Amanda Tushingham and Ivan Lazarov from The Guardian tell the story of the journey from local newspaper to multi-media news outlet. Case studies show how brands can harness the same techniques by working in partnership.
2. In brief…
Changing consumer trends
Changing content trends
Making most of digital landscape
We’ve come a long way…
Partnerships – how brands are utilising these innovations
3. We’ve come a long way…
From Manchester newspaper to global digital news brand
6. And now…
Diversity is key
The Guardian
in Print
Guardian
Weekly
The Guardian’s
desktop site
m.Guardian
.co.uk
iPad
Edition
The Guardian
Kindle Edition
Guardian on
Flipboard
Windows
App
Blackberry 10
App
Android
App
iPhone
App
Guardian
Eyewitness
for iPad
Guardian on
Google
Currents
Guardian
Witness
the whole picture
7. …we reach a global audience across 1000+ devices in 2013
~85 million monthly unique browsers on Web, Mobile & Tablet
UK
26 m unique browsers
North America
Europe minus UK
27.8m unique browsers
11 m unique browsers
Asia
8.6m unique
browsers
South America
1.0m unique browsers
Oceania
Africa
2.0m unique
browsers
Source: Omniture Site Catalyst June 2013
3.9 m unique
browsers
9. A digital vision from the top
“The Guardian is unique: it has no owners beyond a
Trust which ploughs back all its profits into
journalism. Its staff are free to think and write what
they want. Their only relationship is with the
readers. Guardian readers are passionately
committed to the values and mission of the paper.
One way of describing the mission is
to change the world one word at a time.”
Alan Rusbridger
the whole picture
10. Key initiative: Re-imagine Storytelling
We’re answering:
How do we take better advantage of the flexibility of
digital to tell better stories?
How do we use behavioral data to better target
content?
How do we make better use of graphics and
interactive?
What’s the best method to scale our design in a
responsive Web approach?
11. Multimedia: Firestorm story
17 minutes
Users: over 100,000
Dwell times:
A ground-breaking multimedia project that blends
1) longform writing,
2) video documentary,
3) audio material,
4) and interactive elements.
12. Key initiative : Digital First Journalism
Our content is informed by live data/ consumer trends
We’re answering:
How do we embed audience understanding throughout the
organisation?
How do we encourage the behavior we want out of a digital
newsroom via our tools?
How do we get journalists excited about the capabilities of
digital ?
we best train & educate the team?
15. “Each one of these mobile phones is an infinitely powerful publishing system”
Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief, the Guardian
16. Access to news anywhere, anytime
What will this mean for newspapers in the future?
“Five years from now, what will your average reader look like? He or
she will have an ultra-powerful tablet, and a subscription on that
tablet. The knowledge about the readers and the things they care
about will be much greater than today. The evidence is that
newspapers will thrive in this new model”
Eric Schmidt interview with Alan Rusbridger
the whole picture
17. Audience growth is driven by digital and cross-platform
GNM weekly total audience by platform
6,000
5.3m
'000s people per week
5,000
4.6m
4.9m
4.1m
24%
4,000
5.5m
31%
43%
45%
22%
3,000
21%
20%
Digital only
19%
Print + digital
22%
25%
34%
30%
2011
2012
2,000
1,000
57%
56%
49%
Print only
-
2008
2009
2010
Source: GNM Total Audience, Wave 2 2012
the whole picture
18. Accessing content by time of day
Breakfast
Commute
Morning
Lunch
Afternoon
Commute
Evening
Bed
Source: Touchpoints 4
the whole picture
19. Open journalism gives a more complete picture. And
we do it because, if we don’t open ourselves, people
will simply do it elsewhere.
Why compete when you can collaborate? It’s better
commercially.
Alan Rusbridger
the whole picture
25. Positive sentiment improvement
(improvement since Witness launch)
% sentiment of conversations about EE
Source: Keller Fay Talk Track; EE brand = EE only (excl. Orange and T-Mobile)
the whole picture
26. Brand USA
1 in 4
of British adults
talking about
US travel were
GNM readers
3.3%
of GNM Audience talked about
travel to the US in May 2013
0.5%
of GNM Audience talked about travel
to the US before the campaign
the whole picture
29. Summary of results
Over
93k UUs
Recall was 35% vs
26% GNM benchmark
71% of users
recommend
Increase scores across
key brand terms
the whole picture
30. 5 tips for delivering great content
Know your audience
Find the human story
Work with experts in story telling
Be flexible
Add value
the whole picture
Newspaper usage peaks in the morning on the way to work, but tails off throughout the day as news becomes out of date.Fixed internet receives fairly consistent usage throughout the working day, but as progressives relax in the evening they are more likely to use a tablet to access the internet, although along with newspapers tablets also have a morning peak.Mobile internet usage is most likely to peak at lunch time and after work – when this audience are away from fixed internet, and we can see that social networking peaks towards the end of the day as people relax in the evening.We also need to work with you and creative agencies to make sure that we are fully harnessing the power of this type of day part insight.We can see that progressives are seeking info on products on services online during lunchtime and in the evening. Should creative messaging be tailored accordingly?- We also know what else they’re doing online. With work unsurprisingly peaking in the morning and afternoon, we can see that gaming and multimedia content will appeal to them in the evening.- So as you can see, we’ve really built up a picture of when and where to target progressives throughout the day and how receptive they are to advertising in a cross platform world. Matt Gilbert will now talk a bit how we see the cross-platform habits of our audience evolving over time and what the implications are for advertisers.
ChallengeEE launched as a new network in October 2012 with one clear advantage: 4G. A multimillion pound media launch built strong brand awareness but we needed to show people the difference 4G could make to their lives in real and tangible ways. InsightThe obvious route was to focus on the existing technology, but nobody knew what 3G was either, in fact 3G was Google’s fifth most searched for ‘what is’ in 2012.Smartphones have changed the way news is reported, empowering ‘Citizen Journalists’ to report the news as it happens. 4G had the potential to supercharge this and we could show the scale of what the network was capable of, whilst making 4G users capable of something that had never been done before on a subject that really mattered. MEC approached us with a clear challenge – How can we combine the Guardian’s unique approach to Journalism with EE4G and really supercharge the reader contribution experience.Ideaa brand new Citizen journalist platform; ‘Guardian Witness powered by EE’ (GW). GW is a simple on-line access point for all contributions from Guardian readers, the process is made simpler with iOS and android aps available. The Guardian sets challenges and asks users to submit content to answer the challenge – this ranges from photos, videos to stories. The content is reviewed, moderated and then published on the Guardian site.GuardianWitness goes beyond just the UGC platform itself: The Witness Academy recruits the best up and coming student journalists, training them on how to shoot news content on mobile and EE customers will be offered dedicated Guardian Masterclasses in video reporting. A Witness awards ceremony later in the year will celebrate the best content.Results3.8mpage impressions2.1mdaily uniques25,400approved contributions29,784app downloads
ChallengeEE launched as a new network in October 2012 with one clear advantage: 4G. A multimillion pound media launch built strong brand awareness but we needed to show people the difference 4G could make to their lives in real and tangible ways. InsightThe obvious route was to focus on the existing technology, but nobody knew what 3G was either, in fact 3G was Google’s fifth most searched for ‘what is’ in 2012.Smartphones have changed the way news is reported, empowering ‘Citizen Journalists’ to report the news as it happens. 4G had the potential to supercharge this and we could show the scale of what the network was capable of, whilst making 4G users capable of something that had never been done before on a subject that really mattered. MEC approached us with a clear challenge – How can we combine the Guardian’s unique approach to Journalism with EE4G and really supercharge the reader contribution experience.Ideaa brand new Citizen journalist platform; ‘Guardian Witness powered by EE’ (GW). GW is a simple on-line access point for all contributions from Guardian readers, the process is made simpler with iOS and android aps available. The Guardian sets challenges and asks users to submit content to answer the challenge – this ranges from photos, videos to stories. The content is reviewed, moderated and then published on the Guardian site.GuardianWitness goes beyond just the UGC platform itself: The Witness Academy recruits the best up and coming student journalists, training them on how to shoot news content on mobile and EE customers will be offered dedicated Guardian Masterclasses in video reporting. A Witness awards ceremony later in the year will celebrate the best content.Results3.8mpage impressions2.1mdaily uniques25,400approved contributions29,784app downloads
The Brand Challenge: Bring unseen America to life with insight into all it has to offer through access to its resident’s insight into an awesome variety of destinations. The Campaign objectives: Create a UK campaign that demonstrated the ease of travelling through America the variety of destinations and the welcoming hospitality of its people. Increase interest and travel in America and more importantly drive visitors the Discover America website. Engaging with the social community on Twitter and Facebook was essential. Campaign Strategy: With 13 million unique browsers in the USA the Guardian uniquely placed to utilise its American audience to tell our UK users how to travel like a local throughout the States, truly demonstrating American hospitality. What made the Guardian unique was the nature of its ‘open’ approach to journalism and inviting all readers to help shape it’s stories with blogs, comments and social media optimised stories. The Brand partnerships team looked for a way to combine all these elements and provide a bespoke partnership that would benefit readers and Brand USA equally. Campaign Execution: ‘America uncovered’ was more than a straight forward sponsorship or American travel content. It enabled the Guardian to re-define the way they created their travel journalism. Adhering to the objectives of Brand USA, they combined the unique views of USA residents with the technical expertise at Guardian to produce a variety of unique and innovative content, never seen before by its readers including: ‘TwitTwips’: A series of Roadtrips across America, guided purely by recommendations and advice of US readers via Twitter. Along the way, Tweets and Twit pics updated readers on progress and these were transformed into interactive pieces that residents in the UK could use to inspire their next trip to the States.Celebrity ‘Inside Guides’: Celebrities were invited to bring their own recommendations in Famous US destinations, including Cerys Matthews’ guide to Musical Pilgrimages in Nashville Tennessee. US Resident ‘Top Tens’: Tapping into the best source of information – US residents, the Guardian was able to gain insight into America in more ways than any journalist could. For example, trucker SalenaLettera provided his Top Ten sights and scenic views in the USA. Campaign Results:The campaign has been running for 6 weeks and already 500,000 uniques users have visited the USA travel section. Much of the content is the most read in the travel section and some features have attracted over 5,500 Facebook shares along with thousands of comments on the site itself.
The Brand Challenge: Bring unseen America to life with insight into all it has to offer through access to its resident’s insight into an awesome variety of destinations. The Campaign objectives: Create a UK campaign that demonstrated the ease of travelling through America the variety of destinations and the welcoming hospitality of its people. Increase interest and travel in America and more importantly drive visitors the Discover America website. Engaging with the social community on Twitter and Facebook was essential. Campaign Strategy: With 13 million unique browsers in the USA the Guardian uniquely placed to utilise its American audience to tell our UK users how to travel like a local throughout the States, truly demonstrating American hospitality. What made the Guardian unique was the nature of its ‘open’ approach to journalism and inviting all readers to help shape it’s stories with blogs, comments and social media optimised stories. The Brand partnerships team looked for a way to combine all these elements and provide a bespoke partnership that would benefit readers and Brand USA equally. Campaign Execution: ‘America uncovered’ was more than a straight forward sponsorship or American travel content. It enabled the Guardian to re-define the way they created their travel journalism. Adhering to the objectives of Brand USA, they combined the unique views of USA residents with the technical expertise at Guardian to produce a variety of unique and innovative content, never seen before by its readers including: ‘TwitTwips’: A series of Roadtrips across America, guided purely by recommendations and advice of US readers via Twitter. Along the way, Tweets and Twit pics updated readers on progress and these were transformed into interactive pieces that residents in the UK could use to inspire their next trip to the States.Celebrity ‘Inside Guides’: Celebrities were invited to bring their own recommendations in Famous US destinations, including Cerys Matthews’ guide to Musical Pilgrimages in Nashville Tennessee. US Resident ‘Top Tens’: Tapping into the best source of information – US residents, the Guardian was able to gain insight into America in more ways than any journalist could. For example, trucker SalenaLettera provided his Top Ten sights and scenic views in the USA. Campaign Results:The campaign has been running for 6 weeks and already 500,000 uniques users have visited the USA travel section. Much of the content is the most read in the travel section and some features have attracted over 5,500 Facebook shares along with thousands of comments on the site itself.
Zurich Life Navigator: Demonstrating Zurich’s empathy and expertise in a post RDR landscape. Challenge and Objectives Zurich Insurance have a unique sales model in the UK; they can only sell through a third party, so they rely on aggregators or IFAs to sell their protection products – so to increase their brand consideration, Zurich had a challenge that was three fold a) in a market dominated by price, how could they demonstrate their premium expertise, b) how could Zurich make people think about protection against the worst happening without lecturing them? And c) In a world where IFA’s were no longer able to offer free advice – how could Zurich capture the attention of increasingly independent consumers? Insight and Strategy Life Insurance is a difficult topic to discuss without being gloomy. The reality is many of us have no protection to help our loved ones should the worst happen, and most people assume that the worst won’t happen to them. Most Insurance is therefore sold rather than bought. But as Zurich are unable to directly sell their products how could their ‘quality’ message cut through? We knew that now financial advice services had become paid for, that savvy consumers would go online for their information – so we needed to collaborate with a creative media partner who could help us build a platform that could offer practical help whilst pushing the benefit of Protection to consumers and land Zurich’s emotive brand promise “We deliver what matters when it matters” Making It Happen 250 wordsIn a true creative partnership with The Guardian, Mindshare and Zurich created the Life Navigator, a web based app that help you navigate the financial and emotional upheavals of the most challenging times of your life. From having a baby, to buying your first house, to looking after someone with a critical illness - the navigator served you all the financial and practical advice you need to ensure you are prepared. Guardian creative made bespoke visual infographics for each stage, and existing and fresh Guardian editorial was pulled into the app so it was not only practical but visually enticing. A light-hearted, informative animation video introduced the app, The Guardian also created 3 short powerful films in association with Zurich that took an empathetic look at 3 different life stages – to ensure we acknowledged people’s emotional as well as practical concerns. One longer edit of the film was then shown in DCM cinemas. We drove traffic to the app with ads on Global radio and 12 informative advertorials running across The Guardian Business main news, Observer Magazine, Guardian Money and Weekend Magazine. The credibility of this collaboration was evident, Guardian Money editorial team bought into the usefulness of the app so much that it is permanently hosted in the Money section’s editorial pages, and has been regularly linked to from the Guardian homepage. Zurich’s Life Navigator has a permanent link on the Money homepage navigation bar and a permanent pixie in the money section across the six months.
ResultsAlthough sales and website traffic are unable to be tracked, we have already had over 93,000 UU to the Life Navigator Content with a dwell time well above the Guardian commercial averageResearch metrics / brand consideration upliftOverall campaign recall of Zurich Insurance activity was above benchmark – 35% v 26% Recommendation of online content is well above benchmark – 71% v 60% benchmark score Those who have recalled the campaign have a favourability score more than double those who haven’t recalled (59% v 24%) Similarly, those who have recalled the campaign are more than four times to consider Zurich Insurance products than those that haven’t (47% v 11%) All metrics have increased with the terms ‘Respected’, ‘Credible’ and ‘Reliable’ settling continually at the top Client testimonial John Storm, Head of UK Marketing Zurich 'Zurich is in business to help people plan for and protect their futures. We need to make ourselves truly relevant to our audience - and demonstrate that we understand those times and events in people's lives when what we do can be, and is, of real value. Mindshare and Guardian understood exactly what we were trying to achieve. The 'Life Navigator' campaign, with its rich mix of useful and engaging content, met its objectives in both quantitative and qualitative terms. We are very pleased.