Truth Builds Trust: NewsMediaWorks launches national ad campaign

NewsMediaWorks, with the support of its foundation partners News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media and Seven West Media, has unveiled a nationwide advertising campaign that reinforces the importance of trusted journalism environments in news media to advertisers.

The campaign, developed by Thinkerbell and targeting advertisers and their agencies, will appear across all metropolitan and national print and digital news media, plus a majority of regional and community titles.

It features a range of executions that assert why trusted journalism is important for advertisers, including: “It’s what’s on the other page that makes this space so powerful”, “For why this ad works, see above” and in digital “Surround your brand with articles your customers trust”.

The campaign will point to a website TheTruthBuildsTrust.com.au that directs advertisers and agencies to the ADTRUST* study findings.

News Media Works CEO Peter Miller said: “They say the company you keep defines you. It’s the same for brands and the context within which they choose to be seen. So, if you surround yourself with the truth, you in turn will be trusted. As Australia’s most trusted news media, we’re the ideal place for brands to be seen and believed. The truth builds trust.

“Journalism is what draws readers to our trusted news brands – more than 16 million every month.

It is this environment of trust in the news content that defines our news brands and, in so doing, produces tremendous opportunities for advertisers.”

Thinkerbell founder and consumer psychologist Adam Ferrier said the campaign was born from the ADTRUST study from Galaxy Research that found that only 22% of people trust what they read in social media, and newspapers are the most trusted media for both content and ads. Trust in media channels directly drives purchase intent, with 58% of consumers agreeing that the more they trust an ad, the more likely they are to buy a product or service.

“What sets news media brands apart from other forms of media is their journalism. Branded messages will appear within context that has been fact checked, proofed, and considered. We wanted to ensure advertisers understand that it’s being seen within this context that is extremely important for brands,” Ferrier said.

NewsMediaWorks chairman and News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said: “Australia’s leading news media publishers are strongly aligned in our support of this important campaign. It creatively asserts the importance and value of trusted journalism and authentic storytelling – which lies at the heart of our great news brands – to advertisers.”

The NewsMediaWorks campaign launches as recent SMI August figures show double-digit growth in metropolitan newspaper spend and growth for newspapers overall.

Print spend grew 2.7% year-on-year, attributed to the 11.1% increase in agency spend in metro titles. Regional papers also experienced growth, according to the latest figures.

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Sources: * Galaxy Research; n=4200 Australians aged 18+ over 2 waves; Jun17 2 legs of n=1400 with each leg covering 5 of the 10 media types ; Apr18 1 leg of n=1400 covering each of the 10 media.