The Economist launches Australian brand awareness campaign via Singleton Ogilvy, Sydney
The Economist, via Singleton Ogilvy Sydney, has launched an Australian brand campaign targeting the increasing numbers of Australians who have a globally curious mindset, seek new ideas and like to operate outside their ‘time zone’.
The campaign highlights how readers of The Economist enjoy insight into world issues and the links between politics and business, via an independent world view. It recognises that more Australians are seeking in-depth reporting, commentary and a comprehensive analysis of global news.
Managing Director, Hong Kong, Korea, South East Asia and Pacific, The Economist Group Howard Digby said: “Australia is a very important market for The Economist because we are finding that more Australians, from increasingly diverse walks of life, want to satisfy their natural curiosity about the world.
“Whilst the media has been accused of “dumbing down” in recent timesthere is plenty of evidence we are now in era of mass intelligence,where the old distinction between high and popular culture isdisappearing and where more Australians have a great appetite forknowledge, not just news. We have been pleasantly surprised by thisexpanding market for “intelligence” and have benefited from it.”
Targetingtime poor travellers, the campaign is running at prime locations atSydney Domestic and Canberra Airports throughout May. The campaigncreative, developed by Singleton Ogilvy Sydney, uses the traditionalwhite out of red execution with messages communicating a single-mindedproposition – that The Economist uniquely provides access and insightsinto world issues.
The Economist has recently beenexperiencing year-on-year growth of 6.4% globally, and has a weeklyworldwide circulation of more than 1.4 million copies. Australiancirculation at 20,897 copies per week* continues to grow strongly.
Aweekly international news and business publication, offering reporting,commentary and analysis on world current affairs, business, finance,science and technology, culture, society, media and the arts, TheEconomist is read by more of the world’s political and business leadersthan any other magazine.
The Economist is also working withCape Public Relations to build brand awareness and deploy a series ofPR events and campaigns across Australia.
55 Comments
For Christs sake , haven’t these guys seen any of the numerous award winning Economist print ad and posters that have run over the years……their attempts are a fucking disgrace.
“I think this is a great headline”
Office Junior Aged 42
Red background…. check.
Economist font…. check.
Witty and intelligent headline….
If they had put the same effort into the ads as they did into the press release the ads would be better
Looks like they’re stealing Siimons clever Fin Review creative idea. Incorrigible! Don’t stand for it Sii.
Great, simple award winning work. Then this.
*takes cover before the beating starts*
Just kind of looks old now doesn’t it?
The only strength of these is that the art work reminds one of the great ads done for The Economist in the past.
These headlines are fucking rank. Stupid even.
I’m sure the marketing team at Virgin Blue will love the first line.
‘The world is flat’ view is something we associate with ignorance – way to pay respect to the Economist Brand.
I think it’s great they’ve gone back to the old style but I think it’s a tragic waste of an opportunity on a brief this good. Why wouldn’t you at least try to match “I never read the Economist” or any of the other classic, classic stuff?
Copy doesn’t exactly say anything to me. Really jealous I’ve never had a brief this good, and even more disappointed at the results produced.
Were he dead, David Abbott would be spinning in his grave.
Isn’t that client usually famous for having simple AND clever headlines?
Very wise of them not to attempt clever headlines
sorry am i missing the wit and copywriting skills garnered by years of battered grey matter?….or is this just a really poor wasted opportunity.
please pauline hanson me.
I reckon you could type just about anything in that font on a red background and it would look intelligent if it had an Economist logo on it. Except that.
This whole campaign is a complete rip off of the Financial Review campaign.
Why would you PR the desecration of one of the great campaigns?
dido, all of the above.
ditto all of the above.
I hope you’re joking 9.03. If not you must be about 13 years old.
Looking at these again, they make me so angry, the laziest shit-est insult to a great advertising brand.
The idea that people sat in a room, earned their money, and approved this
terrible work is unforgivable.
Meanwhile, good people are losing their jobs.
Why i outa.
Subprime creative
I thought the Fin Review ripped off the economist with this style of advertising – please correct me if I’m wrong, but i was sure that Economist did this o/s before Fin bought it out in Aus….
Ah Marcus.
Read your history books.
Ta.
Marcus, your whole comment is a rip of of anonymous at 4.53.
I think the lesson to be learnt here, is that when one has such a simple style, there really is nowhere to hide. No visual effects, no smart arse art direction, no plaintiff sound track, no hackneyed old joke made to look contemporary by a clever director. Oh no. this is when writing has to answer for itself and I think that this lazy writing is now rife within our industry. A lot of the critics here may be guilty of it too. Writing doesn’t have the status it once did, but it should have. Unfortunately this is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Writing now is rarely appreciated to the full and it’s our loss.
I’m not going to proof read this (lazy) so please help yourself to picking up any grammatical solecisms it may contain.x
You guys miss the sarcasm in Marcus’s comment.
even forgiving that these lines have been written to work with a tag line, and guessing that the ‘not just domestic’ sits somewhere in an airport (or airline mag), you’ve got to ask why?
As in, why the hell did they stick to the original look when they were going to gum it up with a tag line ferchrissakes?
And why a tag line at all? if that’s the new proposition, just write lines that get the idea across in one hit.
Then even forgetting all of the above, why did they spend no more than a minute writing the lines? There’s no wit. Just unrewarding first thoughts.
But hey, maybe i’m just missing something.
From Wikipedia…
Tarantino, in a Playboy interview, talked of smoking cannabis and using ecstasy while filming Kill Bill.[29]
Maybe Singos need to try something like this.
After the press release says “there is plenty of evidence we are now in era of mass intelligence”, it goes on to provide evidence to the contrary.
To the real Caroline,
Sorry, I know you didn’t write that stuff at 11.49.
I did.
Anonymous
Sigh.
Fire the agency. This is such rubbish.
This proves that great campaigns can only be thunk up, executed, and continued by great agencies. Shame…Damn shame.
Don’t blame the agency. Blame the client for choosing the agency. SO+M wouldn’t be my first choice to continue this brilliant campaign. I’d like to hear who other bloggers think should have got the account.
Dear Howard Rigby, please fire your Agency.
Respectfully yours, The Australian Ad Industry.
Obviously very few will ever know how this campaign came about but experience has shown me agencies can only produce what clients approve (scam ads aside).
So, start with the Economist client and work backwards.
Lynchy, time for an interview?
Someone else suggested awhile back putting the clients on Gruen and have them explain the turds that they OK. Great idea.
The responsibility for this lies squarely on whomever approved the ads.
Just shows you can’t have a great campaign without a great client.
And the Economist in Australia is obviously not a great client.
Sorry Steve , i beg to differ….clients can and will only buy shit, if thats all you show them.
And the results are in.
This campaign has been well and truly bagged. Ragged on. Poo poo’d.
I just don’t get the ads. I feel like I’m still trying to work something out, because I expect something from an economist ad, but then I realise there’s nothing coming. Nothing at all.
The FIN REVIEW ads rip the Economist ads off ten fold, not these are good, but Siiiiiiiimon’s ads aren’t great by any stretch, other than copies of old school Economist ads in pretty colours.
You’re all on very high horses people.
Singleton Ogilvy Sydney; please give me a shout, I’ve had Economists ads in my folio for ages waiting to be used.. and they’re better
Cre8ivyouth@hotmail.com
Ono 2.11 PM and I bet you don’t fucking work at one do you?
You fucking tits. This is a mixture of a client gone bad, fuck me there so are many middle and upper management, safe, know fuck all hacks client side to prove that and yes the agency is at fault too.
But fuck me, I wouldn’t turn it into a O&M witch hunt. It was a bad move putting that crap up here for them for sure. But even if it was great you cunts would still find fault and so would i.
Back to your wobblers and shelf talkers losers!
STW was a money making machine.
Creativity is not on the balance sheet.
It helps to know they’re placed in an airport. But not much.
I disagree as well Steve. Don’t show them shit and they don’t have a choice. Until, they buy your great ad and turn it into shit little chop by little chop.
YUCK!
Hey Cre8ivyouth@hotmail.com (comment 6:18pm)…
Why don’t you post your brilliant Economist ads here on the blog for all to see? I’m sure there will be nothing but praise for them.
9:39, i sense some angst. Just breath angel face, you’ll be OK. I know you’re an Art Director at SOM, firstly because you can’t string a sentence together (as most Art Directors can’t) and you obviously have issues with the criticism.
Singleton Ogilvy Sydney?? Come on guys. If the agency had PR’d this they’d have at least got their name right. Smells of a client post to me.
“I never read the blog”
-Economist Reader
“Take me to an Economist client”
– :}
Just been through the domestic terminal and this stuff is all over the place. It makes a bit more sense when you see it in context, but it is still just bland b2b advertising. There are literally a dozen good contextual Economist ads you could do around the terminal. Such a wasted opportunity…
“The world is flat”
No it fucking isn’t – 6th grader.
It just lays there. Empty.
I can hardly be bothered posting a blog.
They’ve even managed to fuck up the art direction.