Monday, May 05, 2008

Economist dumbs down its advertising. Waaay down.


(click ads for closer look)
Cloud-Cuckoo-Land?—Apparently tiring of its legacy as an extremely smart news magazine, The Economist has just launched a new print ad campaign that looks/reads like it's aimed at childish doofuses (doofi?) like me. So, this is maybe not a smart marketing move by a publication that's one of the few in the world that continues to show robust growth? The ads are certainly a clean break from what's considered by many to be the best magazine advertising campaign ever (here's 1, 2, 3 recent examples that aren't half as good as executions from the 1990s, which I'm too lazy to find online. images via.) previously in newspaper/magazine self-promo advertising: Spanish newspaper plays a fun game with 9/11; Deutsch—apparently not a bestiality magazine; Penthouse 1980 subscription ad targeted men with triangular-shaped penises; New York Times Select—take a trip down memory lane (a toll road).

6 Comments:

Blogger adhack said...

Maybe their strategy is to get Hilary to talk to economists again.

1:24 PM  
Blogger AMM said...

Cloud Cuckoo Land

1:53 PM  
Blogger copyranter said...

Ah, so it's a literary reference, thus making that ad slightly smarter than it looks...still PALES in comparison to the 1990s all-type work.

2:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow what a change. Kind of scared who that target audience is now.

11:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No it isn't.
It's just shit... In comparison to the old stuff.

6:51 AM  
Blogger Craig McNamara said...

Here's a not-just-all-type example of Economist advertising:
http://craigmcnamara.blogspot.com/2008/03/find-logo.html

3:53 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home