The Economist Group Marketing Communications Creative Guide the Economist Group – Marketing Communications Creative Guide 2
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December 2018. V2.0 The Economist Group Marketing communications creative guide The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 2 CONTENTS Brand elements Owned media advertising Bought media advertising 4. Our brand 42. Full-page ad 60. Experiential Collateral 5. Our qualities 43. A5 insert 63. Print advertising 6. Our readers 45. Cover wrap 64. Out of home advertising 7. Our language 48. E-Newsletter 11. Typography 51. Banner ads Expanded advertising 14. Logos and positioning 67. Direct mail 29. Colour Earned media advertising 69. Corporate signage 31. Key headings 54. Social media—Facebook 71. The World In 32. Product imagery 57. Social media—Twitter 72. Banner advertising 35. Illustrative style 58. Social media—Instagram 36. Iconography 39. Product table 40. User interface components Brand elements The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 4 OUR BRAND Who we are. Many people think The Economist is only about economics. It’s not. It’s about pretty much everything. From politics to business and finance, from science and technology to the arts—we bring our readers clear analysis of the issues that lie behind each week’s global news stories. We satisfy the naturally curious with a distilled view of world affairs that is intelligent, insightful and thought-provoking. Whatever is happening across the globe, we have an opinion on it. Which is why we tell our readers: The Economist is your essential guide to the events and issues that are shaping our world. Ever since our launch in 1843, we’ve maintained a fiercely independent editorial stance, believing in the freedom of the individual, the freedom of markets and the free exchange of knowledge and ideas. It’s no wonder that JFK and Mandela were numbered amongst our readers. In today’s world we continue to promote the same essential freedoms—and challenge wherever we see them being denied. Because of this strong, journalistic point of view, we continue to regard ourselves as a weekly news publication—never a mere magazine. With all the professional rigour that implies. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 5 OUR BRAND Core qualities. For more than 170 years, The Economist has had at its core five qualities that together give it a unique place in the media landscape: • A smart guide to the forces that shape the future, through the analysis of the political, economic, social, cultural and technological forces that shape the world; • A trusted filter on world affairs that is concise, informative and “finishable”—an antidote to information overload; • An advocate for positive change, staying true to its founding principle: to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress”; • A global perspective since 1843. Globalisation has played a major part in The Economist’s growth and will continue as technology continues to make the world a smaller place; • World-class journalism for which our readers are prepared to pay a premium price. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 6 OUR READERS Who our readers are. Our readers come under the label of the “globally curious”. They may be from different cultures, different parts of the world and from different demographic and professional sectors, but what they all have in common is an open-minded curiosity about the key issues that influence and shape our world. From research, we’ve defined the characteristics of our audience as: • Facing forward, looking outward • Keenly interested in events and places beyond their national boundaries • Keeping up with developments in technology • Creative, optimistic, liking a challenge • Professionally driven and materialistic • But also ethical and happy to volunteer to help others. As of Spring 2017, The Economist has upwards of 1.5 million subscribers around the world—with over 50% of those coming from North America, and 19% from mainland Europe. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 7 OUR LANGUAGE – TONE OF VOICE Our tone of voice. It’s a competitive field, but more nonsense is written about tone of voice than almost anything else in marketing. At their worst, tone of voice guidelines can wrap up your writing in rules that ignore context and stifle and distort. So, however technically compliant your copy may be, the result could be ugly, dull and stilted. However, at their best, guidelines —good guidelines—liberate. They have the flexibility to free up your prose. And allow you to represent the brand with competence and confidence. The first—and only—unbreakable rule of Economist writing: don’t try to write for The Economist unless you’ve read The Economist. You’ll see why, overleaf. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 8 OUR LANGUAGE – YOUR READERS What your readers expect. If your reader is an existing Economist reader, your job is easy. You just need to make sure your copy reflects the principles and style of the newspaper: • Clarity—clarity of thought is what The Economist is all about. And clear thinking leads to clear writing. So know what you want to say before you write it • Everyday speech—keep it simple without dumbing down. Example: criminals break the law, they don't violate it. Shoppers buy—not purchase • Brevity—everyone is busy. So, unless your writing is so entertaining people never want it to end don’t make anything longer than it should be. How do you achieve brevity? Write long. And cut short • Wit—The Economist is never po-faced. Most subjects can be made more accessible with wit and playfulness • Illumination and agitation—people read The Economist to learn something. Often something unexpected. Make your writing just as provocative and rewarding. However, if your reader is not a reader of The Economist your job is doubly easy. • They probably think The Economist is a dry, impenetrable, statistical publication. As long as you’ve kept faith with the style guide above, they will be surprised and delighted to discover that it is not. Job (nearly) done. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 9 OUR LANGUAGE – WRITING PARAPHERNALIA Writing paraphernalia. General style Ideally: Short words. Short sentences. Short paras. But, once again, do what feels right. Anything over 15 words in a sentence is getting on a bit. Common sense applies. So, something that reads well in a three page DM letter may not be as effective in a shorter format. Such as a social media post. Clichés Avoid them like the… You knew what was coming, didn’t you? That’s clichés for you. We have seen them all before. Bit lazy. Bit dull. Either think of something fresher or say it straight. Contractions Contractions—it’s, they’d, isn’t, can’t, etc.—make copy a touch faster and more casual but not always easier to read or understand. Sometimes, they’re fine. Sometimes they are not. You decide. And if you cannot decide, avoid them. Double negatives Two negatives make a positive, changing the meaning of a sentence by 180 degrees. This means they can be misunderstood if not picked up by the reader. Some are simply bad grammar: We ain’t got no money. Others are convoluted and confusing: Stealing my copy of The Economist is not without consequences. Make life easier by avoiding double negatives altogether. Marketing-speak A lot of what you will write for The Economist will be marketing. But it doesn’t have to read that way. Bad marketing-speak is full of jargon and hyperbole. Unparalleled opportunity! Premier service! The newspaper doesn’t use this style and you shouldn’t either. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 10 OUR LANGUAGE – WRITING PARAPHERNALIA Writing paraphernalia. And, if, so and but Everyday speech uses conjunctions freely. And from the King James Bible downwards, there is nothing to stop you starting sentences with one if it makes the reader’s job easier. Just remember that, like everything else, over-use causes irritation. Headlines and subject lines Headlines and subject lines are special cases. They have to grab attention in a way that body copy doesn’t. They often work with visuals. The normal rules of writing and grammar do not always apply. So, a headline should only be rejected if it is boring or irrelevant or crassly at odds with The Economist brand values. What are they? Wit. Intelligence. Boldness. Punctuation Only the first letter of a sentence, phrase or title is capitalised. All following words after that are written in lower case, except for proper nouns. Punctuation is there to enhance comprehension and avoid ambiguity. And there are some comical examples on the internet that show the results of absent or wrongly applied punctuation. So, as a general rule, we punctuate everything except where the design guidelines advise against it. In common with most journalistic practice, The Economist does not use full-points on headlines in the newspaper or on the website. But in our advertising and marketing, we do use them. However, we do not use full-points on e-mail subject lines, except on rare occasions where we are separating two sentences. It can be confusing, so here is a golden rule. If using punctuation makes something clearer, use it. In The Economist, clarity always trumps visual style. Italics The Economist is always italicised in full—and is the only newspaper or periodical where The is italicised, too. However, we do not italicise in the case of The Economist Group, Economist readers, Economist subscribers, Economist offers, or anything else to do with The Economist. The Economist Group – Marketing communications creative guide 11 CORE ELEMENTS – MILO SERIF TYPEFACE Typography Milo Serif Text Milo Serif abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Use on heading and body copy.