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Young Readersevery young adult was enthusiasticabout Blue and its tabloid size. Theywere most interested in the “aroundtown guide” and the hometown newsfeatures, which includes two pages ofshort articles from towns around thestate. These focus group participantsalso let us know that they didn’t likebeing stereotyped as only caring aboutsex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Thoughinterested in those things, that didn’tdefine all of their interests. For us to doso felt patronizing to them.Comments made during the focusgroups also revealed that they likedcoupons and any information thatwould help them toidentify where gooddeals could be found.They also said that informationabout jobswas important to them,not just jobs for careersbut also jobs to earnmoney while they werein school. Because ofour research, we knewthat more than half ofPenn State’s studentsare employed, so hearingthese comments, aswell, made us decideto have a job pagetheme two times eachweek.They also told usthey didn’t want thetabloid cover to appearin the vertical “portrait”format because that’snot the way it sat in therack. They preferred ahorizontal “landscape”format, so that is what we use. Theyalso said they wouldn’t read the studentnewspaper any less if Blue waspublished. They felt that the two productswere different enough—and eachof value to them—that they’d still wantto get their campus news.Lessons LearnedA Blue cover image.Once Blue got going, we learnedquickly how good its cover needs to be.Along with how our inside referencesare presented and if they adequatelyportray the benefits for readers to moveinside, Blue’s cover is a critical piece.We received some helpful tutoring froma designer for the Philadelphia DailyNews. But we also learned that ourcover’s look needs a different feel fromthe tone of most newspaper pages.We’re now getting feedback from publicationslike Maxim so that we canbetter understand the formula theyuse to attract readers.Another big lesson is in marketingand awareness. It’s not enough to putBlue on the street and expect the audienceto know what’s inside and pick itup. The marketing of something newor different is expensive and time consuming.I won’t venture too far astrayinto the business side, including advertising,but without a solid businessplan a newspaper is not going to makesomething like this work in the longrun. We’ve spent as much time on all ofthese marketing issues as we have ondeveloping its content. Along the waywe discovered, for example, that somehome delivery customers were upsetthat they couldn’t get it. And our downtownsingle copy sales have gone sowell that we plan to distribute the sectionin almost all single copy locationsin the two zip codes closest to campus.We’re not sure what is going to happen,but we believe it’s worth a solidtry.Challenges AheadWhile I believe our news staff will continueto provide strong content, andour covers are improving, my biggestconcern remains our ability to generategreater awareness for this venture’sbenefits. It’s an expensive enterprisethat requires a business plan in whichthe revenues exceed its costs. Anotherimportant considerationwith our younger readersis the transient nature oftheir lives. This means thatwe continuously need tofind ways to remind ourpotential audience aboutthe value of our productand this section and do somore than needs to be donein an average, less transient,market.Despite the challengeswe face, I’m quite optimistic.So far this semester thepickup rate for the CentreDaily Times is up 10 percentfrom before Blue waswith our newspaper. TheNew York Times is upslightly and USA Today isnow down in double digits.Young adults who readBlue offer positive feedbackand advertisers are startingto catch on. It’s also beeninvigorating to see a young,talented news staff that is so enthusiasticabout its work. It will require thatkind of sustained passion if we’re goingto succeed. That is just one of thethings that can make newspapers suchfun and fulfilling places to work. ■Henry B. Haitz III, president andpublisher of the Centre (Penn.) DailyTimes, is to become president andpublisher of the Bradenton (Fla.)Herald in January 2004.hhaitz@centredaily.comNieman Reports / Winter 2003 23