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The Big Impression
The Guardian’s Sara Badler on promoting journalism that’s “global, independent and free”
00:24:44
In late September, The Guardian launched its first major U.S. marketing campaign, featuring the tagline “the whole picture.” It’s a bold statement of intent from the 204-year-old news organization aimed squarely at American audiences, which highlights The Guardian’s brand of free, independent journalism. In this episode of The Big Impression, our hosts catch up with Sara Badler, chief advertising officer in North America for The Guardian U.S., to explore the vision behind the campaign, as well as some early takeaways since launch.
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- [00:00]
A
I'm Damien Fowler.
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B
And I'm Ilise Lifring.
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A
And welcome to this edition of the Big Impression.
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B
Today we're joined by Sarah Badler, the chief advertising officer of the Guardian US she's leading the charge behind the Guardian's first major US brand campaign, called the Whole Picture, a bold effort to reintroduce one of the world's most trusted news organizations to American audiences.
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A
It's an ambitious moment for the Guardian. With plans to expand coverage in New York and dc, launch new US podcasts and connect with readers in fresh ways. The campaign is signalling a big step forward for the brand and for quality journalism in the digital age.
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B
From that striking yellow billboard in midtown Manhattan to new approaches in digital marketing and audience engagement, the Guardian is proving that serious journalism can still make a splash and drive real impact.
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A
So let's get into it.
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C
The whole picture is really. It's the Guardian saying, which I think now is more important, time than ever is this idea that we are completely global perspective, we're independent and we have no paywall. Everyone can read us and we are, we are focused and dedicated to journalism. And the whole picture really shows dedicated in every sort of way of telling the facts, whether that is culturally, artistically, with the World cup coming upon us. And obviously the Guardian is a massive. One of the biggest soccer decks in the world, if not the biggest, and really showing up in different ways, the whole picture. And so I'm probably talking too much about this, but you see us on the subway, we did a live activation last week in the meatpacking district, and it's just really showing who we are and what we represent.
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A
Yeah, it's interesting. It's one of those things, you know, like the 11:11 thing when you think about it and you notice it. I once I saw the campaign launch, then I saw it on the New York subway and it was everywhere. But, you know, I'd read that the editor of the Guardian, Catherine Viner, had said that this is the perfect time to reintroduce the Guardian to US audiences. And I know it's. It's had great traction in the country for a while. Why is that? Why do you think it is the perfect time to. Especially in New York and metropolitan cities. Why is it the right time?
- [02:34]
C
I think now more than ever, we really want alternative news sources. And I say that being the Guardian's been around for 200 years. Not, you know, we are not new by any means, but we are new ish and more of like a teenager here in the US and we have tons of, obviously, news outlets and. And a lot of them are owned and operated by billionaires. And there's all different things that are happening to them. There's consolidation, there's putting up more paywalls. And I think now more than ever, having something free and a truly global perspective is unique and something that we have.
- [03:11]
B
Yeah. And, you know, the campaign itself has such a striking centerpiece. The creative, looking at it, it's bright yellow, there's words that are, you know, hidden. I'm curious if you can describe a little bit about that creative choice developed with Lucky Generals. And can you walk us through basically the idea behind that concept?
- [03:32]
C
It was not easy. I would say that it took our marketing and, you know, cross organizational functions a long time to come up with this. With Lucky Generals to credit to them. They've been amazing and they've worked with us in the UK and now in the US we also work with PhD as an agency, which also has been amazing. And, you know, it just took time of evolving of what like our real story is and what we want people to get out of it. And I think the global perspective, free independent journalism that's factual, with integrity and talking about culture in these key moments is really what we wanted people to understand, know and hear.
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B
Yeah. Looking at the media strategy a little bit, what was the plan for go to market and for reaching those target audiences?
- [04:23]
C
So there's, I mean, and I think this is with every marketing campaign I was actually on talking yesterday on a panel and saying, like, there's no more. Like, my marketing campaign is like a media plan. Right. You've got a podcast, you've got. You've got activations, you've got events. So I think one thing to really think about or that we've thought about is how do we consistently beat a drum and people recognize it throughout, not just one moment, but multiple moments throughout their day, whether it's on the subway through the activation and events. So that's something that we really focused on. And I think we're doing that and we're continuing to do that, which I'm very excited about. We've done a few things we do. We did a fashion collaboration with Lingua Franca, the sweaters that we're really excited in the West Village going there after this. And we're having a party tomorrow evening there. And then other things, like we are going to be kicking off a residency at the ned, which is super exciting with our editors. And so I think keeping the drumbeat and showing up at these places is Part of what we want to show we truly are the whole picture.
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A
Before we get to the sort of channels you use, I just wanted to sort of like ask you about that event planning around media campaigns. Why is that an important part and piece of a marketing strategy these days, the idea of the building community around events?
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C
Well, I think there's like a couple things to that. I think obviously we're still like, coming out of COVID in the sense that people want to go out, people want events. I also think the cultural moments are just so important, and especially for brands like ourselves who, like, for example, the soccer World cup coming, which is every four years, this is a huge moment for us. And so I think places planning around that and the sense of community, I think is important in everything we do. Right. We want to. You know, even. Even here at Advertising Week, there's a sense of community. We live and breathe kind of the same sort of things in day in and day out. So I feel like that's kind of something that we're trying to build and I think that if you feel a part of it, it's just so much stronger.
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B
Speaking of the World cup, can you say anything more about your plans there?
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C
Yes, I mean, we, as I mentioned, we're, you know, one of the largest global soccer desks. We are. We have a football weekly podcast that has been in the UK forever. I actually went to their event a few weeks ago in London and it was truly. When you talk about those cultural moments, it was one of those things that I like. I've kind of, like, heard about it. My husband's British and a huge football fan and, like, listens to the podcast. But I never really understood the true fans. Like it was. The strike on the tubes were happening, of course, while I was there, just luckily, always. And then of course, like, it's pouring down rain on and off when you think it's gonna be beautiful and there's still fans from all over the world coming. And it's not just for one team, it's for every team and for every. And so it's just like that is kind of the cultural moment. And so seeing that we're going to be launching that here in North America, which is super exciting.
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A
It's interesting. In the uk there's a very distinct sense of who reads the Guardian. I'm a Guardian reader, I admit, and actually was a Guardian contributor as well for a few years. But in the us do you have a strong sense of the Guardian readership? Is that galvanizing? Is that kind of coming together.
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C
Yeah, I mean, I think we're. To your point of like, what was your media plan? And I'm sure we had a podcast on with Vox that we did there. And I think that we're still trying to figure it out, I would say because we don't have a paywall. We really think, and I truly do believe that like everyone can be as a Guardian, a Guardian audience at one point. We do tend to have different skus of, you know, older people that like, have identified in the past with the Guardian, things like that. But we're also starting to create, I think, a buzz in younger generations and being out here and being on the subways and having these activations and the World cup and other things happening. We're launching other podcasts and newsletters and things like that. We're really starting to like grow audience across. Across the board.
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B
Are there any other channels that you're experimenting with?
- [08:49]
C
I'm like, everything. Like we are. We're launching video podcasts, newsletters. I'm just thinking, I'm like events. Like I mentioned the NED residency, which will kick off October 14, I want to say. So we're kind of trying to do everything. I think that's like another thing as we evolve as publishers is that's just something that's kind of happening and we're really excited to be doing it and.
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A
I guess maybe touching on the programmatic strategy on the side of things, you know, how has that grown, as it were, since, you know, you've taken this role?
- [09:28]
C
Definitely, I'm sure it was in the press. We were in the press with the Trade desk as we launched the Trade desk, which was kind of ironic, obviously, because I think we were like the first. When I was at Dot dash Meredith, we were the first publisher there. And then coming to the Garden, we'll just do it again. But it's like we have really looked at our programmatic strategy and we actually kind of react reorganized. And so the global programmatic strategy is actually coming out of the US which is very unique for the Guardian, which obviously everything is headquarters in the uk and I think it really actually ties to our brand campaign of the whole picture. And this global perspective is that we're really becoming one global unit. And I don't think it was like that before. I think it's been siphoned in different ways. And I think now this is kind of the time. And so tying that back to the programmatic strategy, as we're doing that as well. So we have one global programmatic team. And strategy that we're super excited about and, you know, very good talent, and we're just really excited to lean in as much as we can.
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B
Cool. So I know the campaign is so new still, but what kind of reaction have you seen so far?
- [10:40]
C
It's really been positive. Not that I was expecting any negative, but it's just been, like, a lot more vibrant than I even thought it would be. To your point, like, the neon yellow and just, like, seeing the signs and on the subway and just, like, constantly seeing them. We also had billboards in different places and, like, even the meatpacking district, the activation we did there, which thank God it didn't rain, but, like, it was, you know, you could take off, like, different of the wording. And we had different, like, social media people that were activating on it. It was just cool to see. And it's also cool to see, like, this street traffic that it requires, you know, gets also. One other funny thing is we did. Not funny, but we did the Lingua Franco. We did the storefronts with the Guardian gear in it. And I took my daughters last week and I was, like, so excited. And one of the sweaters was sold out, and the salesperson was like. I was like, who was it? Like, was it my. I was, like, naming, like, colleagues. Like, I was like, was it Jane? Was it. You know, and they're like, no, someone came in and bought it. I was like, yes. So I think, like, those are the kinds of things also that have just made it really fun.
- [11:51]
A
From your perspective as a marketing chief, are there sort of KPIs that matter most for a campaign like this? You know, obviously, sales, brand lift, engagement, how do you kind of look at it? And I know, again, to Ilise's point, it's kind of early days to save for this specific campaign. But in general, how do you. What are the KPIs that you kind of track on your dashboard?
- [12:15]
C
You know, we were just talking about this because we're like, how do we. We were like, how do you quantify. And obviously, my, like, background in life of programmatic, I'm like, give me some data. And I think that it's. It's hard for us. It's hard for us to say exactly what it looks like because I would say when you quantify it from, like, how many RFPs are we getting or is, you know, or is, like, our revenue growing or how we're seeing that? But it's really. We're actually now having meetings with proactive ideas of things that we offer that we couldn't offer before. So I think tracking kind of like our global footprint and working with clients in a way that's way more collaborative rather than, oh, you're getting this RFP and it's kind of like a circle of something that, you know, you're checking a box because. Cause you're giving it to us. Cause you saw this, I think from a consumer perspective, just like having presence in all of these places. And we know we're growing our audiences and we can see that. We do look at data and research all the time on this. And actually every Thursday we're figuring out what happened this week that kind of shows that we're still progressing. And I think the other thing that we have to remember about marketing that's been different is it can't just be a one and done thing. You have to talk about this like it launched last week, now it's ad week. What are we doing? What are we doing next week and then what are we doing in seven weeks that's going to keep this going?
- [13:40]
B
Yeah. On that note, how are you kind of tying your normal content strategy to marketing strategy? Is there a tie in?
- [13:49]
C
We collaborate all the time on things. I mean, like, even with the sweater collaboration, we have our voices and our editors wearing these sweaters. And like they truly are the voices. I'm just like in the background trying to make sure brands are aware and audiences grow from it. But they are the voices of the Guardian and you know, they are kind of, I mean, they lead with integrity and independence and we, you know, and we have to look at that. So that's also very important and why it's so exciting for us now.
- [14:23]
A
I know the Guardian has a unique kind of monetization because it has a trust. But I wondered if you could sort of break down a little bit the Guardian stance, the Guardian systems. That's a complicated thing to say on monetization. You know, between the subscription and the ad supported and everything in between. How do you do you think about that and how do you approach that every day?
- [14:47]
C
I think about it every day because it is, it's very unique, I would say. We are so lucky to be owned by the Scott Trust because we look at things and we do things like this to the whole picture that are very like thought out, methodical, programmatic, they make sense. We're able to do that because we're owned by a trust. So we're able to say we don't need to do or worry about something that's happening in Q2, we can think about what's happening in the World cup or when, you know, the next one and what that looks like. So that's the trust, and that's what we're very lucky to have from what you touched on with reader revenue, is our readers really invest in us. And that's like, kind of something that we can say. And we can say that to clients, we can say that to marketers, consumers, everyone. We can really, I mean, genuinely say people are investing in us because they want to read us and they want us to do well, and that's how we need to put our story out there. And that's how I think we overlap from an advertising and a reader revenue perspective is like, ultimately we're just trying to grow these audiences and for people to hear our stories.
- [15:54]
A
There's something nice about that, asking readers to contribute what they want. That model works to build loyalty, I expect.
- [16:02]
C
Yeah, completely. And that's something that I think you. It takes time. And that's why I'm saying I don't know our conversions for yesterday, but I do know that we are building somewhere that's exciting.
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B
So you've had some senior roles at Hearst, the New York Times, and Docdash. What would you say are the biggest challenges even legacy publishers face when it comes to capturing readers today still?
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C
I mean, we face all the challenges. So many challenges. Yeah. And I feel like it's pretty. I would say it's pretty consistent to your point of being at a lot of publishers that are, you know, have been around for a long time and huge brands. And I think some of the things that we, you know, the struggle is obviously, one, there's a lot. Right. There's so much media to consume. It's like, how do you make yourself unique and different? And in that way, it's also like, there's been a lot of different acquisitions and things that have happened. So it's kind of like, how do you make people aware of who your true brand is and where it sits? I think those are. It also is like the challenge of the times. Right? Like, meaning the actual time of happening where, like, when I was at dad Dash and we were living through Covid was a very different time than what we're doing now. I would not suggest live events at that point, but then, you know, here we are, and this is what we're doing. I would say at the New York Times, it was a place. It was right when, you know, elections were happening, when I was there as well. And so I think, you know, it's just, it's really. Everyone's got their challenges, but everyone also has place to their strengths. And I think that's what's really important for publishing.
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B
Yeah. Are there any, like, innovations, maybe, particularly in digital advertising, that you see as giving you optimism for even funding quality journalism in the future?
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C
I mean, this campaign has given me a lot of optimism. Like, the whole picture has been amazing to see. And also because I think it makes so much sense, which is really nice because I think that we also live. I live in a world where everything's like, just completely overcomplicated and just like, what it means is like, independent, factual, and free. Like, that's like really, it just makes sense. And I think things like that show optimism and what's going on.
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A
Yeah, we took that on innovation, which means we have to ask you a little bit about AI.
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C
Yes.
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A
And that has been kind of, like, framed in some ways as a threat, but also an ally. Where do you stand on that?
- [18:45]
C
I think we're in the middle. Yeah. Like, I. And that's probably the most boring answer ever. But it's, it's good. It's fine. It's just, it's not, you know, I mean, we, we are actively using it and, you know, and trying to figure out how and where it fits in different places, but it does not change how we report and our journalism.
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B
Good, Good to hear.
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C
Good to hear.
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B
Now some quick fire questions for you.
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C
Let's do it.
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B
What do you think is one thing the ad market desperately needs but doesn't have?
- [19:21]
C
Oh, my God. Like, we have so much of everything the ad market desperately needs. Maybe some, like, better organization of, like, what our products are and the different types would be something more streamlined. Yeah, like a streamlined approach, like, would.
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A
Be something less fragmentation, perhaps. I don't know.
- [19:44]
C
Yeah, I don't know.
- [19:45]
A
You put words in your mouth.
- [19:46]
C
I think, like, I think one thing that publishers need is really, like, to work better together to figure out kind of like what, what the future holds for them.
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A
You may have answered this already in the podcast, but a publisher you secretly admire for how they're playing the game.
- [20:04]
C
I mean, I think the New York Times has been brilliant and, you know, just how they've worked through a lot of different acquisitions they've made and things like that has been great to see, but I think all publishers have done a really great, you know, the best that it's, it's been a tough market. And I think that, you know, even from a programmatic perspective and everything, we were just trying to like, do our best to get through it and also understand kind of like what the world will look like quarter to quarter, which is very different. And it's not those days where you could be, like. I remember in, like, past lives, you'd be, like, year over year. Like, last year at this time. And you're like, well, last year at this time was such a different.
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A
Such a good point.
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B
Can't even compare anymore.
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C
Yeah. So it's like. It's like, well, last year this happened, and then, you know. And so I think that that's. That's a tough. It's a tough thing for publishers to do.
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B
What would you say is the boldest marketing risk you've ever taken?
- [21:07]
C
That's a great question. I would say just because I just to go back to also, like, the whole picture. I think this whole thing we've done also the collaboration with Lingua Franca and the sweaters, like, we didn't know how people would react or the world would react or if they would react. But I think that it's something, you know, because it's something you're just putting out there. We've never done anything in, like, the fashion world at all. And I think that was kind of something that. Probably not the most scary, but the most scary to me this week of doing that. I was like, I don't know if this is gonna work. And we don't know how people react. And, you know, you want only positive things to come out. Especially after doing such a big collaboration, marketing.
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B
Every week is different, isn't it?
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C
Yeah. Just depends on the day.
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B
Yeah, I guess.
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A
Here's the last question. If you could steal one idea from another industry and bring it into publishing, what would that be?
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C
Huh?
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A
So these are hard questions.
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C
No, I know. Well, it's funny. I was thinking. I was like, Fashion Week, because we just talked about fashion, but now we're in Advertising Week, so they've definitely done that, I would say. I don't know. I guess we don't have, like, a Super bowl or anything like that. That would be good. I think that. I think we've got enough stuff.
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B
Really, we should stop.
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C
Yeah. I'm thinking, like, there's south by. There's Cannes. Like, there's so. We do so many things. And I think that's one thing, from my perspective, that, again with the whole picture that we're really trying to do is show up in the right way where it matters. And if you try to be everywhere, you're nowhere. And I think that's really important. For us to think about. And so trying to do something that you haven't done yet, you should definitely do, but it should feel natural.
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B
Sarah, we're recording at Advertising Week and I'm curious if you have a major takeaway that you could share with us.
- [23:03]
C
Okay, so I mentioned day two. We're on day two. And I think it does feel bigger than it's ever been or busier for sure. And it feels like there's so many things going on. The other thing though is I think because there are so many of these things that it also feels like in this world right now, we're doing a lot of in house things, if that makes sense. Like, we have tons of our team in town this week. I know that when I talk to clients or agencies, they're doing a lot of internal stuff. So it feels like that's a big something that's changed a little bit.
- [23:41]
B
I would say there's definitely a lot more people, I think, this week than I remember in years past at least.
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C
But even every time I talk to someone, they're like, well, you know, we have a lot of internal stuff going on. And I think that that's like, you know, there's a lot. There's a lot going on. So I think that that's also something that is happening that didn't, maybe didn't happen as often.
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A
And that's it for this edition of the Big Impression.
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B
This show is produced by Molten Heart. Our theme is by Love and Caliber and our associate producer is.
- [24:15]
C
And remember, we have tons of obviously news outlets and a lot of them are owned and operated by billionaires. And you know, there's all different things that are happening to them. There's consolidation, there's putting up more paywalls. And I think now more than ever having something free and a truly global perspective is unique and something that we have.
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A
I'm Damien.
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B
And I'm Eilese and we'll see you next time.