The Wall Street Journal – Canadian Online Subscription Acquisition Program

The Challenge

When The Wall Street Journal wanted to increase their online subscriptions in the Canadian market, the news media giant wanted a Canadian agency to help them understand the nature of the landscape and the behaviours of local news readers. The newspaper had been in Canada for several years, leveraging American-focused creative, with average results.

Big questions had to be addressed like, what type of editorial content would be most relevant to the Canadian market, what kind of creative would resonate with potential subscribers and where to best reach this hard to reach business audience.

The Solution

Using AskingCanadians, our proprietary online research community, Delvinia gathered data and insights into the behaviours and attitudes of potential subscribers.

We discovered that Canadian news consumers identify WSJ readers as being worldly, innovative and intelligent leaders. Thirty-five per cent of Canadian news consumers indicated an affinity for this exclusive group, viewing them as “like me,” while 87% recognized WSJ subscribers as being heavy business news followers.

By examining readership trends and the lifestyles of those in the target audience, we gained an understanding of the type of content Canadian readers are interested in and discovered that the campaign need to appeal to individuals with very busy lives who are constantly on the go.

These insights prompted us to focus on mobile as a means of reaching potential subscribers. Mobile content provides new readership moments and access to information wherever you happen to be—whether that’s at lunch, in a taxi, at the airport, or during the daily commute. Given that the target audience included executives and professionals who want the ability to follow the news at a time that is convenient for them, mobile as a platform was a good fit for the WSJ campaign.

Another insight to note was the fact that paying for content wasn’t a consideration with this audience, individuals who need to be in the know in order to gain a competitive edge.

The resulting acquisition campaign centred on a series of online and mobile ads highlighting the fact that the WSJ’s digital edition is a key source for breaking stories, insight on the market and the economy, and coverage of major global events.

The Results

Through our creative and targeted media placement, we tripled clickthrough rates from the previous campaign.

We also focused heavily on mobile ads, which resonated with the audience, yielding 100 times more effective clickthrough rate than the web media buy.