


	WAN-IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards 2010





	Company: Nerikes Allehanda AB
	Project name: Inspark (Kick Off)





	General information about the publication

	Nerikes Allehanda (NA) is a local seven day newspaper with a circulation of 60700 daily copies in the county of Örebro, Sweden. The web site (na.se) was launched in 1995, and ever since NA has been one of Sweden’s leading local newspapers when it comes to using new media channels and technologies. NA has more than 140 employees, of which 100 are journalists located in the headquarters in Örebro and in nine other cities in the region. Since 2007, NA is a part of the Promedia group, consisting of 14 newspapers in the mid-Sweden region.

	Entry description

	“Inspark” is a cross media concept around the coverage of the local soccer team, Örebro SK, playing in the top league in Sweden. The concept is based on cooperation between the news desk, the sales department and the marketing department. They have created a successful package mixing editorial content, advertising and marketing products for the newspaper, the web site, web-tv, mobile phones and offers for match visitors.

	The basic idea of your cross-media local project

	The editorial coverage of the soccer team has always rendered a huge amount of page views on the web over the years. The fan base was, and still is, massive. In the fall of 2006 the NA Sports Chief, Anders Uddling, realized the interactional and economical potential of the readers and outlined the basics for what was to become the cross-department “Inspark” concept. The purpose of “Inspark” was to focus more editorial resources on even better soccer coverage and on the same time making money. The primary target group was the people already following the soccer team (active fans and readers). The secondary target was to attract new readers to the printed paper and the web.

	Used media channels


	Newspaper		Event(s)

	Mobile Services		Online

	Web-TV / Video

The implementation

The “Inspark” concept was implemented for the first time in 2007 and has developed both technically and conceptually ever since. Three departments are cooperating to achieve it: The news desk, the sales department and the marketing department.
The sports news desk covers the matches in print, on the web and in web-tv-shows. Reporters do a minute-by-minute Live Report on the web of every match. Mobile phones are used for voting and competitions in connection with the games.
The sales department is offering the “Gold Package” to 20 local advertisers. The package is the heart of the “Inspark” concept, which connects the editorial, sales and marketing content. The “Gold Package” consists of 1) A joint print ad on the day of the match where the advertisers guess the outcome. 2) Banner ads on the Live Report page. 3) Pre-roll ads in web-tv.
Sales also produce a season “countdown”: An ad financed presentation of 20 soccer players. Four advertisers also sponsor post-match web-tv analysis from the matches.
The marketing department uses the “Inspark” concept to advertise the newspapers products, including subscription and advertising offers. It offers subscribers discounted tickets in a dedicated NA section of the arena.

Image(s)

countdown1.jpg (502 KB)

na-front.jpg (164 KB)

na-inside.jpg (351 KB)

na.se-front.jpg (285 KB)

na-logo.jpg (25 KB)

countdown2.jpg (337 KB)

gold-package-print-ad.jpg (312 KB)

joint-ad.jpg (394 KB)

live-report.jpg (447 KB)

web-tv-expert.jpg (183 KB)

Links

http://na.se
http://direkt.na.se/sporten/matchrapport/14524852

Results of the local project implementation

The “Inspark” concept has been one of the most successful cross media and cross department NA projects ever, in regards to web visitors and yearly profit from advertising and sponsorship. Every year, “Inspark” generates a revenue of over 150 000 euro. Since 2006, the year before “Inspark”, the traffic on na.se has increased significantly.
The user feedback on the web has also been great over the years. Articles about upcoming matches and the post-analyses often generate lots of user comments. During every match, the Live Report is followed by an average of 5000 people. In the Discussion section of the Live Report, fans debate the ongoing matches.
Up until this season (now closed for technical reasons), the web based competition “Poängligan” (Score League), where registered users bet on goalmakers, warnings, changes and red cards, attracted nearly a thousand participants every match.