For over a century, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has been the definitive source of news and information, using the lens of business, finance, and economics to inform generations of business leaders, policymakers, and individuals who shape our world.

Now boasting more than 4 million subscriptions, WSJ has solidified itself as a go-to destination for global news. In today’s evolving media landscape, we remain laser-focused on engaging new audiences to sustain future growth.

Explaining the value

While The Wall Street Journal enjoys near-universal brand awareness, there is room to further engage young business professionals and prospective readers who may not fully recognise the value the Journal’s reporting can offer them.

In research conducted focused on consumer perception, a portion of non-subscribers expressed uncertainty as to how WSJ’s reporting was relevant to their lives individually. We heard responses like “I’m not particularly the demographic that would read the Journal because I don’t work in the stock market,” or “I occasionally will read WSJ for stock info and financial reporting.”

Partnering with teams across marketing and editorial, we began to strategise on a bold new brand positioning for the storied publication to address these misperceptions head-on.

While readers found WSJ’s reporting to be very useful as a professional tool for their careers and personal finances, we wanted to avoid a subscriber’s relationship with the Journal being primarily transactional. We saw an opportunity to deepen the brand affinity with new and existing readers by highlighting all the ways the Journal’s reporting impacts everyday lives.

We aimed to answer one key question: How can we reinforce the value of a WSJ subscription by shifting reader perception from a functional business tool for some to a vital resource for all aspects of life?

That key insight and question drove the strategic development of The Wall Street Journal’s new brand platform, “It’s Your Business.”

The new tagline accomplished three key points for WSJ:

1. It centres the reader directly at the core of our marketing by showing them how WSJ’s reporting is “your business.”
2. It spotlights WSJ’s journalistic focus on global business and finance by keeping the topic of “business” front and centere.
3. It leverages WSJ reporting to flex across topics, with “It’s” being able to scale across everything from the stock market and electric vehicles to psychedelics and tariffs.

Through the strategic launch of “It’s Your Business,” we spotlighted what The Wall Street Journal does best to drive deeper engagement with existing subscribers while future-proofing the brand to appeal to new, younger readers.

The success of the platform also allowed us to activate during significant news events. This includes the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where we ran a full-funnel media strategy themed around the issues that mattered most to voters.

Media strategy

At the core of WSJ’s new brand platform was the personal impact of business on everyone’s lives. To bring this insight to life, we launched contextually relevant out-of-home (OOH) in unexpected places, such as “Make Hot Dog Economics Your Business” on the side of a hot dog cart in New York City or “Make EV Politics Your Business” at an electric vehicle charging station.

By connecting these placements with article bylines corresponding to each unit, we were able to show everyday people how WSJ’s reporting impacts their lives in unexpected ways.

Beyond contextual OOH, we reached our target audience through both spectacular units and wild postings in key markets that we’ve identified as growth targets, such as Miami, Dallas, and New York City. This included large-scale placements in highly trafficked locations such as Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, and Bryant Park.

As the modern media landscape continues to evolve, The Wall Street Journal plans to build long-term brand equity around “It’s Your Business” and our reader-first marketing strategy, with the aim of furthering WSJ’s mission to help readers better understand the world around them so they can make smarter, more informed decisions.

Credits: Alexander Dousie, Melissa Pasternak, Elizabeth Azen Andia, Katie Fabry.

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