Plans for ‘colour-blind’ yuppie paper

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s biggest media firm, Naspers, plans to launch a newspaper aimed at a generation of professionals who have moved beyond racial politics to focus on careers, money and style.

Deon du Plessis, the brain behind Daily Sun – South Africa’s biggest-selling daily and first full-blown tabloid – said the new daily would be aimed at professionals of all races aged 25 to 40 and living in the smart suburbs of Johannesburg and Pretoria. “We are aiming it at what I call the COOLS – the career-focused, online, out of time, living to the max and doing it all in style,” Du Plessis told Reuters.”These are people who aren’t reading newspapers – not because they don’t want to, but because there’s nothing that appeals to them,” he said.Naspers’ last big launch, Daily Sun, has transformed South Africa’s newspaper market since it hit newsstands in 2002 as a pioneer tabloid newspaper for the country’s vast black townships and has spawned a host of copycat titles.The new newspaper – Nova – will be ‘colour-blind’ and cater to a generation more interested in money, style and careers than in the racial politics and social divisions that defined their parents’ generation under apartheid.”Colour has disappeared from their lifestyle,” said Du Plessis.”It’s not about politics; it’s about moola,” he said, using the township slang word for money.Du Plessis said the idea was born when he started thinking about how to cater to young black professionals moving from the townships into formerly white-only suburbs.He spotted a gap in the market for black and white yuppies alike, who shun the mostly staid broadsheets or downmarket tabloids in favour of magazines and the Internet.The paper will be modelled on the British trend for broadsheet newspapers in a tabloid format – a first in South Africa.Nova, which launches on Monday, will be published by Media24, a unit of Naspers.- Nampa-Reuters”We are aiming it at what I call the COOLS – the career-focused, online, out of time, living to the max and doing it all in style,” Du Plessis told Reuters.”These are people who aren’t reading newspapers – not because they don’t want to, but because there’s nothing that appeals to them,” he said.Naspers’ last big launch, Daily Sun, has transformed South Africa’s newspaper market since it hit newsstands in 2002 as a pioneer tabloid newspaper for the country’s vast black townships and has spawned a host of copycat titles.The new newspaper – Nova – will be ‘colour-blind’ and cater to a generation more interested in money, style and careers than in the racial politics and social divisions that defined their parents’ generation under apartheid.”Colour has disappeared from their lifestyle,” said Du Plessis.”It’s not about politics; it’s about moola,” he said, using the township slang word for money.Du Plessis said the idea was born when he started thinking about how to cater to young black professionals moving from the townships into formerly white-only suburbs.He spotted a gap in the market for black and white yuppies alike, who shun the mostly staid broadsheets or downmarket tabloids in favour of magazines and the Internet.The paper will be modelled on the British trend for broadsheet newspapers in a tabloid format – a first in South Africa.Nova, which launches on Monday, will be published by Media24, a unit of Naspers.- Nampa-Reuters