Results and Effectiveness

“Receipts” became a medium portraying the sad yet funny realities of office life, made even worse by the recession. Real stories of hard office life, shared for a good laugh, generated strong emotional engagement. The campaign buzz spread through newspapers, online news, Twitter and the like, contributed to the successful 200,000 distribution of the inaugural issue. Stating “3TIMES PRESS” every time a receipt was issued, which is required for any receipts to be reimbursed by employer, helped build name recognition of the brand new publication.

Creative Execution

Advertised on major commuter trains. Readers were asked to take a picture of the receipt addressed to 3TIMES PRESS by mobile phone camera, and send the picture with a reason for purchase. Reasons included a gift bought for a daughter whose Dad was too busy, buying drinks for a colleague who split up, a business book purchased for a helpless new employee, all of which went up on the campaign website and commuter trains. The campaign received wide coverage by the news media thanks to the real stories of tough office life told by the real people in the office.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The 3TIMES PRESS, a free tabloid launched to energise office workers, staged a campaign inviting its readers to send their “miscellaneous expense” receipts addressed to 3TIMES PRESS, to be reimbursed by the paper instead of their employers who were tightening corporate expenses due to the economic recession.