A pair of supplements commemorating Coventry City FC’s historic
final match at Highfield Road boosted the Coventry Evening Telegraph’s
sales and increased its web traffic.
A 40-page supplement –
published in advance of the match and featuring the 106-year history of
the ground, along with memories from the club’s former managers,
ex-players and sports writers – raised print sales by 3,000 on the day.
This was followed by a 12-page supplement commemorating the final match with photographs of fans.
This
second supplement also referred readers to the website, icCoventry,
where more photographs were available – boosting web traffic from
30,000 to 55,000 hits.
Both supplements and their respective
weblinks led to extra orders for copies of the newspaper from readers
around the world, including fans living in Australia, Canada and the
United States.
The editor of the Evening Telegraph, Alan Kirby,
said: “The nostalgia supplement was a natural for the paper, as was the
last game supplement with thousands of faces. Readers loved them both.
“The
link with icCoventry gave us a phenomenal extra boost – and this is
another example of how newspapers can work hand-in-hand with their
websites to maximise opportunities through cross-promotion.”
The paper is planning similar promotions for public events in the future, such as carnivals, major sports events and festivals.
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