Newsagent browsers in Dublin may have been surprised to see a new addition to the newspaper shelf last weekend: the Sunday Post. No, the Sunday Business Post hasn't ditched the "business" – heaven forfend.
The Sunday Post – strapline: "from the heart, to the point" – is a Scottish import. Dundee-based media group DC Thomson, perhaps best known for being the publisher of the Beano and the Dandy, has decided to extend circulation of "Scotland's 100-year-old family newspaper" to the Irish capital. The title, which has a circulation of more than 185,000, has already been available in Northern Ireland and parts of Co Donegal.
“Say hello to a different Sunday read” ran the blurb on Sunday with a giant €1 coin advertising what is a special offer price for the first two weeks, after which the euro-zone price will revert to €1.90.
"We believe the Post's unique editorial style will be a valued addition to the Irish Sunday market and we ask that you support the launch by displaying the Sunday Post prominently in store," the group advised retailers ahead of the launch.
Audience
But who is the
Sunday Post
aimed at? According to its tartan-themed bumpf for advertisers, the title’s audience are the “new affluentials”, identified as being “mainly” 45-74 years old.
“In the family unit, they are at the heart of many decisions and financially in a great position, getting to the end of constraints such as mortgages.” So that’s nice.
It goes on to say its readers – almost half of whom have grandchildren – are “the daytime customers of bars and restaurants”, are “actively involved” in personal finance and are more likely than other 45-74-year-olds to travel “by cruise”.
The Post's news content is interlaced with entertainment snippets, cheerily "weird" items (ghosthunters, Loch Ness monster spotters, taxidermy), updates on famous grannies (Queen Elizabeth) and would-be grannies (Judy Murray) and a column from "queen of daytime telly" Lorraine Kelly. Sport, puzzles, cartoons and the thoughts of an astrologist bring up the rear.
The big pointer to the target demographic, however, is not the editorial, but its advertisements, which seem to be addressing the upper end of its stated age range.
Think coach holidays, garden hoses, care homes, dentures, joint pain medicines, reclining chairs and “roomy fit” mail-order trousers.
