Small is beautiful according to Archant’s CEO

Jeff Henry, CEO of newspaper publishing group Archant, suggests the company’s size is partly responsible for the success of their recently launched The New European title.

In an interview with The Drum Henry said: “If you are too big you would go through layers of bureaucracy to actually get something like this off the ground.

“If you are too small you haven’t got the distribution clout that you need to be able to get it through national distribution, you haven’t got the contacts in terms of the types of contributors that we have had in editorial, or the sales contacts to be able to talk with national advertisers.”

The New European is now in its fourth week of production and according to Archant has been profitable since its first edition.

The New European’s success is largely based on copy sales rather than advertising which it has been slow to generate. The New European has a cover price of £2 – a cost many industry pundits initially felt too steep. Despite this the title sold 40,000 copies in its first week, outselling the short-lived The New Day (published by Trinity Mirror), despite marketing budgets being capped at just £10,000. Again proving, great things can be done with small budgets if your product is right.

At time of writing, bosses at Archant are discussing whether to extend The New European’s publishing run beyond its initial four-week schedule.

The future of the title doesn’t faze Henry, as he believes the newspaper has achieved what it initially set out to do. Explaining there is “no hard or fast rules” when it comes to pop-up publishing, Henry told journalists that Archant might decide to change The New European’s publishing pattern or even take a break to “push the boundaries of publishing.”

While many of Archant’s competitors are being forced to make difficult decisions regarding the long-term future of their print titles, perhaps they should focus on smaller, more focused projects.

Henry certainly believes The New European project has cast a positive light for the industry to following, telling journalists: “It should give everybody a boost to believe that while the industry might be in tough times you can actually be progressive, innovative and do exciting stuff. Why not?”