Galway Advertiser 2003/2003_11_06/GA_0611_E1_040.pdf 

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Galway Advertiser

November 6 2003

The need for a new design
vagaries of the economy. If advertising falls, so too does our income and our ability to produce a paper of this magnitude and quality. hen telling people over the last few weeks of Consequently how a free paper survived the decades pre our redesign plans and change of printers, I the Celtic tiger is a tribute to the people of Galway and to was surprised by the number who said "why Ronnie O'Gorman and those who worked with him over the bother? Isn't it grand as it is." years through thick and thin, making the Advertiser the Because people cherish the Advertiser so much, because most successful and widely read local newspaper in the it is such a part of Galway life, people were, it seemed, precountry. pared to overlook its many print deficiencies. Nobody gave it a prayer when it started up in 1970 but in However, despite this vote of confidence, I was not althe interim it has become part of the culture of Galway, truways pleased with the way it looked. To be honest, there ly growing with the city from an initial print ruin of 8,000 were many Thursdays when I kicked doors and threw in 1970 to almost 47,000 now. Its success has tempted many down the paper in frustration because articles and photoothers to enter the market and over the years, we have graphs carefully crafted had been ruined by lack of printseen other newspapers come and go in a bid to tap into the ing clarity -- errors caused by a variety of reasons. There formula. Yes, competition is healthy, just as blatant imitawere times when advertisers who had trusted us to carry tion is the most satisfying form of flattery. their message saw their ads blurred or miscoloured. It hurt The secret is there is no secret formula. Good newspa-- because we care about the product. pers do not flourish overnight. What we have is a hardMuch of this happened because the newspaper was working team who are giving their all to bring you the unique -- at 120 pages and 47,000 copies making it by far readers a fine free paper every week. the largest circulation local newspaper And have been for almost 34 years. in the country, producing it was, and Our journalists and photographers still is a mammoth task, squeezed as it have won many awards over the years; is into a three-day period of intensity. our premises is a landmark building in Because of our size, it is only now the heart of the city and all of our staff that our quest for full perfect quality are highly motivated and organised, as colour has been completed. you can tell when you walk through Other papers with smaller exaggerour office doors. ated circulation could go full colour, So I thank you for supporting us and without revealing their true circulapledge that we will stick by Galway, tion to the official auditors as we and pushing every cause and highlighting the Connacht Tribune group are willthe plight of the ordinary citizen. ing to do. We are in this for the long haul. We I'm a great believer in the principle are not like these new-type newspaof the free newspaper, a newspaper pers set up for a few years before then which knows no demographics and is flogging it off to the highest bidder, unread by prince and pauper, as it goes der the pretence of fictional circulation indiscrimintaely through the letterfigures. News and advertising is in our box. I am proud that the people of Galblood and always will be. way city and county are unique in getThey say the first 30 years are the ting such an overall entertaining and hardest, Staying in it that long proves useful paper free of charge. the commitment of the publisher to People often ask me why we don't Declan Varley, editor. the community. charge for it. As a student in Galway in In fact in our new design our trademark front page dethe 1980s, I and a colleague undertook the first major readsign is a retro trip back to the 1970 original you see reprinership survey for the Galway Advertiser and the findings ted here on these pages, proving the enduring nature of the even then revealed that people were prepared to pay someoriginal image and product. thing for the then 50 page paper. Now it's twice that size So will this new design change our paper? Probably not. and the question is still asked. In a fortnight's time many of you will have forgotten what The real reason we do not charge for it is that by rethe old design looked like and that's the way it should be. maining free, we can guarantee every advertiser that it will Will this new design make this a better paper? Perhaps be read in 47,000 homes by a total of 180,000 people. No othin the same way make-up makes someone a better person, er single issue of any newspaper, local or nationa, is read ie, not at all. by as many people in the Galway city and county area. Or However, what I hope it will achieve is that the experieven comes close to that coverage. Even to charge one cent ence of reading and viewing becomes easier; that you do for it would take away that guarantee. That is why it is free not have to strain to read an article; that a photograph or and will always remain free. story crafted by our fine photographers and writers will be However, because we are free, we are most vulnerable. published the way they intended it to be and if that hapPaid for papers are guaranteed tens of thousands of euro pens, come Thursdays I won't be kicking doors anymore. each week through their charge, but we are slaves to the BY DECLAN VARLEY, EDITOR, GALWAY ADVERTISER

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The massive Irish Times print plant at City West, Europe's most modern print facility -- Photo: Mike Shaughnessy.

Irish Times press and publishing manager Freddie Snowe presents Galway Advertiser founder and chairman Ronnie O'Gorman with the first copy of the first full-colour 128-page Galway Advertiser after it came off the presses at Citywest. Photo: Mike Shaughnessy

Galway Advertiser distribution manager Vicky Carroll, with colleagues Edel Noone and Breda Hannon inspecting the new product as it came off the presses at Citywest.