• by Ray Schultz , October 28, 2021

The Washington Post has launched its first national branding campaign, featuring a TV premiere tonight on "Jeopardy."

The “Impact” campaign will feature 30-second spots that function like movie trailers. They will highlight important stories, ranging from news that impacts policy to stories that improve everyday life, WaPo says.  

The first spot focuses on the investigative reporting behind the Afghanistan Papers, the six-part series on the Afghanistan war. 

“We wanted to grab people emotionally and create something bold in both style and tone that will become recognizable, and uniquely The Washington Post, throughout the campaign,” states Kristine Coratti Kelly, Chief Communications Officer at the newspaper.

“To that end, we’ll be opening these spots by reframing our iconic logo in the form of a keyhole. It’s the perfect metaphor to showcase our evolution as a news organization, our unique heritage, and the kaleidoscopic diversity and impact of our journalism,” Kelly adds.

For this campaign, the WaPo worked with Andrew Essex, founder-CEO of GoingConcern, design firm Buddha Jones, led by Alyson Jones and Julie Bloomfield, and media agency Noble People.

The landing page was designed by a Pentagram team, led by Eddie Opara.

“We wanted to use ‘impact’ as a jumping off point for this campaign and first showcase The Post people know, then surprise them with powerful reporting they may not have expected,” Kelly said.