Red Wire-the Economist

Red wires marks the beginning of The Economist talking to people who might not yet consider themselves to be Economist readers through its marketing and advertising. It was sparked by research undertaken by the magazine last year which discovered that, because of the rise in the number of people going on to university, there are now over 3 million people in the UK whose interest in world affairs, travel, news and politics suggests an unconscious affinity with what The Economist reports on every week. The Economist describes these people as the “intellectually curious”.
This ad uses the image of a wire-jumper (Florent Blondeau) walking through a city on a series of red wires and the strapline “Let your mind wander” as a metaphor for the inherent pleasure in connecting different ideas, and how this is reflected in the wide-range news and analysis available in a copy of The Economist.

Advertising Agency: Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO, UK
Director: Tom Carty
Aired: July 2009

The Economist has just launched a new cinema ad campaign which it hopes will help attract a new generation of readers. The campaign is very different to the ‘white out of red’ posters it’s used for over 20 years and is intended to grab the attention of the “intellectually curious”, the estimated 3m+ people in the UK who, thanks to the expansion in university education, care about the range of big global issues that The Economist covers every week.
The ad shows a wire-jumper (Florent Blondeau) walking through a city on a series of red wires and uses the strapline “Let your mind wander” as a metaphor for the pleasure we get from connecting different ideas, suggesting that you can get a similar experience from reading a copy of the magazine.

The Economist is launching a radical new brand strategy with its first cinema ad in eight years – a 70 second commercial featuring a high-wire walker.
In a move aimed at boosting the Economist's circulation, the campaign is targeted at people who do not