As part of its digital growth, Switzerland’s leading private media company Tamedia has completely overhauled its marketing communications for its news brands Tages-Anzeiger, 24 heures, and Tribune de Genève.

The basis of the new approach was formed by a more extensive interdisciplinary exchange between the editorial, product, and reader revenue teams. In workshops, key questions were discussed and analysed:

• What kind of journalistic mission statement do our offerings have?
• What are the current target groups?
• What are the USPs of the offerings?
• How do they differentiate themselves from the competition?
• What added value do I get when I purchase a subscription?

Tages-Anzeiger: “Let’s find out”

Every journalistic investigation begins with a question, an observation, a piece of information that hunts you. Every reporter knows the feeling: I want to figure this out now.

With focus on this journalistic curiosity, a new slogan — accompanied by a new campaign — was created for the Tages-Anzeiger in collaboration with the agency Thjnk Zurich: “Let’s find out.”

The uniqueness of the claim is its double connotation — in fact,it not only refers to journalists, but also includes the readers who are being actively involved in the dialogue. 

24heures and Tribune de Genève: “What drives us”

For the two important news media in Lausanne and Geneva, a new campaign was developed in collaboration with the agency Havas. The central idea is that our quality media dig deeper and look behind the facade. And as in the new campaign and slogan of the Tages-Anzeiger, the engagement with the reader is a key element.

The campaign is based on a ripped news image and a question related to it. The meaning behind  the crack in the photo is to invite the reader to look further than a simple image and to go beyond the obvious.

The question is then systematically closed by “we too” to express the proximity between the reader and 24 heures/Tribune de Genève, the dialogue and the shared search for the right information. The remaining tagline, “What drives us,” expresses the passion for quality journalism.

Content marketing takes center stage

Today, for elaborate stories such as the big feature on Martina Hingis or the broad coverage on the leak of the Pandora Papers appropriate marketing concepts are discussed between the editorial and reader revenue teams before publication. For the full breadth of content, premium articles have been promoted on social media using an automated feed campaign.  

I am convinced that a close collaboration between newsroom and reader revenue teams is crucial for success: It’s the content that brings new readers to us. And it’s the content that keeps existing customers happy.

In the near future, smaller editorial coverages — such as elections in a community or editorial series with shorter lead times — should also be used wisely for acquisition and retention purposes.

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