“In the Post-Advertising age, the brands that tell the best stories win”. Story Worldwide, one of the most innovative of advertising agencies publishes a regular blog about the post-advertising age.

“What’s this all about? – We at Story Worldwide believe the Interruption Age—the time for traditional ads—is over. The Post-Advertising Age is what’s now and next: Great content driving deep consumer engagement; less and less money wasted on expensive traditional media (like TV) as free media take over. It’s inevitable, it’s a good thing, and it’s already upon us…as this blog aims to prove.

Article Extract

“Over the past six months, Drivers Republic, the online car magazine and social community site, has stolen a march on competitor print magazines with dwindling readerships – excluding the fanzine for the Three Stooges’ pantomine that is Top Gear, of course.

As the leading UK print titles saw their sales drop by between four and 14 per cent, Drivers Republic’s audience grew 200 per cent during the same period. Viewing time remains far higher than the industry standard with readers spending on average over seven minutes reading Drivers Republic’s large, page-turning magazine features. It’s about as close as anyone’s got to replicating strong print principles of airy layout and high legibility without page-turning tedium.

And the stats confirm this. From June to December 2008, Drivers Republic grew from 40,000 unique users and 450,000 page impressions to 100,000 unique users viewing 2,000,000 individual pages. All areas of the car demographic are represented with owners blogging about their own machinery (from £500 hatchbacks to £200,000 Ferraris), engaging with each other and, unlike any other site in the UK, gaining regular access to the DR editorial team.

And what do I like in particular? The community section is really inviting: you can see people getting involved via the updates tab and eavesdrop on people’s comments – and that, in turn, makes you want to join the groups. The scale of the features section is surprisingly pleasurable and the car prints purchase tab is a nice touch too. Everything screams action.”