Monday, October 16, 2006

London Free Sheet Wars

The London freesheets are a never-ending source of interest for me. The quality of the new evening papers is mixed but, as I commented here, I quite like thelondonpaper.

I've been trying to deduce the compensation models for the distributors of the various papers and outlined some theories here.

Further evidence of the absolute desperate nature of the competition was provided today.

I took today off and had lunch with some friends in Central London. We noticed a "thelondonpaper" distributor setting up stall towards the end of our meal and we watched what he did.

Once his stall was set up, he walked down the road and placed a copy of the paper on every parked motorbike. He then placed a copy on top of the street furniture (bollards, post boxes, you name it: if it was stationary, he deposited a paper on it).

He then came over to the bar we were sat outside of (that it is warm enough to sit outside in the middle of October is worthy of another post. Let's just say that if this is the effect of global warming, I'm going to start burning more oil... :-p  )

Back to the story... he came over to the tables and gave everybody a copy of the paper.

So far, so entrepreneurial, perhaps.

It was only when I started to read the paper on the tube that I discovered his pièce de resistance. He had carefully placed a second copy of the paper inside the first!

The pressures on these guys to shift more copies must be utterly intense.

No comments: