Leading IHT's daily reader hunt

From soap powder to tyres, from life insurance to newspapers, Randy Weddle of the International Herald Tribune has marketed them all in a career that has taken him from Ohio to Hong Kong. Weddle left Cincinnati for the bright lights of New York at the age of 21 with just one thing on his mind -- advertising -- a tireless drive that has taken him to his current role as IHT's managing director for Asia-Pacific. As regional head of the venerable 116-year old publication, Weddle, who arrived in Asia as IHT's marketing director in 1999, faces one of his biggest career tests. Rivals have raised the bar more than several notches higher. Last year, the Financial Times launched its Asia edition and the Wall Street Journal has built what it terms as a 'Global Newsdesk', which allows it to adapt individual stories to suit different editions of the paper. Add a protracted economic squeeze into the mix, and the picture for regional English-language dailies appear far from assured. Weddle likens marketing an international English-language daily in this part of the world to finding a needle in a haystack -- you know there are readers out there; you just have to find them. "If you're working on a daily in this part of the world, and you're an English-language daily, the hardest part is finding the needle in the haystack because someone who reads an international daily is someone of a specific psychological and mental make up," he explains. "And when you walk down the street there is no way of knowing who owns that mental and psychological make up. So the hardest part is finding those people in a part of the world where the population is bigger, arguably, than any other place in the world." Despite his talk of psychological profiling, Weddle says the average IHT reader may be an affluent and educated professional, but more importantly they are someone who is looking for a publication that provides an international perspective. "It could be sport, theatre and movies or it could be politics or economics...but they need to be engaged and wanting to know more about what is happening outside of where they are. "So it may so happen that they're upper middle class, affluent, that they fit into a demographic, but it isn't a demographic that we go after to find our reader because there are people in that affluent, upper middle class private banking community that have no interest in international events," he adds. The paper has upped the ante in its search for more needles in the haystack by launching a series of editorial enhancements. The revamped IHT, which hit newsstands last month, boasts new writers, features, columns and focus, and plans to go worldwide with colour. Weddle insists that IHT's hand wasn't forced by FT's launch of its Asian edition. Plans to freshen up the title, he adds, had been in the pipeline for some time. But it was able to execute this recently, because it now has greater access to more funds and manpower since it was taken over by The New York Times Company last year. Weddle says the paper and its new owners spent a year of introspection trying to understand its strengths, opportunities, and weaknesses. He says they came out of it believing they were on track with what we should be doing. "Editorially and content- wise, the paper will get stronger. There will be more marketing behind it and hopefully both of those things will help us find that needle in the haystack, or help make those needles aware that we are around and actually can serve their desire to be well informed."