The Times

Strategic Direction / Creative Direction / Art Direction / UX / Pitch

I was part of the team that won the Times+ pitch shortly after joining Clock in 2008, since then News UK has been Clock’s largest account every year.

Since 2008 I have worked on numerous strategic and tactical projects for News UK, the largest being the ongoing loyalty programmes.

Times+ is the loyalty programme for subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. It has gone through several iterations, originally it was launched as Culture+, an extension of the The Sunday Times Culture supplement with a view to testing the rewards format prior to building a paywall. The more recent incarnations are more focused on exclusive membership and access to The Times and The Sunday Times rather than rewards, bringing their readers closer to the brands.

For those active Times+ users, the churn rate is as low as 8%, compared with 43% for subscribers not engaged with Times+. Times+ users are twice as likely to recommend The Times and The Sunday Times, while the click-through rate on the Times+ newsletter is double the News UK average.

Following the success of Times+, when The Sun became the first UK tabloid to put content behind a paywall, we created Sun Perks, the reward programme for The Sun subscribers.

I was responsible for all the strategic direction, creative direction, art direction and UX as well as initial and ongoing pitch work. I was also responsible for the News UK account from a board level by the time I left Clock.