The Guardian debuted its first ad campaign Monday for its U.S. edition.
The campaign, which will run in outdoor locations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, expands on themes marketed last year by the Guardian UK. Like its award-winning Three Little Pigs advert, the ads tout the multiple points of view the Guardian pledges to brings to complex issues -- only, for this campaign, the focus is on issues of particular concern to U.S. audiences, like the costs of individual privacy versus national security, women in the military and gun control. Opposing takes are displayed top versus bottom, and left versus right.
Consumers are being asked to take photos of the sides they support and to upload them to Instagram and or/Twitter with the hashtag #VoiceYourView. BBH New York, the agency behind the campaign, has developed a microsite that aggregates their votes in real-time.
The Guardian announced in January that is brought in 12.5 million U.S. visitors in January, up from 8 million at launch. According to Senior Press Officer Gennady Kolker, the Guardian U.S. has approximately 50 staffers in the U.S., two-thirds of which are in editorial. The news organization is planning to launch an online edition in Australia later this year.
