Observer Re-Launching 21st February
It may seem that many publishers are focusing purely on digital issues – the pros and cons of paywalls for example, or the revenue- generating potential of new versions for smartphones or ereaders – but the week has seen the announcement of significant investment in good old-fashioned print editions from the Daily Mail and The Observer.
The Daily Mail launched an £10m advertising campaign on 31st January. Moving away from a promotional policy based on CD and DVD giveaways, the campaign focused on the editorial content – specifically on the weekday supplements – as each day’s creative focused on the supplement in the following day’s edition. The Daily Mail’s Saturday Weekend Supplement has been revamped also, incorporating extra fashion, food and celebrity news to echo the content and look of a paid-for women’s weekly title.
In addition, Guardian News & Media has announced it is re-launching The Observer on 21st February. The loss-making paper appeared close to closure last year, or at the very least a radical change in format. Instead, a re-design has been undertaken that sees the new look paper split into 4 sections – news, sport, review and the magazine – with a focus on bringing the existing celebrity columnists, such as David Mitchell and Mariella Frostrup, more to the fore. The re-launch will be backed by a marketing drive, created by Wieden & Kennedy and including a TV campaign, aimed at boosting the newspaper’s circulation.
The moves demonstrate how important print still is to publishers. The move to paywalls is seen by many as motivated by a desire to arrest any further decline in print circulations rather than a credible revenue driver, at least in the short term. In addition, publishers aren’t yet pinning their hopes on the new generation of ereaders as it’s too early to predict their takeup and any investment in optimising publications for these devices would be significant.
In fact, many industry insiders are predicting a resurgence in print in 2010 and beyond as the recession eases and readers and advertisers alike loosen the purse strings. And perhaps marketing directors are beginning to shake off some of the ROI-only shackles that their boards have been inflicting on them during the recession and the coinciding increase in digital opportunities that allowed such ROI measurement. All that remains to be seen but it is certainly true that for the time being an investment in the improvement of their print offerings is likely to deliver publishers the highest return on their investment.
