While many publishers are trying to “pivot” towards paid models, subscriber-first has always been in the venerable brand’s DNA. SVP of Digital Media and Content Mark Beard explains how the company’s outsized social reach, its innovative mobile apps, sites and even Snapchat and audio editions – keep their eye on the long game of building a loyal, long term, paying Economist loyalist.

1. Mark Beard, SVP Digital Media and Content Strategy
Building a subscriber-first business
model by putting our audience at the
heart of everything we do
(whilst winning lots of awards at the same time!)

2. Page 2 |
What does The Economist do?
Trusted,
finishable filter
Smartest
guide to the
forces shaping
the future
Advocate of
progress
Global perspective
Premium pricing (subscription model)

3. Page 3 |
The Economist is
consistently
profitable and
circulation has
continually grown

4. Page 4 |
Like other publishers, revenue and profit is generated via two sources
Subscription revenueAdvertising revenue

5. Page 5 |
We spotted early that one side of our business – advertising – would be very challenging

6. Page 6 |
But we looked at our audience reach and saw light at the end of the tunnel
8M20M
10M
4M 800k
1M

7. Page 7 |
We researched our audience using all of the data we had to hand
Research papersDigital analytics
Nine studies including data
on North America, women
and millennials, all
commissioned within the
last two years
BlueKai, Lytics, Facebook,
Twitter, Google Analytics,
Hitwise, Correlate and Moz
audience data

8. Page 8 |
And we defined our audience as the “Globally Curious”

9. Page 9 |
Market sizing showed us we had huge scope to grow subscriptions
73M 131M

10. Page 10 |
But we had a bit of an identity crisis
He’s gathered a lot of info in
his brain, mainly financial. He
will be a broker and uses this
info to get richer
Introducing William

11. Page 11 |
Our audience didn’t believe The Economist would be of interest to them
He wears a business suit,
kind of hates his life, studied
economics, ended up
working for Barclays. Kind of
disillusioned, grey kind of
guy, has a bleeper that warns
him when his stocks are
down
A bit more about William…

12. Page 12 |
How would we change brand perception?
Display
Mobile
Social
Email
Order page
Search
Brand
It no longer felt appropriate for us to solve the problem like this

13. Page 13 |
Our CEO would have been mortified if I had recommended a “brand” approach

14. Page 14 |
We asked our platforms and agencies to help us size and target these audiences
Platforms (sizing) Agencies (targeting)

15. Page 15 |
And now we’re solving it like this… and we call it “Brand Response”
Trackable and
measurable
Cutting-edge tech
Content led
and
provocative
Display
Mobile
Social
Email
Order page
Search
Brand

16. BRANDRESPONSE
DIRECTRESPONSE
“Content led”
traffic
generation
“Content Hub”
to engage
with content
Subs
Re-target
With more
content
Why? Try Buy
We map out simple journeys to present prospects with our content
…. convinced that this is our best weapon for conversion

17. Page 17 |
We work hard to sort the necessary plumbing behind the scenes

18. Page 18 |
We design media plans to maximise the testing of multiple tactics
Outbrain Social ShareThrough High Impact Programmatic Actual Splits
US (55%) US 55.00% £589,380 £212,176.80 £58,938 £53,044.20 £165,026.40 £82,513.20 £571,699
UK (20%) UK 20.00% £214,320 £60,009.60 £30,000.00 £21,432.00 £69,000.00 £40,000.00 £220,442
EU (10%) GERMANY 5.00% £53,580 £12,859.20 £8,572.80 £6,429.60 £18,753.00 £10,716 £57,331
SWITZERLAND 2.00% £21,432 £8,573 £5,358 Outbrain preferred Impact Units Used in Programmatic £6,430 £20,360
APAC (10%) AUSTRALIA 4.00% £42,864 £17,145.60 £6,429.60 £12,001.92 £40,577
HONG KONG 2.50% £26,790 £10,716 £5,358 £8,037 £25,611
MALAYSIA 1.90% £20,360 £8,144 £5,700.91 £6,108 £20,553
TAIWAN 1.90% £20,360 £8,144 £5,701 £6,108 £21,453
SOUTH KOREA 1.90% £20,360 £8,144 £5,701 £6,108 £20,353
LATAM(5%) BRAZIL 2.00% £21,432 £8,573 £6,001 £6,430 £21,003
MEXICO 1.90% £20,360 £8,144 £5,701 £6,108 £19,953
ARGENTINA 1.90% £20,360 £8,144 £5,701 £6,108 £19,953
TOTAL: 100.00000% £1,071,600 £370,774 £149,162 £80,906 £252,779 £196,668 £1,059,289
Original planned £200,000 £150,000 £121,600 £280,000 £180,000 £1,071,600
Tactic Variation: £170,774 -£838 -£40,694 -£27,221 £16,668 -£12,311
Prospects 860,463 62,649 56,637 25,278 31,241 1,038,000
CPP 0.43£ 2.38£ 1.43£ 10.00£ 6.30£ 1.02£
Display
Region Planned Budget PMBudget SplitCountry
In Feed
Range of countries
Range of tactics

19. Page 19 |
We use data to identify the Globally Curious audience and media partners
Identify high
value subscribers
Utllise what we know about our
audience, both attitudes and
behaviours
Deliver content at the
right time, right place,
on the right device

20. Page 20 |
Creatively, we have big boots to fill

21. Page 21 |
There is nothing more
provocative than the truth
And our creative proposition is this….

22. Page 22 |
We set out to provoke with The Economist’s content central to everything we do

23. Page 23 |
We create thousands of iterations in all shapes and sizes
DISPLAY
SOCIAL, MOBILE,
NATIVE
IMPACT

24. Page 24 |
Matching content to context in real time – Dynamic Display
Page Context
User Journey
Audience Segment
We created a custom tech
solution that powered the
dynamic adserver

25. Page 25 |
Hubs are created to
showcase the content,
maximise data capture
and segment our
audience for further
marketing

26. Price led
Content led
We test hundreds of retargeting combinations to drive to subscription

27. Page 27 |
This is a complete change in culture
 Newsdesk approach to be in
front of the story
 Thousands of ad placements
 2 hour turnarounds
 Thousands of creative
variants
 AB copy testing
 Editorial Blessing
We found this
pinned to the
wall outside the
Editor’s office

28. Are we being successful?

29. Page 29 |
We’ve been successful against all of our defined KPIs
In a nutshell, YES!
• WE HAVE GENERATED THOUSANDS OF SUBSCRIPTIONS
• Millions of “new” prospects have visited Economist.com since campaign launch
• We have brought lots of new learnings in-house
• We have generated buzz and The Economist is increasingly seen as being “cutting
edge”
• Our plan has convinced the Board that investing in “brand” is worthwhile

30. Page 30 |
Brand Impact
Greatest gains are
seen in a spectrum
of metrics
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Expert
International
Trustworthy
Useful
Has content worth
sharing
Best in classRelevant to you
Progressive
Liberal minded
Provocative
Pioneering
Exposed
Control
© UMR&I The Economist Q4 Prospecting Campaign Evaluation Report 2015
Q: Which of the words below would you associate with the Economist?
Base: Aware of the Economist

31. Page 31 |
Subscriptions revenue is now the main driver of profits at The Economist
-£10 -£11 -£10
-£4
£1 £2 £2
£11
£20
£14
£21
£27
£43
2005 2011 2017
Circulation is now the largest driver of profit (Millions)

32. Page 32 |
Last year we won a Cannes Lion Gold for Effectiveness – only 3 awarded (4.7k entries)

33. Page 33 |
And we’ve won over 50 awards 2015-2017

34. What’s next?

35. Page 35 |
Increasingly reacting to events, when it matters

36. Page 36 |
We’re incorporating more and more dynamic assets into the mix
“Best advert of the
Election, so far”
“This is pure
genius.
Love it”
Dynamic
Video

37. Page 37 |
Including video…
Because publishers can’t
ignore stats like this…

38. Page 38 |
New social formats…

39. Page 39 |
We moved into TV last year
US TV

40. Page 40 |
And now we’ve moved into Radio and more recently into Podcasts
UK Radio US Podcasts

41. Page 41 |
And we’re also cracking Digital Out of Home

42. Page 42 |
And finally… time for a quick and final recap of today’s session

43. And that’s it – the end!