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Product Marketing
Driving awareness through enagement
Highlights
We introduced the concept of a 'Floating Island' — a thoughtful design solution to elevate the reading experience in a way that feels seamless and impactful.
Designed to drive awareness, respect the user experience, and scale seamlessly. This solution surfaces relevant content naturally, enhancing engagement without disruption.
The Problem
Readers loved our journalism, but many didn't realise the full scope of The Telegraph's offerings. Traditional marketing efforts weren't cutting through.
Readers weren’t engaging with product features because they weren’t visible or seamlessly integrated. Traditional marketing methods like banners and ads weren’t connecting. They felt out of place in the reading journey, and worse, they disrupted it.
We saw an opportunity
What if we could weave awareness into the reader’s experience in a way that felt natural and useful, rather than forced?
The Challenge
Marketing Without Disruption
Here was the challenge: how do we introduce product marketing in a way that informs and excites readers, without interrupting their flow? It wasn’t just about visibility—it was about timing, relevance, and trust. Readers shouldn’t feel like they were being “sold to.” Instead, product awareness needed to feel like a natural extension of their journey, delivering value at just the right moment.
The Solution
Designing the floating island
We explored the concept of a Floating Island — a sleek, contextual feature crafted to deliver useful content and highlight Telegraph products at just the right moment.
Drives awareness
Introduces relevant features or tools without sending users elsewhere.
Seamless experience
The Floating Island enhances the reading flow rather than disrupting it.
Scalable framework
Its flexible design adapts to different contexts and onward journeys.
The floating island brings together all onward journey units, seamlessly wrapping them within its design. This approach encourages greater interactivity while boosting engagement and awareness of related content.
How it works
Crafting the experience
The Floating Island was designed to work contextually. For example, a reader exploring a food article might see a prompt for The Telegraph’s recipe collections, while someone on a Life index page might learn about features like personalised wellness plans.
Each interaction was carefully crafted to feel purposeful and relevant—never random. Behind the scenes, we collaborated with teams across design, editorial, and marketing, iterating on feedback to ensure we got it right. The floating island replaces ‘onward journey’ elements such as recommended guides, nesting them within the unit.
The Impact
What we achieved
Watching how users interacted with the floating island was very insightful. The biggest takeaway? It didn’t disrupt their experience at all. In fact, most users saw it for what it was—a helpful addition that brought relevant content exactly when and where they needed it.
One reader said, “The floating island gives me a wider experience on the topic of the article and it makes my experience more engaging and practical”. This validation showed us we were on the right path: marketing that feels more like a service than a sell.
“I think the floating action bar helps streamline the reading experience and make it easier to quickly learn about the article I’m engaging with.”
“That’s rather clever. Actually they stand out quite well and it’s quite nice. They sort of come and go, and appear
when relevant.”
“The floating action bar is quite innovative and makes the article more engaging. It enhances my overall experience in
reading articles.”
Reflections
What's next?
This project taught us the power of thoughtful integration. By meeting readers where they are, we showed that marketing doesn’t have to be disruptive to be effective.
Looking ahead, we see huge potential to evolve the Floating Island. From experimenting with more interactive elements to expanding its use across other channels, this framework is built for growth.
