The Guardian: advert-body-2 by OLIVER

The Guardian is changing tack in its drive to win the business of media buyers, collaborating with Oliver Group to produce the tongue-in-cheek publication ‘Learn about the world of…The Media Planner’.

The guide is reminiscent of the Ladybird Books For Grown Ups series, which includes childlike advice on subjects such as ‘The Hangover’ and ‘The Mid-Life Crisis’. The Guardian’s version, however, has been devised as part of its ongoing Platform for Action B2B campaign, which aims to ‘to cut through the noise and explain the value and effectiveness of the Guardian’s platforms and audiences’.

The Media Planner’s story, which will be sent to real-life media planners across London, follows the adventures of Claire, David, Toby and Julian. The first two planners partner with the Guardian and, unsurprisingly, their campaign reaches the top levels of engagement.

Toby and Julian, however, go down a wild variety of different routes. Their story ends in bad publicity for their client, accusations of demonstrable racism and the latter being sent a bag of teeth in the post.

The moral of the story – the book tells us – is “the Guardian is where it’s going on”.