NewsLine Column: Desperately Seeking Desmond

Last week Express Newspapers boss, Richard Desmond, reaffirmed his commitment to launching a free-sheet evening newspaper in London to compete directly with the Evening Standard. Nik Vyas, group press director at ZenithOptimedia, explains why advertisers are eagerly awaiting the title…

With all Richard Desmond has had to deal with over the past few months (an aborted bid for the Telegraph, a Spanish version of OK! to rival Hello in its home market, a new TV shopping channel, the glare of publicity over the ‘Nazi’ jibes) he can be forgiven for putting the project to launch a free London evening paper to rival the Standard on a backburner. It was therefore welcome news that he last week reaffirmed his commitment to launching it as soon as the OFT reached a decision.

The original date for the launch was last spring and with a team in place there were hopes of an early entry. The lengthy delay, however, has been as result of the OFT taking an inordinate amount of time to reach a conclusion on whether Associated’s contracts with London Underground and mainline stations are anti-competitive. The agreements allow Metro to be distributed in the mornings but include an exclusivity clause that denies any one else from doing the same at any other time of the day. These arrangements clearly do nothing to foster healthy competition and the sooner they are struck out by the OFT the better for Londoners, advertisers and the publishing industry.

Desmond is right to wait until the OFT finally reaches a conclusion. With the groundswell of support he has from the advertising community it would be easy to rush to launch. However, without proper channels of distribution being established it would do nothing for the product’s credibility or long-term viability and provide critics an all too easy line on which to attack. A simple alternative would be to employ an army of merchandisers to hand out copies outside stations but most Londoner’s are averse to being accosted by strangers thrusting something in their faces and publications that utilise this method have low perceived value and lack standing. Metro has shown that people prefer to pick up their own copies from transport hubs. And they do, in their hundreds of thousands each day.

There has been much debate about the name of the new paper. Associated took Desmond to court last year to prevent him from using the monikers Evening Mail or London Evening Mail, although there is doubt that he intended calling it either. Desmond is a consummate entertainer and thorn in Associated’s side and it is just as likely he went through the whole charade as a two fingered salute to his enemies and as a method of drumming up publicity for his new project.

Whatever the paper is called, if distribution is sorted out it will be a welcome addition to London. The lack of competition in one of the most important cities in the world is astonishing and at the very least it will mean that the Evening Standard will invest more in improving the product ahead of its rival’s launch. The sooner Desmond’s paper launches the better and we look forward to the OFT finally deciding on the side of free and fair competition.

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