Manchester Evening News: Love Sundays. Love MEN!
Client
Manchester Evening News
Industry
Business to Consumer
Results
Over 1 million impacts delivered
78% coverage across Greater Manchester
How to promote a newly launched local Sunday paper in an already saturated weekend market?
Love Sundays. Love MEN!
That was the message conveyed across Manchester to launch a new Sunday edition of the Manchester Evening News.
Reflecting ‘A city that never takes a day off’ The Ark Media brief was to launch the new title and increase awareness of its publication throughout Manchester.
One of the key challenges for The Ark was connecting and incorporating the city's strong sporting links. This was an interesting conundrum as there is a divide between Manchester United and Manchester City.
Connecting the city, while respecting the different fans was something that had to be balanced.
Our solution was to 'paint' the 2 sides of the city - blue for the City side and red for the United fans. Then linking the whole city by pulling together a yellow poster which encapsulated the Manchester bee. A worker bee, reflecting the city made by the workers. An iconic image that is dotted across the city.
We used a combination of large format and digital sites, busy rail stations and bus rears to build reach and frequency across the city whilst promoting different copy across the week.
This allowed us to engage with new and existing commuter audiences in ways other mediums could not match.
Demonstrating our tactical and research focused approach, we also investigated where the fans lived to ensure the advertising of the posters was strategic respecting the different clubs and identities.
We designed and created copy that resonated across all the groups, neutral and clear that reached who it needed to reach at the right time.
Digital sheet located in a bar.
Digital sheet located in a bar.
Objective
The primary objective of this campaign was to:
-Promote the MEN’s new Sunday edition, targeting the whole of Manchester to highlight the new paper, whilst conscious of the divide between Manchester United and Manchester City supporters.
Bus rear circulating around Manchester.
Strategy and Execution
We focused on sports fans, people who read Sunday newspapers are usually sports focused. This was our key audience, so the balance between opposing football clubs had to be achieved and taken into consideration.
-Digital advertising included in pubs and bars, specifically sports bars and train stations.
-Static advertising on buses strategically targeting shoppers at the Trafford Centre.
-Ten second commercials highlighting what the edition would mean to the people of Manchester.
Trafford Centre in Manchester (Food Hall).
Bus rear circulating around Manchester.
What was learned going forward...
Striking a balance between passionate sports fans while promoting a new newspaper in a saturated market was a challenge that The Ark Media happily rose to. We used clever strategic targeting demonstrating our reach and how we can tactically design and create copy that hits the market in a powerful way.
A sports focused campaign balancing advertising strategically with Manchester United and Manchester City fans, while also reaching and uniting across the city with the iconic worker bee (born in 1842 as an icon of industry).
“Launching a Sunday edition in a really comprehensive market was no mean feat. We were up against the national markets which is an aggressive market so to be competing in for it we had to demonstrate we were a trusted local brand. The Ark Media made sure we got it right and were honoured to be chosen to win the pitch. This campaign shows how creative angles and tactical pitches work really well respecting and honouring differences.” - John Ainley, Managing Director of The Ark Media
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