe outdated perceptions of the city and the 195-year-old Inquirer, whose identities are inseparable.

“We wanted to let people know that our thriving multi-platform brand can feed your Philly bias like no one else,” said Lisa Hughes, publisher and CEO of The Inquirer. “We aimed to come out swinging with the latest stage of our full-scale business transformation, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

With an expected reach of over 70% of the local market with over 50 million impressions in its first year, the campaign embraces Philly humour with taglines like “Unsubscribe from ‘Did you eat?’ / Subscribe to ‘Jeet?’” while highlighting The Inquirer’s high-quality, Philly-first journalism.

Reaching a new generation of news consumers

The campaign’s overarching goal is to pique the interest of younger Philadelphians, to get them excited about The Inquirer, and to get them to consider a digital subscription. Early results indicate the campaign is exceeding projections for reach and recall.

“From the start, our agency was all in to wake up a new generation to the ‘Always Philly’ perspective that only The Inquirer brings,” said Steve Red, president and co-chief creative officer of Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners. “Although we work with clients all over the world, our heart and that large prideful chip you see on our shoulder is our deep-rooted Philly showing, so we understand how vital The Inky is to our city and region.”

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