‘We’re back’ said a simple social media post and press release from The Racing Post as the UK daily horse racing newspaper promoted its return to print by channeling the famous fax Michael Jordan sent ahead of his NBA comeback.
Posted across The Racing Post’s social channels and rolled out to the media, the initiative ran on 26 May
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) May 26, 2020
The turf paper tasked PR firm Ready10, with whom it has a long-time PR and SEO relationship, to announce its hard copy: the brief was to ‘get the most out of the paper’s content, attract new audiences and get content consumed as far and wide as possible’.
“With racing scheduled to come back, we got a call two weeks ago and told we were back on – and this time with a different brief. Relaunch the newspaper. We’ve had 10 weeks of pretty depressing stuff and to work on such a positive story is truly refreshing,” commented agency founder David Fraser.
Fraser and his team took inspiration from ESPN’s record breaking docu-series ‘The Last Dance’ which told the story of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls career.
Fraser added: “This was a cultural moment I had forgotten about but it chimed immediately – it just seemed a perfect way to invoke a famous comeback, newsjack something very current but also make people smile.”
“This post marks the start of the campaign and more executions are planned in the coming weeks to highlight the Racing Post’s print return.
The title stopped print operations, for the first time in its 34-year existence, in March as the country went into lockdown and racing came to an abrupt halt. But as horse racing prepares to be one of the first mainstream sport to return to live action in the UK on 5 June, the turf title is gearing up for its own return at the start of June.
We're back! The return of racing means the return of the Racing Post to shops across the UK & Ireland from Monday https://t.co/UW59TZqvLV pic.twitter.com/L8QoslOs80
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) May 26, 2020
“Both when we stopped publishing the newspaper and since the return of racing came into view, we’ve been inundated with messages from readers of the newspaper bemoaning its absence and asking when we’ll be back,” explained Racing Post Editor Tom Kerr.
“While print is a challenging environment at the best of times, never mind during a global pandemic that has shut down large swathes of society, it’s evidence again that readers continue to have an incredible loyalty and passion for newspapers.”
Outcome:
Within 48 hours of the post, on Twitter it generated 1.1K likes, 261 retweets and 50 comments, while on Instagram it notched up 1.9K likes and 51 comments, plus On Facebook there were 450 Likes/Thumbs Ups, 46 shares and 42 comments.
Not bad for a single market, niche publication announcing a return to print.
Comment:
The pandemic has further accelerated the existing trend for newspapers and magazines to move away from print and further into digital.
But the return to print seems to be a strong message right now as a sign of things returning to normal and offering a sense of familiarity to some.
“The reaction shows there is life in it yet and that papers like the Racing Post still have a very relevant role to play,” Fraser added.
While the Jordan idea was an instant hit with the client at the pitch, there were parallel efforts to recreate iconic horse racing moments without crowds, but it was determined that idea ‘felt a bit tired’.
From sponsor State Farm’s Sports Centre stunt spots (see case study), to activation by fellow official partners Facebook and Reece’s, to semi-ambush marketing from the likes of Jordan Brand/Jumpman (see case study) and Gatorade (see case study) we’ve seen some strategically smart and tactically astute leveraging of The Last Dance.
Who knew we’d be adding an opportunist social/PR stunt from The Racing Post from that list.
Even The Racing Post wants to be like Mike.
Links:
The Racing Post
https://www.instagram.com/racingpost/
https://twitter.com/racingpost
https://www.youtube.com/user/racingpostdotcom
https://open.spotify.com/show/2u42zu7lk0seljo2zBRpti
https://www.facebook.com/racingpost
Ready10
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.