Readership Institute: Impact Study: Brand Perceptions

The Impact study found that brand is as powerful as content as a driver of readership, yet remarkably few newspapers have a strong brand image. So what is brand and what can newspapers do to improve their brand?

Brand is the image that consumers have of the newspaper, not necessarily what the newspaper staff think its image is, or what the newspaper's advertising and promotion efforts say its brand is.

To drive readership, brand concepts must address readers' interests and lifestyles, and readers must find the image positive and relevant. Everything connected with the newspaper affects its brand image, but the Impact study showed that brand is significantly affected by the newspaper's content, both variety and type.

If a positive, relevant brand image can drive readership and content affects brand, the next step is to understand what can be done through content to create a brand that will change reader behavior. The Readership Institute's follow-up work with four newspapers in 2002 provides a framework for approaching brand and concepts for altering or improving a newspaper's brand perception.

A No-Nonsense Look at Newspaper Brand
What does "branding" mean? Institute experts John Lavine and Bobby Calder offer some straightforward thoughts.

High Potential Brand Areas
Learn which brand perceptions have the highest potential to build readership. Includes gender and age breakdowns.

Branding: From Consumer Insight to Implementation
In 2002 the Readership Institute worked with four newspapers to develop content-based brand ideas that resonate with younger, lighter readers. Read about this research and the four brand concepts that emerged from it.

Brand Prototypes Gallery
A gallery of different newspaper prototypes that we developed based on our research into building a brand that is relevant to younger, lighter readers.

Creating Brand to Grow Readership - PowerPoint
View a PowerPoint presentation of the Readership Institute's content-based brand ideas that resonate with younger, lighter readers.

El poder para incrementar la lecturabilidad - PowerPoint
A Spanish-language presentation on how newspapers can use branding to increase readership.