Updated Tuesdeay, Aug. 24, 08:45 EST
TAKEAWAY: It was a matter of time: Singapore’s newspaper for the young, The New Paper, has now travelled the extra mile to open a sports bar. News served with beer, cocktails and the latest updates on sports happenings. PLUS: At the South China Morning Post: iPad app launch is big success AND: iPads for sumo wrestlers
Extra! Extra! Bar doors open at The New Paper
The New Paper carries reader interaction to the next fun level
One of my most memorable career moments was to be part of the creation of Singapore’s The New Paper, which launched on 26 July 1988. The New Paper today is the second most read English language newspaper in the island country. Originally created to serve an audience of 16 to 24 year olds, it is now well read by the parents of those for whom it was intended. It was with The New Paper that I first used the term “sophisticated sensationalism”. Stories are short, bright, heavy on human interest and forever young.
Perhaps it is in that youthful spirit that The New Paper now becomes the first newspaper——to my knowledge—-to have a bar, yes, as in a pub. Indeed, at a time when newspaper companies look for ways to diversity, amplify their business horizons, and, of course, move multiplatform, The New Paper has taken diversification to the next level, with the opening of a sports bar.
The New Paper Sports Bar offers punters live football matches on a host of large TV screens, cold mugs of Asia’s Tiger Beer and an exclusive live feed from The New Paper’s newsroom where its sports writers offer up-to-the-minute betting tips.
Opening a sports bar will “provided a venue for the newspaper to connect with its readers, as well as provide perks for subscribers who take up the free option of joining TNP Club”, the company said in a statement.
I am waiting to see a menu of The New Paper’s bar, but I can only imagine that one of the most personalized drinks would have to be The Chantal Mojito: exotic, rich with gusto, honoring TNP’s first art director, with whom we worked on the prototype.
Come to think about, I have been to a bar that is inside a newspaper building, in Goteborg, Sweden, at the Goteborgs Posten. The bar, located in the basement, is called
Harry’s Bar
, and it honors the GP”s founder, although this bar is NOT open to the public, but it provides a setting for GP personnel to mingle, get a drink and chat about the day’s events.
South China Morning Post iPad app: popular and growing
The majority of users for the new SCMP’s iPad app are from overseas
Hong Kong’s leading English language newspaper, South China Morning Post, has enjoyed great success with the launch of its new iPad. In the four weeks since its launch the app has been downloaded by over 17000 unique users, nearly half of which are from overseas, including USA, Canada, China, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, UK, Germany and Japan.
Launched July 23, South China Morning Post’s new iPad edition became the second most popular app in the Hong Kong App Store on its debut day and has been consistently adding 3000+ unique downloads each week.
“The premiere of our iPad app represents our commitment to becoming the globally trusted authoritative source for English language information about Hong Kong and China”, said Anne Wong, Director of Marketing for SCMP. “Now, anywhere in the world, iPad users with an interest in the region can easily tap into the news that local Hong Kong business decision makers trust.”
Reginald Chua, South China Morning Post’s Editor-in-Chief said: “We’re excited about the new opportunities the iPad provides us as a news organization. Our geographic location in Hong Kong makes us uniquely positioned for in-depth reporting on China, and we are now able to provide that information at a touch of a finger for those discerning China watchers.”
iPad users around the world can currently download the South China Morning Post app on iTunes, free of charge for a limited period. Updated daily at 06.30 Hong Kong time, the complete edition is designed to be downloaded within a couple of minutes, to enable each page to be instantly viewable and fully accessible offline.
Typical of first versions of iPad apps, this one at the SCMP is a work in progress, and we at Garcia Media are happy to be involved with the team as a second version is crafted to assimilate the early experiences and present users with a constantly improved product.
Download at:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/south-china-morning-post/id382805033?mt=8
…..the competition bites
The Standard’s new campaign parodies that of the South China Morning Post
Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post’s main English language competitor, The Standard, a freely distributed newspaper, has mounted its own campaign, doing a parody of the SCMP’s app ad, and showing readers that indeed they are paying more than they should for the South China Morning Post’s iPad app, while theirs is free.
We all know that the newspaper environment of Hong Kong is competitive. To hear the SCMP’s managers tell it, there is no truth to the numbers presented by The Standard, which turns the entire campaign into something more than just the usual collegial, friendly rivalry between friends who publish in the same city!
iPads for guys with fat fingers
Photo: Eckhard Pecher via wikicommons
We all know that iPads are popular with the very young (like my 5-year-old grandson Danny), or the very old (we see many senior citizens reading leisurely on their iPads in the parks in Florida, or at Starbucks cafes) , but this news took us by surprise: iPads for sumo wrestlers
Now those wrestlers involved in Japan’s ancient sport are getting iPads. The reasoning is that the touch screen keyboards are better suited for fingers too thick for ordinary texting.
So, in an effort to improve communication among its oversize wrestlers, the Sumo Association announced Monday that it was distributing iPads to its 51 sumo stables.
Apple’s tablet was chosen, according to the Jiji news agency, because many stablemasters don’t use computers and sumo wrestlers aren’t good at punching messages on mobile phones with their big hands.
I imagine that many sumo wrestling related apps are already in the making.
TheMarioBlog post #617