Sales skyrocket after Sunday Times relaunch
August 10, 2008
The Sunday Times’ relaunch and £3m marketing campaign boosted sales of the paper by 11,000 copies in July.
The Sunday Times redesign, which saw every newsprint section printed in full colour, was backed by an advertising campaign featuring Peter O’Toole, alongside offers such as a 2-for-1 meal deals at Pizza Express.
The ads also promoted articles in the paper about Uma Thurman and Amy Winehouse (who, paradoxically, Londoners are most sick of hearing about, according to a recent poll).
Last month the paper sold an average of 1,159,231 copies each weekend, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations. This was up 0.95% on June but down 0.84% on July 2007.
In June last year, the Independent on Sunday also underwent a redesign, ditching the traditional multi-section Sunday format in favour of one big paper section and one big magazine, and selling at a promotional price of £1 per issue.
However, the new figures show the Sunday paper was down 7.36% since July 07, and down 4.35% on June, selling 200,451 copies on average each weekend.
It seems only time will tell the longevity of the Sunday Times’ extensive lead in the market, and whether readers will grow as indifferent to full colour page layouts as they have to the saga of Amy and Blake.
Anyone for a Pizza Express? (We fancy the Sloppy Giuseppe.)
