Humberto Abeja
Art Director at Turbulence
Miami, United States
TitleMy Story is Bigger than Yours
Agency
Campaign The Story Matters - SunPost
Advertiser The SunPost
Brand The SunPost
PostedJuly 2006
Product Newspaper/Media
Business Sector Newspapers, Magazines, Books
Tagline The Story Matters
Story In 2005, the Miami SunPost was approaching its 20th anniversary. The city’s second largest weekly newspaper had experienced a tremendous rate of growth in previous years, and expanded its circulation to compete with the largest weekly in Miami. Through all its growth however, the SunPost had not implemented a cohesive marketing/advertising campaign nor done any branding or advertising. As a result, it had an older, stilted look and feel consistent with a small, local and outdated community newspaper and overall lacked distinct positioning in the marketplace.



An agency was needed to assess the newspaper’s business situation and challenges, and devise a brand strategy to take the paper to “the next level”. The paper wanted to turn its 20th anniversary into a platform for brand expansion and expands its customer base. Using the evolution and transformation of the city (Miami) over the past 20 years, the paper’s unwavering commitment to quality journalism and its ties to the community, it wanted to reinvent the SunPost brand to stay relevant to its changing audience, increase readership and loyalty, and thrust the publication from being a small, local community newspaper into a “serious player” with greater distribution, revenues and clout.
Philosophy Turbulence devised a brand strategy that stemmed directly from the essence of what The SunPost always stood for and was most important; the straightforward thought and tagline of “The Story Matters.” It centered on communicating the importance of the stories that defined the city of Miami, its communities and ultimately, The SunPost. Is also centered around the incredible transformation and story of Miami over the last 20 years and The SunPost’s unique position in the community as a regional newsweekly that covers the news, politics, arts and entertainment that matters the most to its readers. The cornerstone of the campaign was the redesign of the newspaper itself, which launched with a front cover “manifesto” that summarized the philosophy of the newspaper and its new tagline, “The Story Matters”, to create ownership and a deep connection with readers.



To build upon its history and ready the paper for growth and distribution, the first step was to prepare the paper for transformation from the inside-out. This meant that nothing was sacrosanct. If the brand was going to change, it meant that every touchpoint needed to reflect the new brand. Turbulence redesigned the paper’s layout working closely with the design and editorial staff to make it more youthful, user-friendly and ad-friendly, redesigned the boxes and stands at all the paper’s distribution points, made promoting the paper itself through in-house ads a priority and implemented an ad campaign to get the message out to the public. In the same style as the creative, the media took on a decidedly non-traditional approach to reach readers where the paper is picked up and read; on the street. This included redesigned street-level newspaper boxes, bus stop posters, wild postings, mobile billboards, street performance teams, go-cards, home-delivery bags, and t-shirts.
Problem To contextualize the creative for this campaign, and accomplish the objectives, we resolved to:


• Reinforce the paper’s standing in the community as the “eye and ears”, covering real, honest news and stories relevant to the lives of SunPost readers
• Create a brand recognized for its commitment to hard-hitting news, outstanding content and excellent journalism
• Position the SunPost as a “must-read” and a “must-buy” for advertisers
• Position the paper as a regional vs. local authority on news, in readiness for expansion into other communities
• Inextricably link the paper’s roots and growth with that of the city



Target Audience


For this campaign, Turbulence targeted sophisticated and professional individuals aged 29-45, who are interested in their city. They are educated and want to read about real news, real happenings in their area. They are above common, shock-journalism and have noticed the downward turn that the city’s main paper has taken. They commute around town and as a result are interested in multiple communities. They are mobile and active. They want to know about local politics, movers and shakers and social events that keep them connected and a step ahead everyone else.


Campaign Period


June 2005 to November 2005

Result A newspaper is a product with many inherent brand touchpoints such as the newspaper boxes, internal/house ads, sales materials, promotional items and the paper itself. As a result, the internal brand building elements to evolve the culture and personality of the paper was the most obvious and successful part of the campaign. Readers overwhelmingly responded positively to the new design, commenting that the paper had an improved image, was more hip, easier to read and had better coverage of local news than other local papers. The staff embracing the campaign wholeheartedly has led to a brand rallying cry and personality that the writers and sales people can confidently embrace and evangelize. The paper’s distribution has increased 25% since the launch of the campaign, advertising pages are up and revenue is also up over 30% year-to-date. The paper has since expanded into more communities and is now firmly established as the region’s preeminent newsweekly.
Media Type Outdoor/Out of Home
Market United States
Art Director
Graphic Designer
Copywriter
Art Director
Creative Director

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