Newspaper leadership noticed a local trend whereby tech firms were creating Google-like workspaces to attract Millennials. They also noticed the paper had zero advertising penetration with many companies at the forefront of this trend, namely interior designers, architects and building systems vendors.
Best Offices Ottawa was conceived to leverage the hot office design trends and to gain a foothold in these previously-untapped sources of advertising. Three sponsors were solicited to underwrite the custom publication which profiled six of the best office spaces in Ottawa and highlighted the three sponsors’ input on these projects.
In addition to the special publication, videos were produced of the six spaces, debuted at a special cocktail magazine launch party for sponsor clients and prospects. During the party, a panel discussion that included all three sponsors was broadcast over Facebook Live. Post-launch, the paper used its website to drive traffic to a special landing page, www.bestofficesottawa.ca, thereby creating leads for the three sponsors.
BY THE NUMBERS
REVENUE: $45,000 (Three sponsorships)
EXPENSES: $15,000 (Editorial, design and printing of 5,000 copies, cocktail event expense, landing page, videos/photography of spaces)
NET: $30,000
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NOTE: Advertising was not sold in the custom publication, but the interest generated by the book made it clear this could have boosted revenue even higher.
