"Spot our ad" campaign used by Urbanology magazine to build readership

Urbanology magazine has a creative new readership building campaign that gets readers to spot and snap pictures of their subway ads and e-mail them in.

According to a story in Marketing magazine, the campaign is in part financed by a $23,000 grant from the magazine fund of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Anyone who snaps a picture of a “Content that Matters” ad running in Toronto’s subway system will receive a free one-year subscription to the magazine. The subway ads use images of hip-hop artists Ice Cube and Drake (shown above).

Priya Ramanujam, co-publisher and editor-in-chief of Urbanology Magazine, said the publication wanted to use strong images of attention-grabbing personalities, and incorporate at least one Canadian (Drake) into the mix....

The promotion is a fun way to engage the magazine’s readership, which tends to be on the younger side, said Ramanujam.

“We realized that we needed lots of creative ways to continually resonate in young people’s minds,” she said.

The campaign is being promoted through social networking sites and the magazine's 10,000 member e-newsletter database.

In addition to the "spot the ad" initiative, the magazine is sending street teams with cameras to ask passersby at events like Caribana to say what matters to them. Participants receive a free T-shirt.