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Creative The Guardian

Ads We Like: The Guardian creates campaign to garner 2 million supporters by 2022

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By Imogen Watson, Senior reporter

September 23, 2019 | 4 min read

A first in seven years, the Guardian has launched a global campaign 'Hope is Power' that works to reinstate its purpose, to encourage readers around the world to support its journalism.

Hope is Power

Hope is Power

Given the Guardian doesn't apply a firewall, the newspaper relies a great deal on the donations of its readers who either contribute money or subscribe to it's digital or print subscriptions.

With a target of reaching two million paying supporters by 2022, 'Hope is Power' aims to deepen its affinity with existing Guardian supporters, while also encouraging new readers to spend more time with Guardian journalism.

The tagline for the campaign is inspired by a 2017 piece written by the Guardian's editor-in-chief Katherine Viner, entitled 'A mission for journalism in a time of crisis' where she called on readers to support the newspaper.

Building on the relationship The Guardian has with its reader, the campaign seeks to highlight the crucial role the newspaper plays in giving people information that enables them to challenge the status quo, to come up with fresh ideas and to develop opinions that hold power to account.

In the Guardian's defining yellow shade, the print campaign contains positives quotes that rally its readers to take action against the backdrop of a bleak and turbulent era.

'Hope is Power' is launched with a film, directed by James Marsh - the Academy Award-winning director of Stephen Hawking's biopic, The Theory of Everything.

In the spot, a butterfly is seen trying to break free from an empty room - a common scene as far as insect and clear windows go. Not one to give up, the butterfly keeps trying to get through the glass - going back and forth until the glass smashes and it joins a whole swarm of butterflies outside. The text onscreen reads: 'Change is possible. Hope is power.'

Done in collaboration between The Guardian's brand, marketing and editorial teams, Uncommon London led on creative development, PHD on media planning and buying, and Pentagram on the initial brand positioning.

Discussing the launch of its first campaign in seven years, Anna Bateson, chief customer officer at Guardian News & Media said: "The Guardian has an almost 200-year history of producing journalism which inspires hope. This new campaign aims to turn that feeling into action.

“Against the backdrop of a volatile political landscape around the world and with a frugal budget, we have chosen to take a bold creative approach which we hope will inspire readers to support Guardian journalism in a number of ways.”

Adding to this, Nils Leonard, co-founder, Uncommon commented: "We need the Guardian more now than ever. Unafraid, they are a voice of challenge and change in a time that needs it most. They are the sort of brand we created Uncommon to work with. We’re very proud to bring their mission to light globally in this new work."

The Guardian: advert-body-1 by Uncommon

By The Guardian

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