


	Ifra XMA Cross Media Awards Projects





	Company: Thomas Crosbie Media Ltd
	Project name: Golden Scissors

	General information about the publication

	The 'Sligo Weekender' is a regional, weekly newspaper based in Sligo in the West of Ireland. Published weekly and running to an average of 70 pages, it provides readers with a mix of local news, sport, business and entertainment content. Other content areas include farming and motoring. The website http://www.sligoweekender.ie/ brings the content to an international audience and benefits from the addition of a live breaking news service. One of the key objectives for the Sligo Weekender newspaper in 2007 is to develop the online capability of the brand and to be at the fore of new media projects in the regional newspaper industry. The Sligo Weekender newspaper team works in partnership with Thomas Crosbie Media (TCM), the new media division of the newspaper's parent company, Thomas Crosbie Holdings, to develop mini-sites promoting Sligo Weekender projects on an on-going basis. Our entry for the cross-media awards 2007 (http://www.sligoweekender.ie/goldenscissors/) was one of these and included audio clips for the first time online.

	Project description

	The Golden Scissors mini-site was developed around a local, Sligo Weekender-organised competition to find Sligo's best hairdresser and best community salon. For the first time, we exploited the opportunities offered by the web to present audio clips to the audience. As well as short interviews with competition judge Martha Galvin (including her tips for a good hair day), Sligo Weekender reporter Niamh Mullen recorded the impressions of a key group of participants in the project - local people who volunteered to be 'hair spies' testing the talents of the short-listed hairdressers and salons. Their impressions can be listened to at: http://www.sligoweekender.ie/goldenscissors/spies/index.html. The competition was covered extensively in the newspaper from start to finish. Much of that content migrated naturally online (including profiles of the nominees and judges, home hair remedies and trends for 2007) and was enhanced by the audio clips mentioned above.

	The basic idea of our project

	BASIC IDEA: To find Sligo's best hairdresser and best community salon by way of reader nominations. PURPOSE: To associate the newspaper and site with a community-based project, boosting profile of both the newspaper and website. The objectives of the mini-site were: - To provide additional value for Sligo Weekender readers and website users; - To drive traffic to the website from the print edition; - To provide exciting content not available in-paper for greater reader interactivity; - To develop the brand image of the Sligo Weekender as technologically innovative; - To allow ex-pats and non-Sligo based users to have a sense of involvement with the campaign. The key requirement of the site was not to provide a simple online personification of the campaign published in-paper. Our strategy was to provide additional, unique value elements i.e. audio clips from professional hair stylists on tips for hair care, latest trends, comments from the campaign sponsor and opinions of competition judges and hair spies. One of the core aspects of the site was audio feedback from the ‘hair spies’ who acted as mystery clients and rated the salons and stylists. A live report from the awards ceremony was also added to the site, which gave users who did not attend the function an authentic feeling of presence at the awards, as opposed to solely viewing pictures and editorial in-paper. TARGETED AUDIENCE: Females who have a strong affinity with their hairdressers/salons and hairdressing industry personnel for the print medium and particularly young people and non-Sligo based readers for the online version. STRATEGIC: Introducing rich media online is intended to both retain the loyalty of existing readers by adding unique extra value and to attract new readers by enhancing the brand's capabilities. SPONSORS: Radisson SAS Hotel and Spa were the sponsors of the Golden Scissors campaign. Audio clips from sponsor representatives were included online.

	Used Media Channels


	Newspaper		Event(s)

	Online

Other:

Audio clips

The Implementation

Editorial, marketing and online departments of the company were involved in this project.
One Sligo Weekender journalist was initially assigned to the editorial aspect of the campaign, while the Sligo Weekender marketing manager and Editor of TCM (new media division) worked in close interaction. The Sligo Weekender reporter was the key driver of accessing content for the site; the marketing manager was responsible for the overall campaign and promotion of the site, while the new media division was responsible for design and implementation of the mini-site, as well as partnering with the editorial team in planning the mini-site content.
The new media division also provided the training required to record and edit audio clips for the mini-site.
The campaign was initially launched as an editorial-led feature series in-paper, which requested nominations for Sligo's best hairdresser and best community salon from readers via in-paper coupons. Once all entries had been received, six stylists and six salons were shortlisted by a panel of judges. Sligo Weekender readers were then asked to act as 'hair spies', a type of mystery client in order to rate the short-listed candidates.
All stages of the campaign were covered extensively in paper and information was added online.
As the campaign progressed, the reporter conducted numerous recorded interviews with stakeholders in the campaign i.e. judges, sponsors, 'hair spies' and award winners. These audio feeds were then incorporated onto the mini-site by TCM.
An awards ceremony was held in Radisson SAS Hotel to present short-listed nominees and winners with awards. A live report by a Sligo Weekender reporter from the awards ceremony was added to the site, which gave users who did not attend the function an authentic feeling of presence at the awards, as opposed to solely viewing pictures and editorial in-paper.
Cross-media: The mini site was launched and promoted heavily in the print publication in order to drive traffic to the site. A banner link was designed for the Sligo Weekender home page to encourage website users to enter the mini-site. Branded signage was also displayed at the awards cermony with details of the website prominently displayed.
The transfer of data to the web was very successful for this campaign and the additional value of audio content online maximised the effectiveness of the project.

Image(s)

Golden Scissors banner.pdf (725 KB)

Golden Scissors launch.pdf (1760 KB)

Golden Scissors wk 2.pdf (1818 KB)

Golden Scissors short-listed.pdf (1404 KB)

Golden Scissors website promo.pdf (1258 KB)

Golden Scissors winners.pdf (856 KB)

Golden Scissors awards.pdf (3327 KB)

Links

http://www.sligoweekender.ie/
http://www.sligoweekender.ie/goldenscissors/

Project results

The results of this campaign were extremely positive. Traffic to the site increased. Feedback from readers and site users was very encouraging. Local community members were amazed at the professionalism of the mini-site, along with the aesthetics and audio content of the site.
The Sligo Weekender was successful in achieving all our objectives highlighted above and will continue to explore online opportunities for developing the brand and increasing interactivity with our readers.