WSJ Europe to undergo a redesign

Posted by Emma Heald on October 27, 2009 at 11:23 AM

The Wall Street Journal Europe is to launch a redesigned newspaper on November 17, according to a press release. Changes to the WSJ's Europe-focused website will also be carried out, and the company has announced a new conference strategy for Europe.

The redesigned edition will include new analysis features, new columnists and a new front page design, said the release. Layout will be simplified and navigation made more straightforward, and it will be more colourful. A new series of eight-page special reports will be launched, "designed to provide executives with detailed information and insight on topics and themes of European concern." As of November 16, the US edition of the WSJ will no longer be printed and distributed in London, and its subscribers will be offered the European version instead.

Europe.wsj.com, the paper's region-specific website, will reflect the changes to the paper and will offer additional online-only content, blogs and daily emails.

"The changes we're planning are fundamentally a new approach to meet the needs of senior executives," said Patience Wheatcroft, editor-in-chief for The Wall Street Journal in Europe, in the press release. "We're offering our time-pressed readers more trusted and authoritative content with essential analysis, but housed in a more impactful and accessible format across print and online. We're leveraging our unrivalled global resources - including an integrated news staff of more than 400 in Europe alone - to deliver our unique content in a way that is more in tune with our audience."

The paper is planning a targeted integrated marketing campaign aimed at C-suite executives and business travellers in key European cities, said the release.

Over in the US, the Wall Street Journal just topped the Audit Bureau of Circulation's list in terms of daily circulation over the last six months, with 2,024,269 - the only paper to not to lose circulation compared to the same period last year. The paper also just announced the start of an online venture in partnership with Dow Jones: the Wall Street Journal Professional Edition, a product that could be seen as a low-cost competitor to services such as Bloomberg's.

Source: WSJ press release