Newspaper & Mailroom

Postmedia Unveils the Reimagined Ottawa Citizen

Monday 26. May 2014 - A Groundbreaking Four- Platform Strategy that Redefines Media in Canada

Postmedia Network Inc. (“Postmedia”) today announced the launch of the new Ottawa Citizen, the first step toward the reimagination of all Postmedia products. The new print, web, tablet, and smartphone versions of the Ottawa Citizen that hit the streets and mobile devices of the nation’s capital this morning will redefine the way news is produced, presented, consumed and monetized across all Postmedia brands. “Canadians of different demographics, backgrounds and interests told us that depending on when, where and on which device they’re consuming content, they want different stories, told and presented in fundamentally different ways,” said Wayne Parrish, Chief Operating Officer. We listened and are launching four new fully-differentiated products across our four platforms of print, web, smartphone and tablet.”
“Our strategy aims to attract new readers and engage current readers more deeply. It will create opportunities for advertisers to target and engage with their customers more effectively,” said Paul Godfrey, President and CEO. “The roll-out across the majority of our Postmedia brands will take place over the next 12 to 15 months. This is a very exciting day for us.”
Extensive research conducted by Postmedia clearly demonstrated that Canadians no longer rely on a single platform to satisfy their desire for their daily fix of what’s going on in the world around them; they consume different information at different times using different platforms, with younger Canadians heavily favoring the smartphone. The research supported Postmedia’s own internal metrics, which show the migration of its digital audience has accelerated in the past 18 months to the point that two-thirds of total traffic is now accessed via mobile devices, either smartphone or tablet.
Enabling the company’s new four-platform strategy is its ‘One Newsroom’ strategy that harnesses the power of Postmedia’s 800 journalists across the country. It allows each Postmedia local brand to focus exclusively on producing the best local news and information while a central hub creates the best national and international content for the entire network.
Unifying the four new Ottawa Citizen products will be a new, holistic brand design that is rooted in the concept of designing from the “smallest canvas out,” in the words of globally-renowned print and digital design guru Mario Garcia, who worked on the project. The design will be echoed in the rollout of products to seven other Postmedia titles, as will the new masthead and brand design for each individual newspaper and for Postmedia itself, created by Tyler Brule and his London-based Winkreative agency.
Each of the four new products is unique and utilizes the distinct characteristics of each platform to play its own role in developing and conveying the most compelling stories of each day.
The newspaper features insights and analysis for an informed and passionate morning audience. It offers deep engagement with Postmedia’s best journalism. New, colour-coded sections provide easy navigation.
The responsive-designed websites comprise the “digital hub”, always on and always up-to-date, designed for search-driven audiences with breaking news, features, columnists, opinion, video, audio, interactive media, archives, blogs, special sections and social media.
The smartphone app is the local, always-on product designed for the skimming, sharing, mobile audience, with links to the web for non-local news. It speaks in its own, distinct voice, and is created 18 hours a day for the small screen and audiences on the go. Think of it as micro- blogging meets talk radio. Available through iTunes for iOS and Google Play for Android.
The new 6 p.m. news and current affairs tablet magazine is a feature-driven, animated, vibrant approach to storytelling. It illuminates, illustrates and expands on the news of the day through an interactive story format. Delivered through Apple Newsstand.