Archant

Redesign of newspaper classifieds section and accompanying marketing campaign

Background

Archant is the one of the UK's leading regional media businesses, owning websites and publishing magazines and daily and weekly newspapers including the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News. Small, classified adverts are still a strong revenue stream, but were described as "unloved".

Brief

To re-imagine the classifieds section. To create a cleaner contemporary style that would unify the look of all the classifieds sections across the company. To develop iconography to categorise and highlight sections. To develop information graphics to highlight pricing and readership figures. Finally, to create an attractive and appealing advertising campaign which would highlight the re-launch of the classifieds advertising format.

Solution

Students and academics at ideas factory@NUCA began working together. A consultancy session deemed the terminology old fashioned and out of touch with modern on-line auction sites. A new name 'Small Ads' was proposed.

The team designed layouts of the relevant sections - 'Births, marriages and deaths', 'Retail' and 'Public announcements' - and designed iconography, before producing a style guide to enable implementation by Archant's in-house production team.

The team also developed a press advertising campaign, which highlighted the eclectic offer of goods, services and announcements. Using a hand-drawn typographic style, these offers were spread across the page in a variety of colours. The final creative is flexible enough to allow a number of adverts, each reflecting the redesigned Small Ads section and announcing its confident re-launch to a younger demographic.

Results

Following a trial launch in the Norwich Advertiser, the Small Ads format has now been launched in the EDP and the Norwich Evening News. The Norwich Advertiser has seen revenue increase 26% since re-design, and inbound calls regarding Small Ads in the EDP and Evening News have increased 8%.

Client quote

Adrian Jeakings - Chief Executive, Archant:

"Archant is one of the UK's largest independently-owned regional media business. We were delighted to be involved at an early stage in discussions about the University College's ideas factory@NUCA initiative, and to provide a number of pilot projects. These were successfully delivered by NUCA staff and students and Archant has continued to commission designs and other creative projects from ideas factory@NUCA.

The quality of work produced by NUCA is exemplary. In particular, we at Archant have been impressed and delighted by students' creative thinking and problem-solving and their highly original design solutions. Our relationship with ideas factory@NUCA has brought unexpected benefits – for example, invigorating debate about the Archant brand and creating employment opportunities for students on graduation. We believe that the University College'’s approach to employer engagement, as demonstrated by ideas factory@NUCA, demonstrates an institution which is thinking creatively and acting positively to build external relationships and to support the local and regional economy."