Postmedia Network is going back to the future with a new campaign promoting the revamped Ottawa Citizen it introduced this week.
The Toronto media company has partnered with Sid Lee for what senior vice-president of marketing and audience development Siobhan Vinish says will ultimately be the largest campaign in company history when it rolls out to other Postmedia markets.
It is Postmedia’s first campaign since introducing its paid content strategy about two years ago, said Vinish.
In development for two months, the campaign nods to the Citizen’s more than 150-year history while simultaneously promoting its new four-platform approach.
“[Readers] are very comfortable and confident with our products in print, but I think we really have a different story to tell based on all of our new products,” said Vinish. “I think it important that we create a new campaign that reflects the digital move with a sense of humour.”
The media buy by PHD Toronto includes print, out-of-home (TSAs, bus ads, night-time projections, wild postings, etc.) two 15-second and one 30-second digital video ads and radio. The campaign runs for eight weeks.
Built around the tagline “Trending since 1845, Reimagined for Today,” the ads feature an old-school gentleman from the 19th Century, replete with a top hat and vest.
He is shown in various locations such as a barbershop, holding either the Citizen’s print edition or one of the various twenty-first century devices, accompanied by slogans such as “Informing Ottawa since the town crier” and “Writing in 140 characters since the telegraph.”
“It’s important that people recognize that we’re current, and that we understand the environment in which people are consuming their news and information,” said Vinish.
