Hearst UK’s Finance Editor, Kalpana Fitzpatrick talks about the launch of their new consumer-facing Financially Fabulous campaign, aiming to empower women to take control of their finances. She discusses the aims of the campaign, the benefits of running it across multiple brands and the overwhelming demand from their audiences for straightforward financial advice.
In the news roundup – everything. The team does the second ever newsblitz, looking at everything from the Guardian’s paid membership numbers to the Comcast/Disney/Fox saga to Chance the Rapper buying up the Chicagoist.
We’re reading:
- Fact-checkers have debunked this fake news site 80 times. It’s still publishing on Facebook, via Poynter
- HuffPost experiments with ‘listening circles’ in Birmingham to go beyond the London bubble, via journalism.co.uk
- A new model for investigative journalism, via Omidyar Network
In our own words: Esther Kezia Thorpe
It won’t be a surprise to many people that 39% of women say they have no idea where to turn for financial advice, and 70% are worried they will make a poor investment decision.
One of the places that has the chance to turn this around, and really deepen understanding and confidence in personal finance is magazine media. Many brands may be shrinking, but no one can argue with the sheer scale and influence many traditional women’s magazines still hold.
What I love about this campaign is its smart distribution strategy; running across Good Housekeeping, Red, Country Living and more, as well as having its own dedicated email newsletter and social presence.
Kalpana Fitzpatrick, Hearst UK’s Finance Editor, identified that despite the differences in audiences across these brands, the response to financial content has been the same – this is something we as women don’t see very much in the media we consume, and we’d really like some more of it.
So what’s the lesson? As always, listen to your audience, and if consistent themes emerge, seize the opportunity. Money isn’t an easy topic, nor ironically a straightforward one to monetise, but as an exercise in providing advice and resources in an area seriously lacking for women, this is a great example.
Listen out to her plans for live events (including financial speed dating!) and further development of its own brand identity.
Sign up for our newsletter! Get the latest episode, plus all the week’s news, links, and what we’re reading in your inbox every week.
