Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung wanted to launch a campaign that would drive home the importance of its quality journalism — something that would highlight the values of the brand and underscore its stance as a trusted source of news.

But it also knew that it needed to promote its new offering: a digital product that catered to a younger target audience.

Instead of choosing between these two options, the company created a campaign that embraced both ideas. It sought to appeal to that younger audience while at the same time emphasising its journalistic pedigree. The campaign “It’s in your own hand” encouraged interested customers to not just read the newspaper but to interact with it in other ways, such as via mobile devices and through a desktop digital portal.

Beginning with fresh, bright images developed to attract a youthful audience, Kleine Zietung shared its awareness campaign across various channels. Then, once it had the attention of that younger following, it moved on to the second part of the campaign, which was all about gaining new subscribers. To deploy that stage, it used different advertising media that could reach the intended youthful audience.

The use of different types of media allowed Kleine Zeitung to learn more about reaching younger target groups through digital. It was able to test such things as pricing, the appeal of different types of images, and the success of different call-to-action buttons.

Before launching the subscription campaign, it also evaluated the image and perception of the brand so it could compare results after the campaign’s completion.

First, awareness — then sales

The campaign was successful both in elevating awareness and perception of the brand and in driving subscription sales. Measurements after the campaign showed it had increased advertising awareness by 8%, with the strongest advertising perception coming from the print edition of the newspaper followed by its Web site and Facebook posts and ads.

Although the campaign only ran for two weeks, it achieved a better-than-expected advertising recall of 27%. And it hit its target audience, scoring higher with those under the age of 49 than with those 50 and older.

It also successfully improved the perception of the brand, achieving the following lifts as compared to pre-campaign numbers:

• Independent and objective reporting: +8%.
• Socially responsible: +10%.
• Digital presence: +10%.
• Provides regional coverage: +11%.
• High-quality content: +16%.

Long-lasting results

Although it experimented with various media channels, Kleine Zeitung found it was most successful in converting new subscribers through its own Web site. In fact, it was able to nearly double the average number of digital subscriptions it receives each month, picking up 925 subscribers during the product launch campaign.

Additionally, those customers stayed with the newspaper. After 30 days, the newspaper saw an above-average retention rate of 59%, and after 60 days, the number still surpassed a 50% retention rate.

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