The Economist’s Brand Marketing Boosts US Awareness by 300%

The Economist started investing in brand marketing campaigns recently with an aim to reach new audiences. 

One of the most recent is a campaign called “Know Which Way Is Up,” and focuses on The Economist as a way to help understand the upside down geopolitical and economic world we’re living in in 2025. Two simple 20-second ads, using the magazine’s signature red and white color palette, state in a British accent:

• When logic bends and certainties shattered, when markets react and power tilts, when left is right and right is left, which way do you turn? The Economist goes beyond the headlines. More than news: a trusted global perspective. The Economist: know which way is up.
• Down, up, right, left, inside, out. Sometimes it’s hard to make sense from nonsense. The Economist goes beyond the headlines. More than news: a trusted global perspective. The Economist: know which way is up.

The TV and out-of-home campaign includes London billboards, Times Square ads, the aforementioned TV spots, radio spots and digital video spots on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Google search.    

The Economist’s brand marketing campaign is being led by Nada Arnot, executive vice president of marketing.

“If you want to understand what the current crisis with Iran is all about… you go to The Economist, and we’ve done all that heavy lifting for you,” Arnot told AMO. “We want to make sure that we help people get an edge on what they want to get an edge on… That could be anything. That could just be understanding humanity across the world, or it might mean the next promotion, or it might mean acing your exam in university.”

The results of the campaign so far? Unaided awareness—the ability of consumers to recall a product, brand or ad without prompting or assistance—grew by 50% in the UK and 300% in the U.S. within the 18 months of launching the brand efforts. Most marketing efforts were focused on the U.S., hence it saw the largest gains. The Economist didn’t share the base for the percentage increases, so it’s unclear how impressive they truly are. But they are definitely seeing traction. 

The Economist isn’t alone in having seen successful results from brand marketing. The Wall Street Journal’s recent “It’s Your Business” campaign that drove incremental site traffic in nine out of the 10 markets where it ran and a 19% uplift in people recommending the publication, with over half of those exposed to the campaign would be somewhat or very likely to recommend WSJ to a friend/family member.

In its most recent annual report, published in June, The Economist reported a 3% increase in subscriptions to 1.25 million. It saw an 8% jump in digital subscriptions, 100 million podcast plays and held 129 Economist Impact events. The team comprises 1,540 people in 26 countries, including 319 on the editorial team.

Revenue rose 2.5% to £368.5 million ($505 million) from £359.5 million with an operating profit of £48.1 million up 2.1% from £47.1 million. Subscriptions represent some 60% of revenue with the rest coming from advertising, research and other items.

Revenue from UK customers rose 4% to £73.1 million from £70.3 million, while revenue from North American customers rose 6.5% to £147.7 million to £138.7 million. 

Critical Brand Marketing

The Economist is known for its dense and lengthy weekly articles, but it has evolved with the times and now offers shorter and daily stories, as well as audio, podcasts and video. Of their strategy, Arnot said:

“We’re all consumers of media, and we don’t necessarily consume the same type of media every single day, right? In terms of format, you might listen to an article at the beginning of your day, and then you might switch to podcasts on weekends, and you might watch a video in between meetings. So we want to make sure the right format that meets the audience, whether it be older, younger, male, female, wherever they’re at in, not only life stage, but the mind state, if you will, for the day.”

In 2014, The Economist created Espresso, a daily briefing, which last year they made free to students aged 16 and up. More than 66,000 students have signed up, with the majority in the 18 to 24 age range.

“That’s our effort to make sure that really high quality, trusted journalism gets in the hands of younger generations, particularly a generation that does not have a relationship with news outlets the way that older generations do,” Arnot said. The hope is also, of course, that the students will become lifelong readers.    

They get in front of students through their relationships with universities, working with student organizations like Model UN or business clubs, as well as social media influencers who are tuned into current affairs and news. Those people will talk about issues, then mention that, to see both sides of the story, to read The Economist, and they’ll also offer a discount on a subscription for being a viewer of the channel.

Young people, as well as women, have not typically made up a large portion of the subscriber base, and they are a focus of the brand marketing campaigns. 

“We want to make sure that people understand that we are a reputable, thoughtful, trusted source of journalism that is not tied to one political party or another, not tied to one stakeholder or shareholder versus another, and that we truly are independent in our in our journalism, we also want to make sure that we speak to people in a way that is accessible,” Arnot said. 

They also aren’t looking to drive an immediate subscription or to drive traffic. 

“What we see is TV, radio, outdoor billboards tend to actually have a massive impact on driving subscriptions on a two to three year horizon, because it’s not immediate. But what also happens is it has a nice benefit to our performance channels by reducing CPAs,” Arnot said. 

It’s the heavy lifting being done at the top of the funnel to tell people about who they are, Arnot said.  

“When it comes to the point of making a decision to subscribe to a news outlet, the brand saliency is there, the recall is all right, ‘I’m going to check out the Economist,’” Arnot said.