Journalists take centre in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s new brand campaign

| | 2 Comments

Screen Shot 2014-11-03 at 7.10.06 am.jpgFairfax Media’s The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have today launched a new brand campaign that features several high profile journalists expressing their dedication to independent, quality journalism.

The campaign focuses on the importance of independent journalism and uses the brands’ positioning “Independent. Always.” and the tag line “Our passion for truth means you always know what’s really going on.”

FullPage2.jpgThe brand campaign will include print, cinema, outdoor, radio, digital and social media executions and a microsite featuring the journalists’ films.

Says Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Herald Walkley-award winning investigative journalist, in one of the ads: “There will always be evil, and it’s our job not to turn away.” In another, The Age’s investigative team Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker say: “We shine a light in dark places.”

Other journalists featured in the first phase of the campaign include Peter FitzSimons, Caroline Wilson, Adele Ferguson, John Silvester, Terry Durack, Amber Robinson, Ardyn Bernoth, Anthony Dennis, Jo Tovey and Andrew Webster.

Says Vicki Aristidopoulos, Fairfax Media’s Australian FullPage8.jpgPublishing media director consumer marketing: “Our readers are independent thinkers. They don’t want to be told what to think. They like to be presented with quality, balanced journalism that lets them make up their own minds about all the things that matter: big journalistic investigations, sport, food reviews, culture and art.

“This new campaign reinforces the strong position we hold in independent, quality journalism and that’s why we have an engaged audience of 7.15 million* people across all out platforms.”

Says Sean Aylmer, Fairfax media director of news media and business media: “Having no agenda, other than to tell the truth, is what unites our newsrooms. Being fair, balanced and up-front with our readers in all that we do is what drives our journalists every day. It’s our common purpose. We’re not afraid to speak plainly about uncomfortable truths that others choose to ignore. Equally, if we make mistakes we take seriously our duty to our readers to admit when we have got things wrong. It’s all about trust.”

*Source: emmaTM, conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+ for the 12 months ending Aug 2014, Nielsen Online Ratings, Aug 2014, Print (SMH+AGE Mon-Sat L4W NET) + Desktop (smh.com.au + The Age) + Tablet/Mobile (smh.com.au + The Age L4W)