Observations

Giveaways are booming, and some think it is only a matter of time before a Fleet Street title follows them, reports James Robinson in the Observer (25.11.07)

In this article there are some interesting conclusions and observations from some of the key players involved in the London freesheet battle. One of which is from Steve Auckland, MD at Metro -

'People weren't sitting on tubes or trains reading papers before Metro came along. A few of them might have been reading a book, but most of them were staring into space.'

One might make the same conclusion when chronicling the impact of the iPod. But to say that very few people were listening to music on the tube before the iPod came along would be inaccurate. Does Mr Auckland truly believe that before the Metro, no-one read books, magazines, work reports, newspapers or any other type of literature on public transport? Perhaps this was a tongue in cheek comment, but for me, Mr Auckland is attempting to make us believe and buy into the one thing that Apple, Associated Newspapers et al work very hard for on a daily basis. That the products they tout are items essential to our daily existence. That we must have these items in our lives to make our lives feel more complete.

In a sense, iPod's and Free newspapers are bought to market in quite similar ways. Both are backed up by big budget marketing campaigns, they are both very visible on the streets, and they are both aimed at 20-30 somethings.

I for one, whilst being a fan of the iPod did not buy one for 2 years based on the fact that I felt I didn't need one at that stage. Eventually I succumbed. This was perhaps because the cleverly designed and ubiquitous poster campaigns which were designed to be completely unavoidable and irresistable eventually got through to me.

The same is true of the free newspapers. We will all eventually grow to love one of the many free publications that will be made available to us I suppose, but that does not escape the fact that free literature publishers must be made to contribute far more to the clean up bill.

Through their seemingly inexhaustable availability the free papers are indeed very successful. But that doesn't make the producers of them any less responsible for paying towards more of the clear up costs.

We at Project Freesheet shall be striving to do just that.