From straight shipping mag to trade/commerce/logistics/shipping mag...why? And will it work?
By Ryan Skinner (email)
Fairplay surprised me last week by announcing that it was changing its focus. In a leader that seemed to meander around the point, Fairplay revealed that it's going to be covering more than its usual true-blue shipping beat. It is expanding scope to go into more depth on legislation, logistics, technology and "commerce".
What's driving the change? A good guess is necessity. The timing of the change seems a bit odd: too hasty to seem planned, and too late for many making 2010 advertising calendars. And the editorial said little about how this impacts advertisers, readership or distribution.
So now Fairplay's trying to metamorphose into a hybrid between Journal of Commerce and the Economist. The new mag's initial editorial certainly aimed high, arcing from the Oracle of Omaha, to Obama, taking a right turn at APEC and quoting both the PRC's Hu and COSCO's Wei, before landing like a plop with DHL's CEO (who offered this revelation: Asia is rich in natural resources, has a large, youthful and increasingly well-educated workforce and a growing middle class. Wow. Stop the presses.)
What does this mean? To advertisers, it means you're less likely to nail readers whose interests begin and end within sight of a shipyard. But you're perhaps more likely to get the eye of charterers, logistics firms, forwarders and the like. It's a broader audience - take it or leave it.
Even if I sound critical, I think the move's an exciting one. After all, I already love reading the Economist. Now I get an Economist with a greater shipping bent, kind-of, if you squint a little.
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