Facelift for The Herald

The facelift not only builds on significant editorial investment in the title by its owners, Johncom, over recent years but, more importantly, facilitates a number of new interactive features through which the newspaper hopes to develop and encourage conversations with and between its readers.

From today, readers are being invited to send in their opinion on the news of the day using their cellphones, vote in online polls and enter their own digital photographs for publication as part of a weekly contest where they can win great prizes. The Herald facelift follows a similar revamp by its sister newspaper, the Weekend Post, in May this year and the revamp of The Herald supplements LaFemme (a specialist lifestyle product), World of Wheels (motoring) and TGIF (entertainment) in early October.

Jethro Goko, editor-in-chief of both titles, says: “We are confident the cleaner, clearer new look of the print edition will find broad appeal among existing readers and grab the attention of new ones.

“The challenge is that of taking an established and revered media brand outside of its traditional boundaries and engaging it audience like never before. Ultimately our operation will expand beyond the format that it has used for 162 years and develop into a multimedia brand across several different platforms.

“At the end of the day though, no matter what the changes or the physical format of the news product, our readers and their needs remain the central focus of our efforts.”

The Herald re-launch is being supported by an SMS-based contest sponsored by retail group Spar.

• The Nelson Mandela Bay-based The Herald, established in 1845, currently has a diverse and largely affluent reader base across one of the most rapidly developing parts of the country between East London in the east and Mossel Bay in the west. This region incorporates one of the most active property markets in the country and is home to the booming motor industry and the country's largest industrial development zone at Coega. The newspaper reports sales of 27 557 copies a day (April to June ABC figures) and, on average, enjoys the loyalty of 194 000 readers (2006/7 Amps)