The Brief

The Financial Times were looking to boost advertising sales. To do this, they needed to do more than increase the amount of media bookings; they needed to cast a wider net and attract a larger range of advertisers to their publication. However, the perception amongst media buyers was that the FT was suitable only for finance category advertising. Our brief was to change this perception. To do this, we needed to educate media buyers about the FT readership, their diverse interests, and their remarkable spending power.

Creative Execution

We needed to change perceptions of the FT amongst a group of media buyers who typically receive business-to-business marketing every day. So we needed to send them something that they would like, that they would keep, and that they would show other people. Our campaign also had to strike a fine balance. It had to be unexpected, but retain the essence of the Financial Times brand. By sending out our Model Customers, we gave media buyers a DM piece that was impactful, that generated talk value, and that was unexpected yet unmistakably from the Financial Times.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Financial Times readers have high disposable incomes and diverse interests. In many ways, they’re Model Customers for many brands. So, we sent out DM pieces containing Model Customers – 12-inch figurines of FT readers - to media agencies in Hong Kong and Singapore. An accompanying leaflet drove them to the FT website. There, they could customise a virtual Model Customer, depending on their clients’ products and desired audience. In return, they were given tailored recommendations on where to book media in the Financial Times.

Results

The campaign had only just launched at the time of this submission. So far, approximately 43% of mail respondents have registered their email addresses on our campaign site. More impressively, the number of unique campaign site visits is currently more than six times the number of direct mail pieces sent. Only a small number of DM pieces were sent out, and our intention was that they would be passed around offices. While detailed statistics are not yet available, website traffic suggest that this has taken place. (People have also called the FT asking for Model Customers!)