Relaunching the Sun - turning flirters into worshippers

The challenge: Following the Sun

The Sun was already an innovator in the online space. They were the first online newspaper to feature home page video content and the first news site to offer a short code MMS system, letting users text in stories and pictures. We were tasked with driving more users to The Sun and specifically to increase the stickiness of their readers. The aim was to get visitors to come back again and again of their own accord.

Our strategy: Everyday a Sunday

To achieve this, we used re-targeting technology on key audience segments. Visitors who had been to the site in the last month were Flirters. Those who had been in the last week were Worshippers. Flirters who clicked on an ad moved on into the Worshippers group. Zero wastage methods were then used to exclude those who had been in the past week. Newspaper headlines were turned into RSS feeds which appeared on targeted display advertising on a broad range of sites. These would change every day ensuring the content was current. 

The results: Sunning up

Almost half a million unique daily arrivals were driven to The Sun in a three-and-a-half-month period. Online readership of the paper grew 86% year-on-year more than any other newspaper website. The re-targeting on Sun flirters drove the average clicker to return to the site 3.3 times after the initial visit. This compared with 1.3 return visits in our control group of non-IP-targeted users. 25% of IP-targeted users returned to the site four or more times.