'Ambassador' Class Promotes Trib Tab

By: Mark Fitzgerald Ellie Bahrmasel is exactly the kind of reader RedEye was created to attract. Ask the 24-year-old self-described "fun-loving go-getter" what she likes about the Chicago Tribune's quick-read free daily, and her answer sounds as though it's straight out of Readership Institute research on how to get young adults to read newspapers.

"It gives you a good overview of news ? nationally, inter-nationally, locally ? so you know what's going on and you can talk about it," she says. "Plus, it isn't too verbose. I don't know about you, but I'm not really awake until 10 a.m. This is like my jolt of caffeine."

Now Bahrmasel is part of a small cadre of similarly passionate RedEye readers promoting the paper and its events through their extensive social circles. The first five "RedEye Brand Ambassadors" are news- paper equivalents of the cool inner-city kids who get new models of shoes free from Nike or Reebok to start marketing buzz.

The viral campaign is the brainchild of Kevin Leland, the brand marketing specialist for RedEye and the "Blue Paper," as they call the Trib inside Tribune Tower. Originally, the Ambassadors were used to promote the free, home-delivered, weekend edition of RedEye. But there was some resistance from people who believed the sign-up offer was just too good to be true, and that at some point a bill would follow.

Through word of mouth and the digital arsenal of young people today ? Facebook, MySpace, Yelp, et al ? the Ambassadors chilled that suspicion. Bahrmasel's pitch was simplicity itself: "Think of the convenience factor ? a free publication landing on your doorstep. Why would you not sign up?"

RedEye is getting much more from the Ambassadors than subscriber lists, though, says Leland: "They serve as the eyes and ears of our paper. They clue us in on new trends they hear about, under-the-radar things that we may not have heard about."

The first five were chosen from among 125 applicants who were tested for the size of their social networks, and who answered such essay questions as "If you could create your own RedEye feature, what would it be about?"

RedEye has taken steps in recent weeks to make the Ambassadors more visible with house ads, and profiles on the paper's Web site. "We're trying a more calculated strategic push with them now," says Leland. Each now has a unique URL so he or she can send e-mail blasts to their social networks ? and RedEye can track how many people each blast is steering to events or getting people to sign up for subscriptions. The Ambassadors are paid through PayPal, although incentives also include VIP access to events, and concert or sports tickets.

But just being an Ambassador seems to be compensation enough for them. Says Leland, "This isn't a chore for them, they were talking about RedEye anyway. A lot of them, I wonder whether they need incentives at all. Soon we'll be giving them RedEye Brand Ambassador cards. There's no monetary prize equivalent to that."

That's true enough for Bahrmasel. "The big reward is being able to have some kind of influence in the process," she says. "I always want to do that, like give feedback directly to a store. And I'm able to do that with RedEye."