This week, The New Yorker is getting its first-ever multiplatform ad buyout thanks to HSBC. The seven-figure deal promoting the relaunch of HSBC’s Premier consumer program covers the full print, tablet and phone editions of the magazine’s June 30 issue (on newsstands today) as well as a good chunk of its website.
“HSBC wanted something that would be high visibility, would reach thought leaders and high net-worth individuals, and would really reframe the conversation about how people think about finance,” said Lisa Hughes, vp, publisher of The New Yorker. “We brainstormed with them and came up with this takeover that takes advantage of every media platform.”
This week’s print magazine contains eight HSBC-sponsored custom ad pages, while next week’s issue will follow up with another single-leaf HSBC insert. In the magazine’s Canadian edition, HSBC has also sponsored five pages in the issues before and after this week’s magazine.
Online, HSBC is sponsoring a custom unit that will drive visitors to a branded hub and reader poll built by the magazine’s native ad team, the New Yorker Creative Studio, which gauges readers’ investment personalities. Results from the poll will be included in an interactive unit in The New Yorker’s tablet edition, which also includes five custom New Yorker cartoons created especially for HSBC. Both the tablet and mobile editions of this week’s issue will be free to download via HSBC’s sponsorship.
As part of its ad buy, HSBC has been given access to the Accelerator program, which helps advertisers take advantage of organic traffic spikes by predicting which stories will go viral. (The New Yorker is the first Condé Nast brand outside of Ars Techinca and Wired to use the Accelerator.) The program came in handy last month when Ken Auletta’s buzzy Jill Abramson story went live, and HSBC was able to use the Accelerator to advertise alongside it.
“Our past print partnership with The New Yorker has always successfully reached our HSBC Premier consumer segment,” said Cindy Wong, regional head of marketing for North America for HSBC. “However, we know that our clients now consume information in new mediums, so we are very excited to expand our partnership to include a greater platform to help us relaunch Premier.”
The New Yorker is also providing HSBC with an ad awareness and effectiveness study, which, according to Hughes, is typically an integral part of any of the magazine’s major ad buys. “Each awareness study is different depending on the client,” said Hughes. “In HSBC’s case, awareness and consideration are certainly key but also getting people to really talk about these milestones in life—are you ready to send your kids to college? How are you prepared for graduate school?”