Launching of a new look

While I was at the Citizen Newspaper in Bothell we were purchased by the Persis Corporation.

They owned a number of newspapers and we were placed under the daily paper they owned in Bellevue. It was 1987.

It created a lot of problems and opportunities.

Instead of printing on our own small press, we started printing our paper in Bellevue. That’s where the opportunities came in.

One of the Persis executives, Phil Gialanella, who was headquartered in Hawaii, would come over about once a month and hold a big show and tell time.

He was instrumental in the development of the newspaper USA Today, and he liked to tell about how it was developed and launched.

He said a number of key newspaper people were put in a house to battle out the format and launch, and they were not allowed to be in contact with anyone on the outside. Everything was secret.

In a conversation one day he suggested that we should redesign our paper and have a launch of our own.

Money was not an issue.

I hired a full-time photographer who had experience in shooting for color and teamed with a company newspaper designer and a bean counter to start the process.

We worked after hours for a number of weeks rethinking our paper and coming up with a number of new ideas.

One of the first things we did was to meet with the Bellevue press operator to understand what we would be able to do using his press.

The design of our paper enabled us to get a cleaner look with a sort of order in how we laid it out each week.

With the press configuration, we learned that we could press three sections in one run with full color in at least two sections.

We weren’t asked to report our progress, only to let corporate know when we were ready to plan the launch.

I was given a budget of $25,000 for the launch.

We developed an invitation list of largely advertisers and community leaders with our graphic designer developing the invites.

I rented a building that was a spec building between Bothell and Woodinville, had the power turned on, and got some large heat fans to warm it up.

Our designer developed our theme, “A Community Paper with a colorful difference.”  We ordered wine glasses with the theme printed on them. We hired a caterer to prepare and serve the food, and I hired a small band to provide entertainment.

We set a date for the launch and worked hard to get enough advertising to make a big splash. In that, the advertising salespeople in Bellevue added a number of ads.

The evening of the launch saw a handful of execs from Hawaii there. Our paper was being pressed at that time and soon delivered.

I had asked if any of the Hawaii crowd wanted to speak and was told that it was my show.

I introduced several of the people who were there and invited everyone to fill their plates. The paper was placed at the dining table for people to pick up.

It was 42 pages, in three sections with color throughout.

It was an expensive promotion only a corporation used to spending money could pull off.

It took much longer each week to plan the paper with the prospect of color guiding the show.

“A community paper with a colorful difference.”