Opportunity for New Scottish Sunday Title to Emerge, says Hepburn

A former digital editor at the Daily Record has claimed a new Sunday newspaper could succeed in Scotland.

Iain Hepburn – who this month was appointed ‘director of brand journalism’ with digital marketing company, Contently Managed, following a spell as editor of STV’s network of hyper-local websites – has written in his blog today a “chance to do something different” exists following the closure of the Scottish News of the World.

Writes Hepburn: “There’s an opportunity there. A Sunday brings with it less costs and an opportunity to exploit what is a gap in the Scots Sunday market – a credible, modern populist newspaper with a proper multi-platform strategy is far better positioned to take advantage of Scotland’s slow switch from digital backwater to online economy.

“It offers the best of both worlds – online innovation, rolling content and VAM [valued added material] to attract the digital evangelists and, properly positioned, to take advantage of the shift in Scotland’s political landscape, plus a print version able to do what the Sunday Mail and Sunday Post don’t.

“There’s a lot of talented journalists with a point to prove and a contact book to exploit, and a new Sunday in Scotland would give them the platforms to do just that.”