West Australian launches ‘The Weekend West’
The West Australian’s Saturday masthead will become The Weekend West from Saturday, 30 October 2010, and will be on sale all weekend.
This change brings a new freshness and vitality to the paper positioning it as an all-weekend read of news, opinion, information and entertainment. Consumer research over the past 18 months evidenced readers consuming the newspaper in a different way and with a different mindset on the weekend versus the weekday.
Editor, Brett McCarthy said, “We have embarked on these changes to the newspaper in response to what our readers have been telling us. The design changes in particular have all been made to make the newspaper easier to read and navigate.
“The change to the masthead acknowledges what many of our readers have already pointed out – there is a whole weekend’s reading in the newspaper. What readers will find is not only has the look of the newspaper changed but the content has been significantly improved”, he said.
Layout will benefit advertisers with more solus advertising positions. Regular liftouts remain unchanged and Part 2 will become a more lifestyle focused section of the paper.
Sales Director, David Bignold said, “The launch of The Weekend West marks a new era in weekend reading and some exciting opportunities for our advertisers. “Increased availability with Saturday and Sunday sales means greater longevity for advertising, while design features enhance the advertising environment to maximize impact and ownership of the page.”
West Australian Newspapers CEO, Chris Wharton, said, “The Weekend West is part of the evolution of one of Australia’s great newspapers. It is a reflection of our readers’ desires. These changes haven’t been made just for the sake of change but to better serve our readers’ and advertisers’ interests.
“One subtle change we think will be appreciated is that the print size in editorial will be slightly bigger and will improve the legibility for readers. While editorially driven, I am pleased with the way departments across the newspaper worked in close harmony to achieve such a great result,” he said.
The West and its agency, Marketforce, have created a significantmarketing campaign for The Weekend West involving television, radio,press advertising, online and point of sale, which will commence thisSunday.
12 Comments
Congrats to all at the West Australian. It’s a terrific product and another example of the great things happening out in Osbourne Park.
ha ha. Maybe they should concentrate on a little news instead of tabloid sensationalism…
oh I forgot, it’s a monopoly and they do love their power trips at the west.
A newspapers death throws!
Digital is the way of the future, no fancy name change will stop the trend away from papers from occurring.
2.11 Yes but its just not the same, ordering a coffee and sitting down at a cafe with your lap-top or phone. There’s a time and place for everything. Lets not all become a ‘slaves’ to screens. Watching young people glued to there mobiles like a herd of zombies is not what I call progress from a social point of view.
im not I am not a big fan of the West. – pretty low brow never read that particular paper.
Should say at this point that I am under 25 and love life.
Ah, we’ve got the knockers coming out already. Well before you numpty’s start having a go at The West, just remember who it is that sponsors the yearly Caxton Comp along with the West Fellowship.
I can’t stand two- faced ungrateful bastards.
‘Digital’ is already here 2.11, yet nothing compares to opening up a newspaper or magazine at your local breakky cafe on a Sunday morning. Media coexists.
2.11 Unfortunately this is not ENTIRELY true. While people do source content online, lifestyle (and personality) characteristics will always dictate peoples actions. Yes, in a fast moving ever changing environment our lifestyle means picking up the news on the fly , so to speak, however in timeout zones such as weekends I believe a vast majority of people still want to relax with a coffee, breaky, and/or partner and flick through a rag. I think its a great initiative from the West. It will be interesting to see how it goes.
Cool!
What will The Sunday Times do now!!
I am a digital person and with all due respect it frustrates me when people throw out blanket comments like “Death to Papers etc”. When I am busy – collecting a feed online is great, however if I want to sit back and relax – there is not a chance in hell the iPad will be seen. Flicking through a paper is still the best way to relax and take the edge off the week. (Also my other half would kill me if I took to the screen at breaky 😉 I guess acknowledging that media consumption is not just digital,not just print, or tv etc rather channels which we can adopt depending on our lifestyle characteristics is the basic grounding for a balanced “media diet”. Great initiative from The West, and its good to see they are responding to ppls changing lifestyles.
Digital will not kill off newspapers. The West should be applauded for accepting that breaking news is no longer its domain and changing its focus to more comment focused content.
You may not like the West but it’s the best daily newspaper we have. Talk it down at your peril. I’m yet to see digital prove itself as a viable medium for small, day-to-day retailers who certainly can’t afford television and shouldn’t be considering radio: beware the audio press ad.
2:26 – the best daily we have? Haven’t you read the Financial Review? It comes out in Perth too you know.
8:42 – I’m not an ungrateful bastard, I just wish that tragic excuse for a paper wasn’t the ‘only’ daily actually put together here. Remember the Daily News or the Western Mail? At least there was journalism in those days.
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