Walk,
Ramblers
Digital advertising reimagined
We're not gonna lie, when you already have a brilliant product, it makes a 'migration' a joyous challenge. And we didn’t just migrate Walk magazine to digital – we reimagined it as a vibrant, commercially powerful platform. Within months, we’d delivered over £50,000 in advertising revenue – from a totally new, digital-only proposition.
Result
Our inventive use of Shorthand unlocked exceptional performance across formats, including:
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A standalone Gift Guide – one of the strongest-performing ad environments for multiple partners
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A January Travel Special – giving advertisers access to a key booking window for the first time ever
Travel campaign emails achieved a 55% open rate (vs 33% industry avg) and a 9.3% CTR – stunning, by any sector standard.
And the cherry on top? Our interactive advertorial formats were so successful, other River clients are now asking to replicate the model.
Challenge
Ramblers needed to move Walk magazine into a digital-first world – but with all the commercial credibility and audience appeal of print.
That meant:
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Proving digital could perform for advertisers.
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Creating innovative, tiered ad opportunities to suit a range of brand budgets.
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Designing a format that enhanced
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not interrupted – the reader experience.
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Result
We went all-in with digital – and brought advertisers with us – something we're known for at River. Using Shorthand, we built a flexible publishing system that elevated the ad experience:
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Enhanced Gift Guides took the place of traditional composites, bringing products to life with richer storytelling and better engagement
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Full-page advertorials became immersive scrollable stories.
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Bespoke banners and revived classified formats gave commercial partners multiple ways to show up.
Every element was crafted to blend seamlessly with the editorial voice and visual identity. No clunky print replicas – just beautiful, dynamic formats that felt native to digital. This is what agile looks like at River.
While others said: Digital can’t deliver what print does – we said: Watch us.
And we did.
