The Wall Street Journal Europe says it will introduce an enhanced and improved newspaper, providing its readers and advertisers with more relevant and lively content and a more contemporary look and feel beginning November 17. The new-look newspaper will include new analysis features, new columnists and a new front page design, combined with easier navigation, a more simplified layout, and a greater use of colour. It will also launch a series of new, eight-page special reports designed to provide executives with detailed information and insight on topics and themes of European concern.
The new features and reports will be reflected and adapted online at the recently-launched Europe.wsj.com, which will further extend its offering with additional online-only content, blogs and daily emails.
The company has also launched a new conference strategy for Europe, which includes the forthcoming Wall Street Journal Future of Finance Initiative; an event which will convene over 100 leading international financial experts and policy makers in the United Kingdom from Dec. 7-8.
“The changes we’re planning are fundamentally a new approach to meet the needs of senior executives,” said Patience Wheatcroft (pictured), editor-in-chief for The Wall Street Journal in Europe. “We’re offering our time-pressed readers more trusted and authoritative content with essential analysis, but housed in a more impactful and accessible format across print and online. We’re leveraging our unrivalled global resources - including an integrated news staff of more than 400 in Europe alone - to deliver our unique content in a way that is more in tune with our audience.”
The new initiatives are the latest developments in a series of ongoing investments the Journal has made in Europe over the past year. These have included editorial and management expansion, including the appointment of former UK national newspaper editor Patience Wheatcroft as editor-in-chief for Europe and Dow Jones executive Andrew Langhoff as publisher; the launch of an expanded Web site dedicated to content for Europe (Europe.wsj.com); new mobile content delivery via BlackBerry and iPhone devices; and the creation of integrated newsrooms in key European centres.
To support the new products, the Journal Europe will launch a targeted, integrated marketing campaign aimed at C-suite executives and business travelers in key European cities. This marketing effort is part of a new, focused circulation strategy aimed at Europe’s business elite, giving advertisers greater efficiency of reach among a top audience of influential and affluent business decision-makers. According to the BE: Europe 2009* readership survey (*Ipsos MediaCT, BE: EUROPE 2009), the Journal Europe is the fastest growing pan-European brand among its field group, combining print readers and online users.
“With these editorial enhancements, and our focus on reaching Europe’s C-suite executives, marketers can use our unique platforms to deliver their message to Europe’s business elite with greater efficiency and effectiveness”, said Andrew Langhoff, publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe and managing director, Dow Jones Consumer Media Group Europe. “We’re the fastest growing brand in Europe among our target readership, and we’ll continue to grow as we explore new opportunities and implement new initiatives to win over the European market in print and digital.”
Alongside the introduction of the new European initiatives, the Journal will cease the printing and distribution of its US edition in London; an initiative launched in April last year. The final issue will be Nov 16 and all subscribers will be offered replacement subscriptions to the European print and online editions.
Mr Langhoff added, “We’re focusing all our efforts and investments on the European edition so it becomes the sole voice of The Wall Street Journal in Europe. We’re confident that the changes we’re making to our print and digital offering will have greater resonance among the large group of internationally-minded people living and working in Europe.”
About the Wall Street Journal Europe
The WSJ says: “Founded in 1983, The Wall Street Journal Europe forms part of the world’s leading business publication franchise, which includes The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Asia and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the leading provider of business and financial news and analysis on the web with more than one million subscribers and 23 million visitors per month. Together, these publications have a total circulation of nearly 2.9 million, reaching the world’s top business and political leaders.
The Wall Street Journal Europe draws on the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,900 business and financial news staff, the largest network in the world, including more than 400 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its website, Europe.wsj.com, offers relevant, reliable breaking news and analysis, opinion, market data and multimedia features tailored for a European audience by a London-based editorial team. WSJ.com Mobile Reader for Europe also delivers content to BlackBerry® smartphones as well as iPhone and iPod touch devices.
The Wall Street Journal Europe has won many awards for excellence in journalism, including the Peter R. Weitz Prize for excellence and originality in reporting on European affairs every year since 2003 and Business Journalist of the Year Awards every year since 1999.”
