


	IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards 2009





	Company: South West Media Group Ltd
	Project name: Herald Express





	General information about the publication

	The Torquay Herald Express is a daily newspaper based in Torquay, South Devon, England, with average daily circulation figures of 22,980 (ABC figures June-December 2008). With four daily editions, it covers the seaside towns of Torquay, Paignton, Brixham and the regions of Teignbridge and the South Hams. We have a partner website (www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk) which is updated throughout the day with news, sport and breaking stories, with average monthly hits of 1.5million. Contact newsdesk on +44 (0) 1803 676223. Email newsdesk@heraldexpress.co.uk . Postal address: Jan Meyer, Editor's PA, Herald Express, Harmsworth House, Barton Hill Road, Torquay TQ2 8JN

	Entry description

	We named the project Rock Stars as we wanted a name and logo which would be easily understood by and culturally relevant to our target audience demographic. With the popularity of television talent shows in mind, we wanted a name to reflect a common theme; shows such as Pop Idol, X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent. Throughout our editorial campaign and in our promotional material, we were also tipping our hat to the hugely popular video game Guitar Hero, in which players demonstrate their musical skills on various electronic instruments to gain points. Also, coincidentally, the Canadian rock group Nickelback released a single called 'Rock Star' just before we launched our campaign. Its popularity and fleeting ubiquity gave us a good platform to introduce readers to this competition. The benefit of having a short and catchy title enabled us to create a strong brand based on the words themselves being used in the logo. We were also keen to retain the cultural and visual link with our readers as the format of the competition was to closely resemble the TV shows which all rely on audience voting for their ongoing interest and popularity.

	The basic idea of your cross-media design

	The concept was to create a rock band made up of local musicians, chosen by Herald Express readers and website users. We wanted to attract a totally new audience group, primarily those in the 17-30 age range who do not traditionally buy the Herald Express. We felt that by creating an appealing brand we could achieve this by the credibility of our design, promotion and the prize on offer. Initially the process involved finding a singer/songwriter to front the band, and we invited entries both online and in print. Once we had a shortlist of candidates, readers were invited to vote for their favourite, based on songs, recordings and images displayed on our dedicated Rock Stars website: www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/rockstars The competition had a major local sponsor in Teign Music Ltd. With the lead singer chosen we proceeded to showcase and invite our readers to pick a lead and bass guitarist, and drummer. We recruited a professional musician to advise the band during rehearsals and song writing and recording process. A further poll of readers and an eventual vote led to them being known as 'Space Beacon Earth'. The band played their first live public gig on June 1.

	Used media channels


	Newspaper		Merchandising

	Event(s)		Mobile Services

	Online		Web-TV / Video

The implementation

We launched the project on Tuesday, August 5, 2008, and opened our first audience vote on Friday, September 19, having received entries from all over the country. The campaign was a collaboration between editorial, advertising and promotion departments. Editorial ran a sustained campaign both in-paper and online and created the website, the advertising team secured sponsorship and backing from local companies, and the promotions team handled the auditions, rehearsals and general external promotion.
Having created a strong and consistent branding for the campaign, we were able to cross-promote it in print and on the internet, and also by printing flyers and posters which were distributed to music shops and clubs. The consistent and strong image quickly created a recognisable brand and helped spark interest in this unique project. Our intended aim was to present something new for old and new readers and by creating this effective brand we achieved that.
We used all communication channels open to us, with readers voting by SMS text, choosing their favourite candidate online via streaming video, sound files and written songs, and backed this up with a steady and prominent editorial campaign. Throughout all the channels we retained the strong Rockstars logo and livery.

Image(s)

MySpace_rockstars.jpg (418 KB)

HE_Logo.tif (927 KB)

frontpage.pdf (2229 KB)

inside page.pdf (1159 KB)

website.jpg (330 KB)

flyer.jpg (851 KB)

rockstarstheme.mp3 (1020 KB)

Links

Herald Express website http://www.thisissouthdevon ...
Rock Stars website www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/rock ...
Captain's Blog
http://chargreaves.blogspot.com/

Results of the design & branding implementation

Rock Stars succeeded entirely in its stated aim: our readers helped to form a brand new band which has already made its first public appearance. The project also attracted a significant sponsorship package of £3,000 from the sole sponsor, and has achieved the added benefit of boosting our credibility among a new, younger audience. The success of the design underpinned the whole project. Without an eye-catching design and appealing image it is unlikely the campaign would have caught the imagination of the target group we were trying to reach. The website also played a large part in this, as it not only had an innovative and attractive design, it was simple to use and linked directly to sites such as MySpace and Facebook which are familiar with our target audience. The Facebook group has over 200 members and is accessed from our main Facebook site which has more than 4,500. To date the Rock Stars website has had over 10,000 visits. With the band having recently played their first live gig the success of the project is easily and instantly demonstrable. A great deal of this is due to a strong design and consistent image.