Herald Sun 25th Anniversary October 8, 2015 Coverage Highlights INMA Entry – Best use of an event to build a news brand

Strategy snapshot

AIMS 1. Create a platform to celebrate the Herald Sun’s 25th anniversary and drive positive brand PR 2. Engage staff and clients

3. Drive reader engagement through commemorative edition & magazine 4. Drive revenue from sales of commemorative book

AUDIENCES Readers Corporate stakeholders / clients Celebrities / VIPs Staff

CHANNELS Owned media – editorial all platforms. Earned media – TV, radio, social media (consumer channels); trade media

KEY TACTICS

EVENT: Marquee event to anchor the celebrations, launch the book, commemorate the milestone, amplify the occasion and engage stakeholders

CONTENT: 25th anniversary content / commemorative edition Digital galleries; social amplification

PRODUCT: 25 Years of the Herald Sun book Subscription offer, retail sales, staff and stakeholder engagement

TALENT: “Stars of the Show” - our key journalists inviting their most high profile contacts; using our talent like Matt Preston, Andrew Bolt, Kim Wilson, Luke Dennehy, Mark Robinson etc

CAMPAIGN: Encourage reappraisal of the product by creating a celebratory campaign that aligns with the anniversary

ANGLES

• TV: Live broadcasts from event – cementing our community strengths, partners and engagement; red carpet coverage • TV pre-promote: focused on the book • Radio: interviews with our editors/leading journalists; dedicated themed programming • Cross-promotion: TV and radio “WIN TICKETS” promotion across 3 days • Trade media: pictorial coverage, interviews with our business leaders about business success • Staff: internal communications plan to engage staff; gift the book; morning tea

SPOKESPEOPLE Peter Blunden Damon Johnston Andrew Rule Mark Knight Luke Dennehy David Caird

TIMING Intense period of coverage culminating in commemorative edition on October 8, 2015 (October 3 to October 13, 2015)

Headline results

PR / Marketing Investment:

$35,000

PR / Marketing Value:

$3 million

Total audience reach: 18.7 million traditional and digital media

• A total of 438 media reports

• Reaching 18,752,475 Australians

• 72% of coverage on TV

• Reaching core target market via programs across Breakfast and Morning timeslots and evening news bulletins, talkback and commercial radio programs and lifestyle Weekend programming

• Notably, the 3-hour Breakfast with Brig and Lehmo program on Gold FM 104.3 Melbourne (8 October) was dedicated to the Herald Sun’s 25th anniversary.

Key outcomes – mainstream consumer media

• Talkwalker.com analytics tool revealed the hashtag #heraldsun25 was exposed to an audience of 21.5 million Australians across social media channels including Twitter and Instagram in the anniversary week

Key outcomes – social media

Campaign highlights – The Book

• An intense publicity blitz delivered concentrated TV and radio coverage about the commemorative book Herald Sun – 25 Years in Pictures aiming to raise awareness of the book’s availability for retail purchase

• TV and Radio interviews were conducted with managing director, editor, photographers and our resident cartoonist – all pointing to the special book offer

• An above-the-line marketing campaign in owned media – across print and digital and social channels – also amplified the book’s availability.

Campaign highlights - Event

• Partnership with several brands enabled us to stage an event worth $350K for less than $35,000 investment.

• Herald Sun 25th highlights reel

Campaign highlights - Talent

• We assembled an enviable red carpet list of 25 iconic Victorians, coupled with 25 leading journalists and photographers for a unique red carpet moment that was the talk of the town

Newspapers featuring the stunning shot were returned to the venue on the night for guests to take home as a souvenir, along with their copy of the commemorative coffee table book.

Campaign highlights - Content

• Herald Sun coverage started several weeks out, promoting sponsors, venue etc and building momentum for the event

Campaign highlights - Content

• Herald Sun coverage extended across all platforms, including interactive picture galleries, a front page wrap-around cartoon, a feature DPS photograph showcasing 25 journalists and 25 Victorian “icons” (including The Melbourne Cup), and a 24-page magazine.

Campaign highlights – Client feedback

Feedback from clients was profound:

Jennifer Keyte – 7News anchor

• “It was a fabulous night. I really felt honoured to be a part of it. What a guest list! The event of the year!!”

Neale Fraser – Tennis Australia

• “On behalf of Thea & myself, I wish to thank you and the Company for including us in your 25 years of the Herald Sun celebrations on Wednesday last. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and our journalist host Leo (Schlink) did a mighty job in caring for us. A night to remember!”

Ron Phillips – Dentsu Mitchell

• “Thanks so much for the invitation to join with yourselves in a great celebration with a “who’s who” of Melbourne identities at The Emerson last night. Please pass on my sincere thanks to Penny Fowler, Peter Blunden, Peter Clark and all of your team. It was a truly incredible evening and the 25 Years of Pictures provides a wonderful pictorial record of the last quarter of a century. Well done and very best regards.”

Alan Tobin – Turbo Marketing Pty Ltd

• “Thank you so much for including me at last night’s awesome event. It proved, yet again, the power of the Herald Sun brand that you could attract that audience. I was delighted and humbled to have been invited! Please pass on my personal thanks to Penny Fowler, Peter Blunden and Peter Clark. It was obvious that the team had done a great job organising the event.”

Watch and Win competition

Valued at $120K+ in media space

4 days 3 platforms

9 double pass winners

Campaign highlights – Cross-platform promotion