Newspaper Innovation

Usually Metro Holland only publishes on weekdays (and in ‘green’), but as Holland plays Spain in the Worldcup finals this Sunday, the paper distributed a special (orange) Saturday edition with a circulation of 400,000.

The front page and back pages were sponsored by mobile telecom provider Lyca (click on picture for better view). Also Heineken, ING bank, Clinique and the Duisenberg School of Finance had a page of special ‘Orange’ advertising.

Metro New York has launched a 40,000-circulation edition on Thursdays for Queens.

Local advertisers can in that way have an ad in Metro at lower rates.

Full story at free-daily.com. (also source for picture)

Metro is operated as a franchise in the USA.

Toronto free evening newspaper t.o.night started an advertising campaign on radio, TV and billboards. The TV ads and billboards (see below) can also be viewed in action on the t.o.night website.

The Polish Metro (by Agora) received an INMA (News Media Marketing Association) award for their one-time German language Berlin edition (see previous post).

The first prize was awarded on April 28 in the “Marketing Solutions for Advertising Clients” category.

The goal of the issue, published in September 2009, was to acquaint the Germans with Polish culture and most interesting tourist spots and encourage them to visit Poland more often.

Metro UK (Associated Newspapers) will distribute an 8-page glossy gatefold in 200,000 copies of its London edition. The issue promotes the new ITV1 HD Channel.

Everyday 50,000 copies of the glossy gatefold will inserted into Metro from 19 to 22 April at different London stations this week. (Marketing Week)

To promote the new Playboy issue, the Dutch edition of Metro this morning was handed out by female distributors, dressed as Playboy bunnies.

The Amsterdam Metro edition had a full page ad for the new Playboy on the back cover and an interview with the Playmate of the month inside.

(sorry for the bad quality of the picture, but with this kind of light, the mobile phone cannot do better than this.)

To promote the launch of the new Gangsterboys movie in the Netherlands, free daily Spits not only contained a front page ad for the movie and the  full back page, but also had five (fake) bullet holes on the front page. Two in the Spits logo, one in the ad and two at the bottom of the page.

I have seen free papers with holes, with wraps, with half wraps, with inserts, with pages sticking out, with stickers, with musical chips, with soap glued inside… but I never saw a free paper with a condom inside.

Free Mozambique weekly Verdade was (probably?) the first to do so. In their edition from last week a condom was glued inside the paper, much to the surprise of the readers.

The distribution took place in cooperation with DKT, an NGO which carries out awareness of the importance of using condoms in all sexual relations.

The picture left (click to enlarge) is from the Facebook website of Verdade. Two dozen pictures of the condom action are posted there. (You have to make friends with Verdade first to view them – but it’s worth it.)

Verdade also operates a YouTube channel (VerdadeTruth) with mostly videos of the distribution of the paper. Great movies of eager readers in Mozambique as you can see on this sample.

On February 26, Metro Belgium will distribute another issue of their Fashion deluxe magazine (click for enlargement). The magazine will be distributed together with the daily newspaper of that morning, which will also be printed on glossy paper for the occasion.

The focus is on the new spring and summer fashion collection, design, and Belgium designers.

Both the paper and the magazine are distributed in two versions; a green French language edition and a blue Dutch language version. Total circulation of the magazine is 290,000.

Metro International will introduce a new travel section, called “Metro Travel” that will be featured in several different Metro editions; first in Europe, but it is expected to roll out in non-European editions later.

The section will be produced by the central editorial office in London and is expected to attract international advertising for travel related subjects as well. (MediaWatch)