As the clock ticks towards Standard newspaper relaunch tomorrow, the newsroom and production departments at I&M and Mombasa Road, respectively, are a beehive of activity this afternoon. The newspaper is expected to unveil its new-look tomorrow, which comes with a fresh design and more analytical approach to news coverage, as it seeks to grow readership and advertising and also counter its rival, the Daily Nation.
Business Today has had a sneak preview of what’s coming up from tomorrow as the relaunch is rolled out. Without spoiling much of the surprise for Standard, BT will just give you a few of the new value-additions that will spice the relaunch.
New Magazines
The Standard will be introducing two new pullouts, which have been designed with an eye on growing readership – rather than attracting advertisements – which is the biggest challenge facing Standard. In he long-term, they can become goldmines if they strike the right chord with readers.
The first magazine will be on Wednesday, which will target so-called hustlers, and will be profiling the various business and economic activities that young Kenyans are engaged in to make ends meet. Called HUSTLE, the magazine is basically a reincarnation of Business Unusual, which used to profile small businesses but was killed four years ago, as it was unable to attract advertisements. It will be headed by Kagure Gachehe.
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Thursday will have HASTAG, a new magazine focusing on education, which will be managed by Thorn Muli. Hashtag, as the name suggests, is in line with the trendy and tech-savvy moments that newspapers find themselves in. This looks like the answer to Daily Nation’s The Network that covers career issues affecting young people. Hashtag will cannibalise Home & Away magazine, which has been reduced from a pullout to a small section of the newspaper. While popular, Home & Away had been unable to attract big-dollar advertisements.
Weekend reads
The Saturday edition will have and shopping guide section of eight pages which will have information for bargain-hunters and prices of various commodities and services, as well as advisory content. This will eat into Smart Harvest magazine, which has been reduced to a few pages, and hopefully counter the success of Seeds of Gold in the Saturday Nation.
The Sunday Standard will have an expanded business section, which will be overseen by Sunday Business Editor Jevans Miyungu. Business has slowly but surely crept into the Sunday edition, creating a popular readership niche. The weekend pages have not been retouched much in terms of content as they have been improving over the past six months.
The Tuesday business pullout, The Beat, will be rebranded back to Financial Standard (FS), an indentity that was dropped long ago. The pullout has undergone several rebrands, from FS to FJ (Financial Journal) and then to The Beat. During its heyday, FS redefined business journalism in the country and mentored some of the best business editors/journalists in the country.
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