The Guardian is Not for sale. Its new global campaign by Lucky Generals highlights its unique ownership. It is funded by readers, not owned by billionaires or politicians. This is being used to underline its editorial independence and the reason to trust it. The campaign is also a call to readers to support The Guardian financially.
This is the Guardian’s first brand campaign since 2019’s Hope is Power and it is built from a new strategic and creative approach. Fresh bold designs and confident statements of independence are based on insight that the Guardian’s reader-funded model allows it to be open to all, and beholden to no one. This gives it the power to break stories no one else can, but also drives a huge range of emotive reactions that are celebrated in the work.
The campaign coincides with the launch of the Guardian’s Europe edition that provides readers on the continent with a tailored English-language edition of the Guardian website and app for the first time.
Lucky General’s hero film, directed by New York duo, rubberband, is presented as a montage of scenes that show how the Guardian delights and challenges readers around the world. A voiceover from writer and artist, Inua Ellams, uses single powerful words to describe the emotions it stirs and the way its content is used.
The campaign also features a range of bold and bright posters that will run alongside each other digitally and out of home, proudly proclaiming the Guardian to be “Loved”, “Hated”, “Trusted”, “Feared”, “But never controlled”.
The campaign creative will be seen worldwide across the Guardian’s own channels to point out its strengths in telling powerful stories, while emphasising the importance of reader support. The creative will span audio, video, newsletters, print and social, with a paid media focus in the UK and Europe. Digital screens and posters will also feature across major European cities in the Guardian’s biggest ever European marketing push, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin and Paris, as well as London, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
The film will feature on Channel 4 (on demand and linear) in cinemas in the UK from September 25, and on a range of digital and social platforms across Europe.
Anna Bateson, chief executive, Guardian News & Media, stated, “Over the last decade we have vastly increased the Guardian’s global reach, readership and revenues, now attracting more than one million paying supporters each month. Readers tell us they support the Guardian because they believe, like we do, in robust independent media that is open to all, funded by many, and beholden to no one.
“Our new Europe edition and our bold new marketing message carry forward this mission and will help us to cultivate even deeper relationships with readers, advertisers and other partners who believe in our values.”
Joel Midgley, head of marketing, Guardian News & Media, added, “The Guardian isn’t like other media brands and our campaigns shouldn’t be either. Everything we’ve produced is grounded in insights about what readers love most about us – a strong foundation that has enabled us to be playful, unexpected and bold in the execution. This is the beginning of something new for us and we can’t wait to see reader responses.”
Cressida Holmes-Smith, managing director at Lucky Generals, commented, “With Not for sale we focused on what makes the Guardian unique in the news landscape – the fact that because it is reader funded (rather than owned by controlling interests like billionaires or politicians) its journalism can never be influenced or controlled. We knew the creative idea had to be as impactful as the paper itself and really drive home the vast range of emotions and reactions its unique publishing model gives it – but in a way that no one would be expecting. From the TV to the OOH we wanted to show just how ingrained the paper is in society but also how playful it can be.”
The campaign is the start of The Guardian’s new three-year strategy to build on its position as one of the world’s leading quality news publishers, aiming to become more global, more digital, with more paying supporters and producing more world-class journalism.
The campaign is a collaboration between the Guardian’s marketing team and Lucky Generals, who lead on creative strategy and execution, supported by the Guardian’s in-house studio team from OLIVER with PHD leading media planning and buying.
Credits
Creative Agency: Lucky Generals
Media Agency: PHD
Editor: Armen Harootun
Post-production, Grade & Sound: No.8
Colourist: Alex Gregory
Sound Engineers: James Benn & George Castle
Music Company: Interlude Sounds
Composer: James William Blades
Production Company: Smuggler
Producer: Andrew Rawson
Director: rubberband
DoP: Patrick Golan
