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chase the leisure set
And a race it is--great weekend macramé escapes
By Jeff Bercovici
Coincidence? Or flagrant me-too-ism?
With buzz now building about The Wall Street Journal's April redesign, The New York Times, the journal's hometown and national rival, made a little announcement of its own yesterday.
On April 5, the Times will debut a new Friday section. Called "Escapes," it will explore weekend pursuits, especially those favored by the well-to-do: cars, vacation homes, real estate and travel destinations.
Its just so happens that four days later, on Tuesday, April 9, the Journal will unveil its long-awaited new look, complete with a brand-new section, "Personal Journal," that will cover areas including travel, health, personal finance, automobiles and consumer electronics.
The timing looks too suspicious to have been an accident, but the rationale behind the new sections is obvious enough: With the print advertising market slumping, both papers are looking for more ways to attract new advertisers, especially high-end marketers in the travel and automotive sectors.
It's the same strategy the Journal had in mind four years ago when it launched "Weekend Journal," a Friday lifestyle section devoted mainly to real estate and leisure-time pursuits.
That same year, with tech-sector ad dollars flooding the market, the Journal and the Times pulled off another feat of synchronization, introducing "Technology Journal" and "Circuits" within a week of one another.
The Times's new strategy doesn't stop with "Escapes."
In its ongoing bid to be seen as a truly national competitor with the Journal and USA Today, the Times is adding several of its Northeast region-only sections to the national edition.
All editions of the Times will now carry "The Arts" on Mondays through Thursdays, "Dining In/Dining Out" on Wednesdays and "House & Home" on Thursdays. Since 1988, those subject areas have been covered in a single catchall section, "Living Arts."
The Times has been involved in a national distribution push that has seen the number of markets where it is available for home delivery rise from 62 five years ago to 210 today.
Besides "Personal Journal," which will appear Tuesdays through Thursdays, the Journal's redesign, its most comprehensive since 1940, will include a reformatted front page and increased use of color.
March 26, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.
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