Fairfax considered dropping Sydney Morning Herald masthead for SMH
As Fairfax Media negotiates with media buyers over ad rates for its new tabloid, or compact, weekday format Mumbrella has learnt the company considered dropping its historic Sydney Morning Herald masthead.
Media buyers and sources inside the company have confirmed that mock-ups were prepared replacing the newspaper’s traditional Sydney Morning Herald masthead with the “SMH” brand.
And a leaked email to staff at Fairfax’s Sydney radio station Radio 2UE reveals the company is keen to “push” SMH as a parent brand across the print, online and tablet formats.
A spokesperson for Fairfax today declined to comment on the mock-ups that had been prepared.
SMH. Tut-tut. Sorry, I couldn’t resist…
Whatever they do to the masthead, if they don’t do a sport/business lift out there will be trouble. How else will I and my partner share the newspaper around the breakfast table?
Too bad Fairfax were slow off the mark in 1994 and missed out on registering smh.com – so much for the savvyness of Conrad Black and Kerry Packer.
One of the best decisions they’ve made. The old masthead is clunky and old-fashioned. It might be historic, but this is the second decade of the 21st century.
It is interesting to note that more than 30 years ago Fairfax decided to drop the name and masthead for The Newcastle Morning Herald. The name was changed to The Newcastle Herald – because that’s what everybody called it – and the Old English masthead (similar to the SMH) was replaced by a sleek and modern print font. When the paper changed to a tabloid the masthead was further modified. The word Herald was (and still is) in large letters with Newcastle in smaller letters above it.
Fairfax shouldn’t botch the relaunch of the tabloid SMH. The paper needs a complete new look and an overhaul, and bringing in a new masthead would assist the modernisation process and make it more appealing to younger generations.
SMHuh?!!? Tampering with mastheads of respected publications needs cost/benefit thinking for each context. Internally, verbally and online, SMH may be okay, but from a reader perspective, how much brand equity would be lost when expressed in print? Would the New York Times or the Washington Post be as eager to compromise their heritage-based quality and integrity by switching to conveniently cool acronyms?
Idiots.
But where will I do my crossword? I still buy the Sydney Morning Herald but I avoid SMH like the plague! Quite frankly, if I want celebrity gossip, I’ll go to Daily Mail.
When the adults step in at Fairfax? For some time now they’ve been telling everyone that the print thing is passe and it’s all digital today. Now they’ve trying to tell people that the smaller print page is just as valuable as the old, tired big one. And then they think they might just casually kill off a famous brand for er, what? Some thing that fits in a form factor? Hello?
@Hoin, you might like to check this. But I suspect that the typeface on the sleek, modern Newcastle Herald masthead is not a whole lot newer and younger than the one it replaced.
Change it at their peril!
So let me get this straight…they are looking at a complete redesign of the paper and they shouldn’t even consider a brand change/update? Do any of you people actually have any business experience at all? I would guess they won’t change the masthead but the idea that they shouldn’t take a look at it is just silly.
Why not superscript “Sydney Morning”, leave “Herald” the same size, set it in a box and float the masthead about the front page, positioning it according to convenience and what works best with the day’s art element?
That would also leave the current masthead space as a top-dollar skybox available to advertisers.
You don’t need to be Nostradamus to know Fairfax will make a huge mess of the tabloid transition.
An honest, unadorned Helvetica? Naah, none of that — it will be some wanky font, probably serif, or a visual abomination like the one they use in the Sun-Herald, and hasn’t that paper been doing just beaut lately!
The problem with Fairfax isn’t the masthead, it’s the culture.
SMH indeed! Stroppers Make Hash
The old English masthead represents a long history of integrity in reporting. Its the guardian of what is written within the paper. Protect it at all cost.
Janet: The Silly chucked reportorial integrity (and good subbing) long ago. The latest example:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blo.....-to-ignore
When you think about it, deep-sixing the gothic masthead is entirely appropriate. What connection does today’s paper have to the tradition of integrity represented by the current masthead?
reff is obviously not a very deep thinker or appreciates Australian history – what is reff doing on Australia Day? Not very bright, if reff doesn’t understand the symbolism and value of a newspaper masthead!
Janet, on Australia Day I’ll probably go idiot-spotting. You’ve got me off to a good and early start. For God’s sake, read comments properly before mouthing off.