The Philadelphia Inquirer unveiled a multiplatform, multi-month brand marketing campaign today, part of a broader effort from the 194-year-old publisher to reintroduce itself to readers following a brand refresh spearheaded by chief executive and publisher Lisa Hughes.

The campaign, created by Philadelphia media agency Red Tettemer O’Connell, centers around the sense of pride Philadelphians have in their city. The core messaging explores the competing notions of subscribing and unsubscribing—key concepts, in their literal sense, to the publisher, which now has 90,000 digital paying readers.

The campaign plays on the perception that Philadelphia is perpetually misunderstood by outsiders, and that The Inquirer serves as a vehicle for residents to “feed their Philly bias,” according to Hughes.

“We know we ask people to subscribe all the time,” Hughes said. “So we turned that on its head and asked them to unsubscribe—to antiquated notions about Philly, to their preconceptions of the news and to what others think about the city. Then we asked them to subscribe to something authentic.”

The campaign is the first brand marketing effort from the publisher in decades, and it aims to raise awareness of the newly revamped product among its target demographic. 

The Inquirer, like other publishers, has compensated for the challenging economics of digital advertising by investing in its subscription business. By tying that awareness closely to the concept of subscription, the publisher hopes to bring new, potentially paying readers into its ecosystem.

Feeding the Philly bias

Beginning today, The Inquirer will roll out its campaign across 60 billboards, a buy-out of the print and digital properties and on buses throughout the city.

The campaign will last for four months, although the creative will rotate after the initial takeover. It will also include paid digital ads that The Inquirer team will optimize depending on what resonates with audiences.

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