Viral of the week: Khaleej Times ‘banner that talks back’ boosts subscriptions

Mar 6, 2013 | Online advertising, Online video, Social media, Viral and buyrals

As social media and blogging sites pull readers away from traditional newspapers and their websites, one publisher decided to fight back with this clever banner campaign that highlights how opinions shared on social media aren’t always reliable. See why it’s our viral of the week below… Middle Eastern paper The Khaleej Times and agency TBWA/RAAD […]

As social media and blogging sites pull readers away from traditional newspapers and their websites, one publisher decided to fight back with this clever banner campaign that highlights how opinions shared on social media aren’t always reliable. See why it’s our viral of the week below…


Middle Eastern paper The Khaleej Times and agency TBWA/RAAD Dubai created this ‘opinionated banner’ to turn people who use the social media feeds into subscribers.
Using the skills of four journalists, a banner ad responded to users in seconds with an opinion every time they shared its image. The message was that “an educated opinion is based on fact”.
Users simply share an image, and the banner responds back in seconds with an opinion typically found on any social media sphere — but would never read on the pages of Khaleej Times.
The banner with an opinion on everything made one message clear: an educated opinion is based on fact.
The banner had a 33% engagement rate and the newspaper increased its subscriptions by 1.6% as a result.

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