The Economist – the case for being consistent
It’s often said that consistency stifles creativity and that buyers grow bored with it. Marketing professionals will talk of changing a brand, making it more contemporary, or relevant to the latest generation. This is great for brand consultants and agencies, but not so for brands and their owners. If you’re inconsistent with your brand you stand a very high risk of losing customers.
Instead of boring, say familiar.
Instead of old fashioned, say timeless.
Romaniuk, 2018
The Economist is a great example of how a brand can stay consistent and be highly creative. Just take a look at the work below.
Reaching large numbers of potential Economist readers
Like all magazines and newspapers, The Economist’s main target is to increase its circulation. We were tasked with reaching potential new readers in innovative and cost-effective ways.
Our strategy was to run marketing activity in locations with high volumes of customers or passers-by, such as airports, hairdressers, coffee shops, bars and in this instance, food and beverage.
We partnered with a chain of upmarket salad bars in the Central Business District. They sell over 45,625 salads in this area, every month. And their coffee sells in significantly larger numbers. Plus we got to use their social media channels to reach less regular customers.
The offer was simple: buy a special Economist salad containing brainfood (pumpkin seeds are good for memory for example) and get a free trail of the publication. Not only did the promotion get the message to the segment audience, but the salad bowls and coffee cups got taken back to the office to reach even more potential readers.
Economist Carpet
A unique carpet that could be rolled out at multiple locations. Exhibitions, events and or course on street. Far cheaper than buying billboard space. And far more versatile.
This was amplified by social media. It makes for a great selfie. Which people did, a lot.
Economist gym
Pundits would have us believe that in modern life there are very few moments where we are not looking at our phones (apart from driving and on escalators). With the exception of single bi-cep curls the gym is place where we look up from our screens. The perfect location to sell Economist subscriptions. Healthy mind, healthy body and all that.
Point of purchase material which doesn't end up in the bin.
This is an actual photograph of rolled up Economists making a brain. No photoshop or AI.
A sizable amount of The Economist’s revenue comes, of course, from media sales. The subtle art of incentivising the media buyers to buy space in your publication involves premium gifts. Such as The Economist Teddy Bear. Still resident in many homes to this day.
Promoting Economist subscriptions in bars. Sign-up right there and then for a clearer head in the morning.
An ad, but we also made Economist Cubes as corporate gifts.
