Sunday Star-Times To Relaunch With New look

Sunday Star-Times To Relaunch With New look, new sections, new content

New Zealand's national Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Star-Times, is reborn next weekend with a brand new, bigger and better format - including new masthead, new design and new tabloid-sized magazine sections.

The first edition of the new paper hits the streets on Sunday, February 23 backed by a major marketing campaign. The revamp, based on extensive reader research, will include the introduction of a new tabloid-sized lifestyle and entertainment magazine section, called Sunday. And in Auckland, the paper will also have a new tabloid-sized Auckland magazine section, called About Town.

Terry Quinn, INL Sundays publisher, says research confirms that Sunday is New Zealanders' favourite day. "We set out to make the Star-Times different from the daily papers because Kiwis see Sundays as different - and better - than other days. We want the Star-Times to be part of their relaxed Sunday ritual."

Suzanne Chetwin, Sunday Star-Times editor said research also showed that the newspaper was already substantially delivering the right content but readers wanted more. "People want more world news, more sports news and results, and more in-depth news features," Chetwin says. "And, to capture that special Sunday feeling, they told us they'd love more lifestyle and entertainment."

Readers also felt a broadsheet format was the home for information and knowledge, but that entertainment and escapism was better suited to a smaller, handier format - something they could easily refer back to during the week.

Terry Quinn says: "This was an absolutely key finding for us and our new broadsheet and tabloid combination will deliver the best of both worlds to our readers - with the broadsheet sections focused on news and the magazine sections on lifestyle and entertainment.

"We are doing this from a position of strength: the circulation and readership of the SST have both been growing steadily but we see an opportunity to accelerate that growth through these changes."

Further information on the revamped Sunday Star-Times will be detailed in this Sunday's edition.

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