The Economist Looks to Colleges for New Readers

The Economist magazine is headed to campuses around the country to encourage students, teachers, professors and others in the academic community to become readers.

An effort that is to begin on Monday will carry the theme “Dare 2 Go Deep With The Economist” – the numeral, presumably, echoing how so many members of the intended audience use shorthand when they communicate online and on mobile devices.

Indeed, digital media is the primary way that The Economist and its new advertising agency, Atmosphere Proximity in New York, intend to disseminate the campaign, which has a budget of just under $1 million. The ads will urge turning to The Economist for a deeper, more thorough understanding of what goes on in the world.

The centerpiece of the effort will be a special Web site, or microsite, dare2godeep.com,with content that includes video clips featuring comedians like J.B. Smoove, interactive games, information about The Economist and an offer for a free, two-week digital subscription.

Social media will also play a major role in the effort, including a presence on Twitter that includes an account with the handle @Dare2GoDeep and a hashtag, #IgoDeep.

The decision to reach out within campuses came from research that suggests many people start to read The Economist “after it’s recommended by a mentor, a professor, a parent,” said Paul Rossi, managing director for the Economist Group and executive vice president for the Americas, who is based in New York.

Getting issues of the magazine — in print or digital format — in the hands of potential readers who are at a life stage where they are “open to new habits, new ideas,” he added, represents an opportunity to recruit them “for life, in many cases.”

An effort aimed at university halls also fits in with the broader subscriber outreach typically done by The Economist, Mr. Rossi said, which is directed at “the worldly, intellectually curious.”

Anyone miffed at being excluded from the target audience for the campaign should not be, he added, because there are plans for an effort “aiming at a more general population later in the year.”

The decision in November by The Economist to hire Atmosphere Proximity was a signal that whatever campaign was to come would be digital-centric because the agency specializes in digital marketing.

“This is a great opportunity to use the dynamics driving the sound-bite culture” like social media “to get people to engage deeper and connect with the premium content of The Economist,” said Andreas Combuechen, chairman and chief executive at Atmosphere Proximity.

Atmosphere Proximity is part of the BBDO Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group. BBDO New York previously created campaigns for The Economist that ran in the United States. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, based in London, continues to create ads for The Economist that appear in Britain and Europe.

That the free, two-week subscription being offered is digital is no accident. The Economist is keen on increasing its circulation in nonprint venues.

According to data provided by Mr. Rossi, the magazine’s total worldwide circulation of 1,558,119 is composed of 1,455,261 print copies and 102,858 digital copies. North America accounts for 897,849 of the total worldwide circulation, and the breakout there is 831,978 print copies and 65,871 digital copies.

Fonte: The Economist/ Stuart Elliott 29/04/2013 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/business/media/the-economist-looks-to-colleges-for-a-new-generation-of-readers.html?ref=media&_r=1&)