The European starts big push for Elan revamp

The European will launch a series of heavy promotions around the revamp of its lifestyle Elan section as a glossy magazine at the start of February.

Promotion will include poster and radio advertising, supported by an extensive point-of-sale campaign. It is the culmination of investment by the paper’s owners, the Barclay brothers, aiming to revive advertisers’ confidence in the paper.

The new magazine will be the first part of a gradual tweaking of the whole paper, to strengthen its appeal outside the UK, particularly among the travel, perfume and luxury goods sectors.

“We’d like to be an all-round title that appeals to the pan-European reader,” says European head of marketing Manfred Mareck.

“We are blinkered about supplements in the UK, but glossy environments appeal to the pan-European perspective,” says TMD Carat director Neil Jones.

Morale at the title was said to be very low last year, after it was hit by a series of resignations, including that of chief executive Greg Macleod.

But sources at the paper suggest the present circulation of nearly 161,000 will show considerable growth when July to December ABC results emerge next month.

Commercial director Mike Moore, former advertising director at Express Newspapers, joined the paper at the beginning of this month. He is expected to increase the company’s revenue through merchandising and licensing projects.