In an interview with today’s , Vanneck reveals that central to her thinking is to view readers of The Times, Sunday Times, The Sun and News of the World as customers – that is, those readers who have a transactional relationship with the four brands. The article claims she has personally studied the databases to find the brands’ most valuable customers.
The News International database, Vanneck reveals, equates to the population of Greece, that is just under 11m names.
Vanneck is sceptical of the value of mass audiences that newspaper websites attract. Instead, the niche markets of travel, wine, culture and fitness are the focus of NI’s database marketing efforts.
In trawling for valuable customers, Vanneck’s team came across one man who had entered a Sunday Times travel competition 90 times. A targeted marketing message suggested he bought one of the paper's escorted holiday tours. "He immediately bought one," she says.
The 30-year old Sunday Times Wine Club has a database of 300,000 customers who have purchased £80m worth of wine in the past year, making it "one of the largest direct wine businesses in Europe". The Times Health Club has 100,000 members who share tips on how to lose weight.
When Vanneck studied her database of "most valuable customers", she came across one man who had entered a Sunday Times travel competition 90 times. She wrote to suggest he bought one of the paper's escorted holiday tours. "He immediately bought one," she says.
The Times and The Sunday Times have 140,000 subscribers, or ‘contact customers’ as Vanneck calls them.
"In newspapers we've all been guilty of not giving enough justice to circulation as a direct customer revenue stream – we've very much thought of ourselves as driven by our advertising businesses," Vanneck tells the Independent.
NI’s total audience across all platforms is 71% of the UK population. "Don't tell me that this industry is on its knees," she says.
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