THE GUARDIAN CONTINUES BOLD ADVERTISING APPROACH

The Guardian’s new tongue-in-cheek campaign wants Britain to know that they’re taking over the weekend...

Guardian News & Media (GNM) is for the first time launching a January advertising campaign to champion its weekend newspapers.

"The weekend wouldn't be the weekend without the Saturday Guardian and the Observer." says the new campaign.

"Our papers give you so much to read, and so much to do that we've trademarked the best part of the week. Seriously. We now own the weekend. The whole weekend. All 48 hours of it. Don't believe us? Watch the video."

The tongue-in-cheek campaign, entitled 'Own the Weekend', will form a major part of GNM's 2013 marketing strategy, and marks a new direction for the Guardian's January marketing approach which has, in previous years, focused primarily on promotional giveaways.

The campaign has been created by BBH London, film, and consist of a series of outdoor, press and digital ads, as well as a three-minute film fronted by Hugh Grant (who was not paid for his involvement in the campaign).

The film - directed by Tim Godsall and produced by Biscuit Films - is a pastiche of a Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster trailer and communicates the campaign message of “owning the weekend” through a series of spoof scenes.

"Never before has a company owned a day, let alone two days together at the end of the week," says the faux trailer – complete with Hollywood-style narrator. "How do you 'own a weekend'? You don't. We do."

The three-minute film will run in its entirety on digital channels (guardian.co.uk and YouTube), and will be shown as 60 and 30 second cut-downs in cinemas throughout January and on Video on Demand.

“Own the Weekend” will take a sideways look at weekends, with the satirical premise behind the new campaign being the Saturday Guardian and The Observer produce such “exciting, varied and rich editorial content” that the newspapers effectively own the weekend.  To the point where the British will soon be forced to refer to their days off as The Guardian and Observer Weekend.™

This concept will be communicated via a variety of media which will all include the strapline 'We Own the Weekend', and will feature established Guardian weekend editorial supplements, including: 'Review', 'Weekend', 'Observer Food Monthly' 'New Review', 'Observer Magazine' and 'Guide', as well as highlighting the launch of a new weekly section, 'Cook'.

The campaign will be supported by promotional activity including nationwide sampling of Saturday Guardian and The Observer content in the UK, including highlights from Cook and social media activity promoting Own the Weekend on Twitter (#owntheweekend) and Facebook.

The campaign contunies GNM’s bold approach to marketing following 2012's 'The Whole Picture' campaign, also created by BBH and featuring the award-winning “Three Little Pigs” film.

David Pemsel, Chief Commercial Officer, Guardian News & Media, said: "We wanted to continue last year's marketing successes by experimenting with a new, bold approach to January marketing in 2013.

David Kolbusz, Deputy Executive Creative Director, BBH London, said: "The Guardian is not a particularly shouty brand and yet we had to find a way to send a message - loud and clear - about the superiority of their weekend offering.

“Satire proved to be the best avenue for undertaking this Herculean effort. Hopefully we've managed to create a piece of communication that is as informative as it is entertaining."

The 60 second-long video will premiere in cinemas on Friday 18 January and will be shown throughout January.