“The main objective of the campaign is to show a broad group of people who read The Journal and a diverse array of content,” said Ann Marks, chief operating officer at WSJ publisher Dow Jones & Company.

The ad campaign features celebrities, including the New York Giants, singer Sheryl Crow, famed restaurateur Alice Waters, fashion designer Kenneth Cole and chief executive of JetBlue David Neeleman.

Only a third of WSJ’s readers are women right now, and the average reader is 52 years old. The Journal hopes to play into a more varied readership through its hip ad campaign.

In September 2005, for that purpose, the Journal had introduced a Saturday paper with more emphasis on travel, leisure, and common consumption goods.

The new ads resemble, in their design and feel, those of much different products such as the ipod: indeed the Journal is now targeting those categories of readership – as explained by Gordon Bowen, creative director of McGarry Bowen, which developed the ad campaign.

“In a world of music and iPoding and electronic media, you have to find a way to communicate simply and graphically and in a way that is easily accessible to readers who can scan it and get it in 10 seconds or involve themselves for 30 seconds,” said Bowen.

Through its aggressive marketing strategy, and sometimes untypical managerial decisions (creating a paywall for its website for example), the Journal has sustained an effective business model and readership. It’s among the few newspapers that reported increased earnings last quarter, based on a 5.1% increase in ad revenue.

Source: NY Times