News Corp Australia’s The Australian is set to unleash a campaign which will run over a few months to celebrate its half century with the support of the Commonwealth Bank as gold sponsor.
The Australian first launched on Wednesday, July 15 1964 and is now read by millions of Australians across print, mobile, web and the iPad App.
The campaign will celebrate the paper’s “contribution to Australian journalism and our economic and social welfare” whilst also looking to the future.
Over the coming months there will be an editorial series looking at the events that have helped shape The Australian, a digital recreation of the first edition of the paper, a new digital hub dedicated to its 50th birthday and a glossy collectors’ edition magazine to celebrate.
Rupert Murdoch checks pages of The Australian on July 15 1964
The Australian editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell said: “Over five decades, The Australian has strongly supported economic liberalism, championed entrepreneurs and held governments to account.”
“I know that not everyone has agreed with positions we took on important matters like floating the dollar, supporting competition or opposing maladministration and waste of public money. But I think 23 years of uninterrupted growth – driven by key policies we advocated and implemented by brave politicians from both sides of politics – says we are right on the big issues.”
The Australian CEO Nicholas Gray added: “2014 marks the 50th birthday of the nation’s greatest newspaper. Fifty years ago The Australian launched because the country needed a newspaper that advanced the nation’s welfare. This year we are saluting it’s proud past as we continue to evolve for more successes in the future.”
"What makes this newspaper great is that it is old enough to have the insight and experience to see the real story, but young enough to have the enthusiasm to constantly challenge and transform. We lead in media innovation, we set the national agenda and we speak to the nation’s highly influential opinion leaders. Our birthday campaign will bring to life the past 50 years through today’s multi-platform storytelling tools.”
The above initiatives will be underpinned by a consumer marketing campaign.
