Time Out: THE SELECTION

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: TIMEOUT PARIS
Agency: BABEL
Category: Publications & Media
Advertising campaign: THE SELECTION
Account Supervisor: Anne Levesque (Babel)
Copywriter: Jean Desportes (Babel)
Account Manager: Laure Truchot (Babel)
Copywriter: Romain Grange (Babel)
Account Manager: Rosie Clifton Van Vliet (Babel)
Illustrator: Mark Borgions
Art Director: Fred Munoz (Babel)
Producer: Jeanne Halfon (Babel)
Art Director: Kamel Makhloufi (Babel)
Executive Creative Director: Paul Wauters (Babel)

Execution
One of the classics in the Parisian metro, is the 4x3 billboard with all the theatre posters on it. Every theatre rents a portion of this billboard and puts up the poster of their current play. The result: an impressive patchwork of 40 different posters, crammed into one billboard. The idea was to buy the 4x3 billboard directly adjacent to this 'Hebdo Théâtre' billboard for Time Out and reproduce the theatre billboard, only leaving the plays selected by Time Out, in the exact same position as in the adjacent 'Hebdo Théâtre' one. The shows not recommended became blank space. The result: a crystal clear overview of the best plays of the week. Purchasing that adjacent space, finding out the position and the content of all the theatre posters during the week of the campaign, and collaborating with the Time Out theatre editor made the idea come to life.

Strategy
Time Out needed a push to make Parisians more aware of their offer: the easy and reliable online source for the best Paris nightlife has to offer. In other words, everything worth the Parisians' valuable time. As Time Out was best known for their selection of bars and restaurants, the subject of theatre needed some extra attention.The target audience are Parisians: critical, cultivated, active night life and always short for time.The campaign is very much rooted in Paris life: everyone takes the metro, everyone's in a hurry. As the metro is a routine universe, we knew that slightly interfering with this routine could make a big impact.With this simple idea, Time Out proved to really understand Parisian life and showcased its selection skills. Parisians got what they like: win time, find a good play. And theatres (Time Out's B2B partners) got some extra attention from it.

Effectiveness
This operation is part of a larger awareness campaign for Time Out Paris. After it has been launched, the traffic website recorded an increase of 22% (+44000 visitors).On top of that, thanks to the attention we generated, Time Out Paris got a weekly spot on a popular French channel: Bfm Business radio/tv.