Metro Revamps With New Look N' Feel To Mobile & Website

BY: 

Dave Forde
April 11, 2012

Metro continues to invest and invest heavily in the Internet, this week the national national daily newspaper announced a newly designed website, new iPhone, iPad and Android apps and a $5-million national ad campaign.

The apps and site both went live on April 2, the same day as Metro’s expansion from nine to fifteen cities across Canada.

Metro worked with Jet Cooper on the new website design and Xtreme Labs on the new apps. Jodi Brown, Vice President, Interactive and Marketing for Metro English Canada, says that as growing numbers of readers seek up-to-the-minute local coverage from Metro on mobile and web it only makes sense to accelerate investment in these areas. As part of the newly designed apps, Metro has a few features such as:

  • Highly visual high-impact “mosaic” cover screen.
  • Big box ad unit incorporated into the mosaic in an attractive and eye-catching way.
  • Articles and images seamlessly download in the background for quick loading and offline reading.
  • On Android, the ability to schedule your app to automatically download new content at a specific time each day for easy offline reading.
  • Flip functionality to open the cover screen for a preview of all app sections.
  • 3D horoscopes interface.
  • Easy sharing of all content.

“In addition to launching new native apps, the new website uses responsive design to automatically adapt to different display types so that no matter what device our readers are using, they can view our site properly,” Brown said. “Metro is the number one news brand for YAMs and we are committed to delivering the best experience possible on all the platforms that our connected readers are using.”

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To help support this initiative, Metro also launched a $5-million national advertising campaign to convey the strength of their digital products.

Rethink was the creative agency behind the campaign, while media planning and buying was handled internally by Metro’s marketing team and includes Cineplex pre-show, radio, online and mobile in all Metro English markets.

An innovative HTML5 banner running nationally on the Weather Network’s iPhone and iPad apps mimics the “swipe to unlock” homescreen functionality of iPhone and iPad and takes users directly to the Metro app on the App Store to “unlock commuter boredom.”

A guerilla stunt using Metro mini-boxes was also deployed nationally to generate awareness in a unique way… Several die-cast replica mini-boxes have been placed next to full-size Metro boxes, with a boxcard that reads “also available in pocket-sized” and a QR code on the mini-box that takes the user directly to the App Store to download the Metro app.

The campaign includes a station domination in Toronto at the intersection of Yonge and Bloor and interior transit, transit shelter advertising and billboards in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Regina and Saskatoon.

Advertising Campaign: Rethink

Apps: Xtreme Labs

Website: Jet Cooper

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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