January 30, 2013: Fairfax Metro Media this week launches two of the biggest multi-platform brand advertising campaigns for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in the history of the mastheads.
The campaigns provide distinct, new brand positionings for each flagship Fairfax masthead across all media platforms.
The Sydney Morning Herald campaign is “Know No Boundaries” while The Age is “Forever Curious”.
The two new brand positionings have been created following some of the most thorough and extensive consumer analysis ever carried out for the mastheads.
Research of The Sydney Morning Herald’s audience found readers are strong believers in individuality of thought.
They take pride in feeling they think differently to everyone else, to be able to see things from different perspectives and think beyond what’s on the surface. Progress and development are important to them and they are always exploring, and in pursuit of, knowledge to achieve their personal ambitions and to live a fulfilling life.
The new brand proposition speaks directly to this insight. It has been developed to show that the Herald shares its audience’s view on the world and like them, knows no boundaries.
The brand proposition “Forever Curious” was derived from the simple insight that readers of The Age are continually looking to better understand the world around them, a view also shared by the masthead.
The campaign itself demonstrates The Age’s curiosity with each of the creative executions focusing on real people and stories to demonstrate their view on the world.
“As our business prepares for a number of significant product changes and innovations this year, it was important for us to do a major review of our most trusted mastheads,” Fairfax Metro Media Head of Marketing & Communications, Robert Whitehead, said.
“We have done a great deal of work not only to understand the needs of our audiences around news consumption but also to get insight into how we can also best position our mastheads into this exciting and challenging time for media.
“The research findings were the foundations for these new brand campaigns that we are confident will not only resonate with our audiences, but also cement what they love about these two incredibly powerful mastheads,” Whitehead added.
The Herald campaign launched on Sunday, January 27, while The Age campaign will debut a week later: both campaigns will run throughout the year.
Communications channels include TV, cinema, outdoor, print and digital, as well as cafe and office tower digital screens.
The Age creative executions feature an eclectic mix of stories about people, places and life in Melbourne. These include an immigrant taxi driver who is an accredited blood technician with the World Health Organisation in his home country, and the city’s first café, Silo by Joost, that recycles leftovers into fertiliser to give back to the farmers that supply the café’s produce.
In an innovative and thought-provoking use of outdoor, the Herald campaign includes a number of large format sites where the surrounding surface of the buildings the sites are mounted on become part of the execution.
These intriguing executions create an illusion of endlessness, showcasing a real example of knowing no boundaries and promoting an ability to delve deeper to see different perspectives.
“These campaigns represent a significant investment by Fairfax Metro Media in two of our biggest brands and reflect our commitment to their development and to fulfilling the needs and expectations of our audiences,” Whitehead said.
/ENDS
Creative Credits:
Strategy – The Lab Strategy
Agency – WhybinTBWA Melbourne and Sydney
Ben Saunders – Director for The Age cinema and TVCs
Luke Savage – Director for The Sydney Morning Herald cinema and TVCs
About Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media is a leading Australasian media company with metropolitan, rural and regional publications and websites across Australia and New Zealand.
Fairfax Media publishes the highly respected metropolitan publications The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age along with Australia’s leading online news websites smh.com.au, theage.com.au, Brisbanetimes.com.au and WAtoday.com.au. Other niche websites include the popular parenting website Essentialbaby.com.au and the youth site TheVine.com.au. The company has a large stable of successful websites in key vertical markets including RSVP.com.au, Stayz.com.au, InvestSmart.com.au, OMG, Australian Property Monitors, Commerce Australia, TenderLink and the recently acquired Occupancy. Fairfax Media also has a strong classified advertising business with print and online publications including: Drive, MyCareer, and Domain.
Media inquiries to:
Simon Lloyd
Access Public Relations
T: +61 2 9292 7003
M: 0424 470 923
E: simon@accesspr.com.au
