New-look Straits Times gets lukewarm reception

Clients and agencies have been shown mock-ups of the new-look daily, which has a redesigned masthead, fonts and colours to make it easier to read, and an enlarged front section giving advertisers more access to news pages.

Sharon Soh, strategy director of MEC Singapore, commented: "I have shown our clients the mock-up, and the feed-back has been lukewarm. They feel that the paper looks more dated than it was. The older version was fresher and more modern."

The enlarged Prime news section has been welcomed by Gan Boon Guan (pictured), the CEO of Starcom Singapore, who said that this section had been too thin. "More ad pages in the front of the newspaper is good news for advertisers, although it could mean more clutter. Hopefully, the revamp will increase the paper's stickiness. But I don't think it will increase the volume of readers."

Kenneth Tsang, MD of Initiative Singapore, said that he appreciates the paper's efforts to be more reader-friendly and "talk down less to readers". However, he noted: "My clients appreciate the need to re-package, but are more concerned as to whether cost would go up, and by how much. SPH is set to announce rate increases in September - and my clients are nervous."

SPH increased the cost for a full-page ad in the Straits Times earlier this year by two per cent, from S$32,000 (US$23,000) to S$33,000.

Straits Times editor Han Fook Kwang declined to comment on the rate increase, but said: "I can assure readers and advertisers that the new-look Straits Times is just as sleek and modern as the current one. I would ask them to see for themselves tomorrow."