BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Those results were backed up by research the newspaper conducted months afterwards, in which 94% of those questioned described the newspaper's coverage of the region as 'good', 75% said it was an 'intelligent' newspaper, and 83% categorised it as an 'enjoyable read'.

The introduction of innovative bicycle vendors played a significant part in raising the newspaper's profile in the city centre at the key point of relaunch and has subsequently been introduced on the evening title, the Liverpool Echo.

The editor, Jane Wolstenholme, said:

"It has been a tremendous 12 months for the Liverpool Daily Post.

"We always had high expectations for our relaunch and hoped that readers would respond positively to the significant, and in some cases radical, changes we were making to the paper.

"Staff have worked exceptionally hard over the last year to not just make those initial changes, but to then sustain and even improve on quality - and our circulation performance reflects that.

"Liverpool is undergoing a major renaissance at the moment, and the new, revitalised Daily Post is very much a part of that."

Carlisle News and Star - ABC 17,972, +4.2%, 100% actively purchased

Keith Sutton, editor of the Carlisle News and Star said:

"We have advanced our print time to give us greater shelf-life, so that our first edition now comes out at around 10.45. This enables us to get in the shops in Carlisle before 11.30 most days. We're finding that this in itself has helped to give us a few hundred more copies.

"We also had a redesign, which I think is connected with the sales increase. We now have bolder page leads and a greater number of news in brief paragraphs. The paper is more heavily edited, with a greater contrast between the big stories and the smaller bits of information.

"Our increase is particularly pleasing because our success has been against the backdrop of the total failure by the local football team, and the success of the local football club normally has a big impact on newspaper sales.

"Moving forward our print times, and therefore our deadlines, has involved huge efforts from our staff. It has been a huge team effort."

Torquay - Herald Express - ABC 21,507, + 2.3%, 98.1% actively purchased

Michelle Pugh, commercial director, said: "Our increase in sales isn't due to a revamp of the paper, it's a number of factors that we've developed over time and that can be attributed to our staff.

"We've restructured the sales department, and introduced extremely focused targets. Our home delivery has had a regular approach to canvassing, instead of being quite erratic, and we've addressed cancellations, making home deliveries more steady.

"Commercially, we're very active within the business and local community, with a focus on good promotions, competitions and local sponsorship, while editorially, we concentrate on local news, with good content that the public wants to read about. It's not really mind-blowing stuff, but we try to keep the paper lively and interesting and remain well respected and trusted by our community."

Teesside Evening Gazette - ABC 58,446, 0.5%, 100% actively purchased

The Teesside Evening Gazette has achieved its second consecutive circulation increase.

The rise came in a period that saw the Evening Gazette relaunch from broadsheet to compact format in September 2004, a change that was received well by its readership. The relaunch followed a £14.6m investment in a new press facility at Riverside Park, Middlesbrough, by Trinity Mirror.

Editor of the Evening Gazette, Steve Dyson said: "Teesside is a great news area and the top team here responds by giving reader every cough and spit of news, sport and comment. We also aim to interact with our readers every night with a series of provocative campaigns.

"From naming and shaming kerb-crawlers to getting people to speak out against racism, we currently have half a dozen campaigns regularly prompting readers to take part in opinion-forming through public meetings, emails and letters. The result is more people buying the newspaper six days a week to see themselves in print.

"We also aim to provide readers with the 'mostest, latest' by maintaining late deadlines that make us a real evening newspaper."

Lynn Melvin, newspaper sales and promotions director at Gazette Media Company, puts the success down to a combination of factors. She said: "We've continued to expand our direct delivery network, consistently growing our home delivery customer base, and always making the most out of casual sales on breaking news and big events."

South Wales Argus - ABC 30,788, +0.3%, 100% actively purchased

Andrew Kinsey, regional newspaper sales & promotions manager said: "I think the Argus has beaten the industry trend because we keep a simple focus on local news, sport, local info including ads and great pictures well used. We believe we know what the readers want, based on experience and information, and we give it to them.

Hartlepool Mail - ABC 20,719, +0.3%, 100% actively purchased

Editor Paul Napier said: "I'm delighted that more people are now buying the Mail and more people are now reading the Mail.

"There have been many developments at the Hartlepool Mail over the past year or so - those developments appear to be paying off.

"For example, in September we launched a new edition of the Mail to serve Peterlee, to the north of Hartlepool. This new edition didn't go to any areas or outlets not already receiving the Mail in its former form, but the new edition carried more localised content. Readers and advertisers there were very happy with their new edition and this certainly helped bring a sales plus for the Mail.

"There is rarely, if ever, a week in which something new isn't brought into the paper. However, I think our sales growth is largely driven by having the right news stories in the paper. The tone of the Hartlepool Mail is all-important. Readers in Hartlepool won't buy the paper six nights a week if it's only full of fluff. They will buy it if it contains strong, local news."

Paisley Daily Express - ABC 11,091, +0.1%, 100% actively purchased

Editor Jonathan Russell said: "The success of the Paisley Daily Express is based on a small but talented and hard-working team of journalists who know what their readers want from the paper.

"Everyone is encouraged to put themselves in the readers' shoes, an approach that continues to bear fruit in circulation terms."

Daily Post, Wales ABC - 40,835, +0.0%, 100% actively purchased

The Daily Post in Wales began to see real, sustained sales benefits following its relaunch in 2003. The newspaper's move from Liverpool to Wales increased the marketplace focus in all departments.

The newspaper refined and developed its content, placing a huge emphasis on regional and Welsh news and less weight on British and International material.

The ethos was that even the top-class British or international story should never push a local story off page one.

The newspaper adopted the 'don't tell it, sell it' mantra and went harder than ever at presenting stories, not just laying them out, and focused on finding the blend of headline, picture, caption and introduction that stopped readers in their tracks.

Local, hard news was moved to the front of the newspaper and page one, and page one is now designed with the principle that if it won't sell extra papers then it shouldn't be on the first page.

Key platform implementation such as Puzzlepost changed performance on the weaker days, and strategic promotions such as the Heritage Collection, Bonny Babies and Crazy Cash provided lifts when most needed.

This was allied to a determination within the newspaper sales and marketing departments to concentrate on back-to-basics tactics (eg localised box-outs, active selling within target supermarkets, sampling campaigns, strong promotions) which ensured high levels of awareness and targeted activities which demonstrated real results.

Alistair Machray, editor of the Welsh Daily Post said: "Over the last two years we've worked very hard on making sure we understand our readers better than we ever have before.

We've gone through ever section of the paper, making sure it's tailored to our target market and there is no doubt that we're producing a more modern, more vibrant Daily Post."

Western Mail - ABC 43,247, -2.9%, 100% actively purchased

The Western Mail's rate of decline was halved to -2.9% in July-December from the January-June average of -5.8%.

This improvement began with the relaunch as a compact. From this point, the paper moved to a plus year on year, and has maintained this into 2005. The turnaround in sales has averaged almost 3,000 copies daily. The new compact was put together using research from Western Mail hall tests and focus groups and following a study of other newspapers at home and abroad.

Editorially, the change of format broadened the appeal of the paper to a wider group of readers. Some new elements were key to this, especially the new 4-page TV section, the Coffee Break section and extra daily ingredients such as Retro report and Postcard from Wales.

The paper has been aiming to develop a more colourful personality whilst maintaining its position as the intelligent voice of Wales.

The central aim all along has been to increase frequency of purchase. Indications from the first three months suggest some success in achieving this, as the traditionally weaker days have seen the biggest improvements in sale.

Alan Edmunds, editor of the Western Mail, said: "When you are a passionate Welshman through and through there's no greater journalistic challenge and privilege than being able to lead your national newspaper into a new era.

"The Western Mail's change in format from broadsheet to compact was big news in Wales, so we had to make sure there was massive consultation with readers, and potential readers, to get it right.

"The new paper has been very well received and extremely enjoyable to produce."

Newcastle Chronicle & Journal Ltd

The Chronicle - ABC 89,074, -0.3%, 98.4% actively purchased

John Bunyan, sales development manager said: "2004 started much like any other year for the Direct To Home (DTH) team, in that a very modest growth was planned and the continual challenge of growing a direct network around where newsagents did not deliver - and usually for very good reasons. By Easter however, that had all changed.

"A brave decision was made to change one fundamental element of the strategy, which was to offer DTH everywhere as a part of a joint offer with newsagents. As a result, a very ambitious growth plan was put in place to double the number of DTH orders by the end of the year - no mean feat!

"This growth in Direct to Home orders was made harder to achieve by the 3 pence cover price increase in September, but a 100% growth was achieved by the end of the year.

"The entire company really got behind the service from the Managing Director down to the DTH Agents and gave 200% support to the effort. While DTH cannot claim the total responsibility for a 4% turnaround in the overall sale, it is undoubtedly a major factor and a key part of the future strategy.

"2005 will see the service almost double once again, in what will be a Herculean effort to add a further 80% to the size of the network - Nobody said that life in Newspaper Sales is easy!"

Barnsley Chronicle - ABC 44,683, +1.3%, 100% actively purchased

Editor Robert Cockroft said: "We are pleased to record a modest circulation rise. This was our fifth year-on-year increase so marginal copy sales become very important.

"Our edition structure is a great help to this strategy. We produce seven editions of the Chronicle and try to tailor them to the different character of each edition area. One of our district editions has increased its sale by nearly 65% over the past five years.

"Local news to us means exceptionally local. The same goes for sport where grass roots level means exactly that. In 2005 we plan to make the Chronicle more local still with our editorial project: 'Getting Even Closer'.

"We must also credit some of our success to Barnsley Football Club whose antics on and off the field never cease to amaze us or our readers."

Hereford Times Series - ABC 42,781, +0.3%, 100% actively purchased

Editor Liz Griffin said that their success was due to "knowing your readership and having an excellent team of staff, never being complacent and never taking readers for granted. Constantly looking to deliver a better service to readers, advertisers and retailers."

Isle of Wight County Press - ABC 41, 022, +0.2%, 100% actively purchased

Editor Brian Dennis said that success was down to "Giving readers strong local news stories about themselves. Building on existing strengths and always evolving delivering more colour and more targeted supplements, as well as all departments working together as one great team"

Cumberland News Series - ABC 38,773, +0.2%, 100% actively purchased

Dave Bowden, Deputy Managing Director CN Group said "Our already strong market position has grown as a result of understanding our readers requirements and by auditing brand strengths and weaknesses.

"This has led to a newspaper that continuously evolves editorial and advertising content leading to increased paginations.

"In short a complete package of news, information and advertising produced by talented and committed staff".

Chichester Observer Series - ABC 38,006, +0.7%, 100% actively purchased

Keith Newbery, executive editor said: "I am delighted at the sales increase we have shown. It is the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people. There is no magic formula. It is just a steady diet of local names, faces and stories, a willingness to campaign on behalf of readers when the need arises and additional sales incentives like a quality weekly magazine, top-class regular supplements and attractive promotions."

Warrington Guardian - ABC 36,800, +1%, 100% actively purchased

Janette Bolton, newspaper sales and promotions manager puts their success down to "Editorial and Newspaper Sales having a close relationship and successfully working together on some very strong front page stories " and "Targeting merchandising activity to maintain good availability, which has seen this increase from over 80% in 2003 to 90-95% last year". Also the newspaper's "Their Direct Delivery and Canvassing operation has been very successful in achieving sales growth during the last ABC period".

Editor Nicola Priest said they "work very hard with Newspaper Sales to deliver the right stories into the right areas. This means feeding stories that work in diverse urban areas and villages.

"Research was carried out into the types of front pages that sell well, and crime was identified as a strong sales driver. Following a review of competitions and promotions, which is now ongoing, only those which deliver good results are given space, which should always be well used, and these tend to be have simple mechanics and prizes worth winning or offers worth redeeming. The newspaper also targets specific promotional activity at different segments of their readership"

Rotherham and South Yorkshire Advertiser - ABC 33,963, +5.0%, 100% actively purchased

Gary Hartley, assistant editor said: "Our newspaper is the voice of the local community. Our focus is on consistency and caring for the community. We are running more reader-led stories and therefore gaining more reader interest. Our news is very much locally focused and we are continually responding more to our readers."

Worksop Guardian - ABC 15,434, +6.5%, 99.9% actively purchased

Editor George Robinson said: "The improvement is largely due to editorial excellence. We have a great team of reporters and subs who work very hard for the paper and who are very passionate about the product.

"Another strength is that we decided to abandon story count for the approach of covering local issues more in-depth. Our formula is one big story per page, which delves more into the background and detail of the story. We have been doing this for the better part of the last four years and have seen higher than average ABC figures each year.

"Worksop is a town fighting for its local identity and there is a lot happening in the local community. Our paper wants to reflect this identity. Our advantage is that we have a great relationship with local MP's and the police and this helps us to get good stories."

Eastbourne Gazette ABC -12,906, +5.1%, 100% actively purchased

Peter Lindsey, editor of the Eastbourne Gazette said "The Gazette attracts readers primarily because it is packed full of community based news. This is complimented by the paper's front pages, which are bold and high impact. We also issue two quality district editions which are equally successful."

Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer - ABC 12,868, +4.8%, 100.0% actively purchased

Dean Powell, editor of the Observer said "We are often in the fore-front of local campaigns and we aim to run hard-edge news which focuses on people. Our success is down to the fact that the Observer is primarily about people and their stories.

"Our community is at the centre of many topical issues such as regeneration in the area and the state of our rugby club. We acknowledge this and therefore the Observer offers community news that readers can't get anywhere else."

Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette Series - ABC 12,033, + 14.8%, 99.3% actively purchased

Tom McConigley, editor, said: "There's no secret to the increase, it's just hard hitting stories and giving the public what they want. We don't dictate to them what they should read, instead we listen to what they want to read. This involves less council stories and a bit more human interest.

Irvine Herald - ABC 11,110, + 5.9%, 100.0% actively purchased

Allan Woodison, editor of the Herald said: "The improved circulation is down to using the tried and tested formula of cramming good news into the paper. We have a high story count, loads of pictures and focus on local news instead of stories about celebrities.

"We listen to what our readers want instead of using focus groups and market research. The secret is straightforward news, which has always been the diet of the local community."

Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser - ABC 9,138, + 5.3%, 100.0% actively purchased

Editor Kevin McRoberts said: "We concentrate very much on local news. The editorial team in the paper work extremely hard to bring the best news to the local area.

"The appearance of the paper has also changed considerably over the last six months. Changes included adding a brighter masthead and a lot more colour to the paper.

Frome & Somerset Standard - ABC 9,129, + 14.1%, 100.0% actively purchased

Joanna Roughton, editor, said: "The main reason for our growth is the fact that we have widened our circulation area and launched a new edition of the Frome & Somerset Standard into west Wiltshire. Our circulation area now includes Warminster and Westbury, giving us a very successful first nine months.

"We've also focused much more on community news, widening our coverage of smaller villages outside the towns and including a wider network community correspondence."

Denbigshire Free Press - ABC 7,328, +5.5%, 98.9% actively purchased

Alaistair Syme, editor of the Denbigshire Free Press said: "We have been successful by getting as many local stories in the paper as we can and by being sympathetic to the local readership. We have a high story count with good local news and good sports coverage.

"We have changed the layout to try to make the paper more regular and have introduced change pages with two editions. Vitally we have good staff who work hard to make the newspaper a success."

Winsford & Middlewich Guardian Series - ABC 6,135, + 7.0%, 100.0% actively purchased

Keith Morris, editor, said: "We believe the increase in circulation is due to the increase in the number of change pages going into the two titles. We give readers more local news, and more of what they want.

"There hasn't really been a big revamp as we've been careful to make sure there's a consistency in appearance."

North Star - ABC 5,904, + 7.4%, 100.0% actively purchased

Nick Hunter, managing editor, Scottish Provincial Press said: "Scottish provincial press owns twelve paid-for weeklies throughout the Highlands and North-east Scotland, all of which have shown year-on-year increases. We're absolutely delighted and extremely proud.

"The best performance comes from the North Star. It shows a 7.4% increase, and the reason for this is simple. Up until April 2003, the North Star sold head-to-head with another of our titles, the broadsheet Ross-shire Journal. In 2003, we took a big gamble and moved the print day of the Ross-shire Journal from Friday to Thursday, leaving the North Star on sale on its own on Friday. The gamble has paid off. Not only is the North Star up 7.4%, but the Ross-shire Journal, after an initial dip in circulation, has climbed back and this year shows a 2.6% increase."

Penarth Times - ABC 5,852, +5.1%, 100% actively purchased

Kevin Ward, publisher of the newspaper: "The success of the paper is due to a combination of factors. The paper was redesigned and re-launched in the winter and that has a positive effect on sales.

"The rest is as a result of good community news reporting and good teamwork between the newspaper sales team and the editorial team."

Gravesend Messenger - ABC 5,157, + 6.4%, 100% actively purchased

Denise Eaton, editor said: "We have reviewed the content of the paper and every item in it is purely local news and local news in abundance. Week in week out we have exclusive after exclusive of local news stories.

"Our reporters are pro-active in promoting the paper and canvass themselves to the local community with a number of initiatives such as producing and distributing leaflets in the area. The bottom line is that our success comes down to a cracking newspaper."

Strabane Weekly News - ABC 3,113, + 11.5%, 100.0% actively purchased

Wesley Atchison, editor, said: "We are delighted with our substantial increase in sales, which has come about by providing wider news coverage across the community and getting involved in support of various community activities, such as organising competitions for readers.

"Considerable resources have also been spent in enhancing the newspaper generally, including the opening of offices in the centre of Strabane, helping greatly to promote its identity."

Monmouth Free Press - ABC 1,683, + 15.0%, 100% actively purchased


Abergavenny Free Press - ABC: 2,035, + 11.1%, 100% actively purchased


Chepstow Free Press - ABC: 5,205, + 9.0%, 100% actively purchased

Kevin Ward, publisher of East Wales titles, said:

"We've achieved consistent growth across all three titles over the past few years. We put this down to good old-fashioned community news, and really good teamwork between editorial and the newspaper sales teams.

"The key for us is making sure the news we carry is important to the community we serve."

Packet Newspapers - Truro - ABC 263, + 49.4%, 100.0% actively purchased

Terry Lambert, group editor, said: "Our increase in circulation is due to the redesign of the paper in the summer of last year. We changed all the typefaces to give them a more modern look, produced new mastheads and also introduced a number of new columns. All in all, it seems to have paid off."

The Newspaper Society, the voice of Britain's regional and local press, represents around 1,300 daily and weekly, paid-for and free, newspaper titles in the UK.

The Newspaper Society is a member of UK Publishing Media: an £18 billion alliance of newspapers, magazines and books, which collectively represent one of the largest investors in the rapidly-expanding information society.

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