The Campaign

HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO PAY FOR SOMETHING THEY’VE ALWAYS GOT FOR FREE! The Background: The Financial Times (FT) was always given as a free supplement with the Daily Mirror. The Problem: The FT then wanted to launch as an independent newspaper. But how could we ask over half a million readership to now start paying for it? The Solution Our solution was to make people realize how much they wanted it.

Success of the Campaign

The Result: The results were staggering on the day of the launch. Over 1,000 signatures were collected to save the FT. On launch day the FT was sold out. And over 500 new FT subscribers signed up in a week. Because creativity can change human behaviour, everybody now pays for the FT.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

1. It all began with a full page ad announcing that the Financial Times would soon end. 2. Immediately, a responsible citizens group with authentic business leaders started to gather support from the corporate community to ‘SAVE THE FT’. 3. A group of executives even took the initiative to the community and started to collect thousands of signatures in an Open Letter petition to the Editors of the FT. 4. Letters to the Editor were also published to show the public outcry. 5. The blogsphere buzzed with their support to the FT. 6. An outspoken business leader even went on media to state that he was considering starting his own Financial Times. 7. An on-line poll canvassed for votes on ‘How important is the FT to you?’ 8. The results were then published to the significant following of the FT. 9. The community was now buzzing with support to keep the FT going.