College Herald

Background

In 2002, The New Zealand Herald focused on the education sector to develop a programme that would give young people a voice, encourage critical thinking and expression of views, and stimulate the use of newspapers among young New Zealanders.

Objectives

• Encourage literacy, writing and new technology skills in pupils aged 13-17
• Fit in with school curricula, while appealing to all students.
• Achieve 80% participation rate
• Increase average daily newspaper sales by 15,000

Target Audience

• Approximately 150,000 secondary school students (and their parents and teachers) in the North Island.
• NZ Herald readership.

Channels

• DM
• PR
• Radio
• In-paper advertising
• Web
• Emai
• SMS

Approach

• Research with teachers helped hone the concept
• Principals and heads of departments were sent a personalised dm pack
• Students from the North Island were invited to submit work over 10 weeks

Each week the editorial team chose the 20 winning pieces of work, which were published in a four-page, fullcolour section called The College Herald.

The Herald editions containing The College Herald were distributed free to all secondary schools.

A College Herald website was created, giving Herald readers the
chance to register and vote every week for their favourite work and
win instant prizes.

Specially wrapped free copies of the Herald were delivered to launch the programme to students.

How Touchpoint Technology Helped

The use of email, web and the SMS voting engine in addition to the website added a new dimension, demonstrating that e-channels can happily sit alongside a more traditional medium. Also, the choice of channels closely reflected those readily adopted by the younger audience.

We were able to largely automate the process of stimulation, by using email to maintain interest during the campaign.

Results

Attracted a huge volume of work with over 3000 submissions and was enthusiastically received by teachers, students and readers.
Many students interviewed people and wrote fresh material voicing their concerns on subjects as diverse as genetic engineering, biculturalism, peer pressure, fashion, music and education. They wrote about their fears, hopes and dreams. Photography and artwork submitted was often of an impressively high quality.

Feedback from teachers and students clearly showed The College Herald made a difference.

Of the 234 schools contacted, 97% agreed to receive the Herald. Over the 10-week period there was a considerable increase of 15,000 newspapers per day on the average daily net paid circulation.

More than 5400 people registered on the website to cast their votes for their favourite work.

The multi-channel communications strategy was integral to the success of the entire campaign.

The College Herald recently won the Norske Skog “Community Promotions” award at the NPA newspaper marketing awards.