ST uses icons to underline status

The campaign involves taking famous icons such as the control tower at Changi Airport and wrapping it with the newspaper. According to Mark Teal, the account manager at Leo Burnett Singapore: "The ST is a national institution. It is recognised by generations of Singaporeans as the newspaper of Singapore. So, when we took the brief from SPH, we thought it would be nice to show the ST to be just as recognisable as the most famous of landmarks in Singapore." The ads are running in major SPH newspapers and bus shelters. The daily boasts a new masthead, cleaner layout, longer stories and the addition of three new weekly magazines. Media agencies felt ST could have gone further with the revamp. Mark Bowling, the director of research and strategic planning at Starcom, said: "The redesign is not as radical as it could have been. In design terms, the look is definitely cleaner and more modern. Editorially, there has not been any great shift towards becoming a more 'serious' read." The bigger issue is whether the revamp will stem ST's slow slide. According to the Nielsen Media Index, ST's readership and reach dipped from 1,307,000 last year compared to 1,361,000 in 1999. Agencies Media spoke to were doubtful. Noted MEC senior planner Lisa Chua: "A significant increase might only occur if the free sheets were completely eliminated." Added Bowling: "Circulation-wise, the increase in marketing activity is much more likely to improve sales in the long term. From an agency point of view, we have to ask whether this justifies the recent increase in rates." Another problem noted is the clash of coverage between the new magazine Urban and the Life! section. Said Chua: "With the introduction of Urban, this feels like the content of Life! has been cannablised. What is Life! going to cover?" Bowling concurred: "The Life! section has almost been reduced to a five minute read at best."