The New York Sun newspaper will spend $800,000 during a six-week circulation-boosting effort. The campaign, which begins March 31, includes direct response TV and radio, as well as print, outdoor advertising and outer wraps.
The marketing and creative strategy was designed by Leapfrog Agency, a New York-based firm.
Prospects consist of highly educated, high-income readers from select zip codes within Manhattan’s upper east and west sides, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, according to Cathy Lane, the Sun’s circulation director.
Omaha, NE-based infoUSA and New York’s VentureDirect Worldwide have been providing the names, which are generated from compiled files.
The standard offer is a free four-week trial subscription. "Our target reader reads more than one newspaper a day, and he reads different newspapers for different reason. What he likes in the Sun is the different point of view," Tom Attea, managing partner of Leapfrog said. The four-weeks-free offer has proved most successful in the Sun’s outbound efforts, with 10% of the recipients converting to paid subscribers, according to Attea.
Most of the television and radio buys will be during news programs and talk radio. The Sun will even run a few spots on WQXR, a radio station owned by direct competitor The New York Times.
Did the paper have any hesitancy about launching a marketing campaign shortly after the start of war with Iraq?
"We considered a two-week postponement," Attea said. "If we had been advertising a relatively frivolous product, we would have said that such it would have been inappropriate. But we are advertising a product that will be covering the war."
Additionally, Attea notes that many of the paper’s chosen outlets have boosted their readership and viewer/listenership since hostilities started. "Since this time was purchased before the war, we aware able to secure it at the rates before the uptick," he said.
The current campaign is build around inbound calls to a toll-free number (866-GoNYSun), which are directed to an outsourced phone room. During its second week, the campaign will also use a yet-to-be-determined URL, which will be featured in all media – except taxi toppers, where it won’t fit.
In mid-January, the Sun established a 15-seat telemarketing room, which separately from the current campaign is dedicated to outbound calls.
