Abstract:

On the 22nd February 1992 The Journal, the morning paper of the North East of England relaunched after a period of steady sales decline. In fact in the previous twenty years, sales had fallen by 45%. This sadly has been the picture for many regional daily newspapers. Following the relaunch the title became the success story of the year. Phil Holland, Newspaper sales manager at Newcastle, was to pick up the Newspaper Society Award for circulation growth achievement. The Journal clearly demonstrates the role that effective research and market analysis plays in turning a problem child into a rising star. As well as being a case study in research and planning, the story has clear lessons for the UK Regional Press in general. Today, Una and I are going to concentrate on the research which determined our relaunch strategy together with some examples of how we, in the newspaper industry - regional and national - need to think more carefully about the information we generate and how we use this to develop our business more effectively.