Sun And Tesco In Joint Loyalty Initiative

In the latest episode in the newspaper circulation war the Sun and the News Of The World have joined forces with Tesco supermarket in a joint loyalty campaign aimed at women.

Customers who buy the newspapers using Tesco’s Clubcard will gain extra points. At present a point is gained with every pound spent but in the new deal readers who buy five copies of the Sun in the course of one week will receive a total of 25 Clubcard points. Buying a copy of News of the World in the same week will net them a further 25 points.

The deal is expected to increase regular readership, especially among a female readership. Circulation figures have been dropping for the two papers over the last ten years with circulation for the Sun falling by almost 10%. Described as the biggest ever national newspaper marketing initiative, it is a change from the usual strategies of tabloid marketing which have generally involved price wars (see Sun Drops Cover Price To 10p In Carlton Region), or television sponsorship (see The Sun Shines On ITV’s Millionaires). The deal will be backed by a national campaign worth millions, beginning this week, and will cover TV, radio, women’s press and outdoor advertising.

Roland Agambar, media manager of Newsgroup Newspapers said: “This campaign is a radical departure from our traditional communication strategy, using a broader selection of media while specifically addressing our female readers, where greater loyalty and purchase frequency can be achieved.”

According to the latest National Readership Survey report the number of female main shoppers who read the Sun is around 36% of its total readership while for the News of the World the readership figure is almost 41%. The purpose of this campaign then is to increase the currently high-profile sector of female consumers.

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