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The two Telegraph newspapers appear to have been working smoothly,

so why have they jettisoned J Walter Thompson as their agency? Poppy

Brech reports.

News that The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph have split from J

Walter Thompson after more than eight years is almost as shocking as the

revelation that Her Majesty is into mobile phones.

All three are quintessentially establishment, conservative with a small

C and give the impression of being resistant to change.

In the case of the two broadsheets this may be unfair. In marketing

terms there has been a steady stream of small but significant

innovations.

The Daily Telegraph's sponsorship of the Newquay Surf festival and of

the Ministry of Sound's Knebworth 2001 Festival are just two initiatives

that acknowledge the need to attract younger readers.

The daily paper also showed that it could move fast if it needed to when

in May this year it became the first broadsheet to launch a separate

sports section for each day of the week. In doing so it proved it was

ahead of The Times and The Guardian, both of which have plans for

similar daily supplements.

On the face of it, it's hard to accuse either title of going wrong. ABC

figures for September show The Daily Telegraph maintaining its dominance

of the broadsheet market and keeping sales above the crucial one million

figure, which also puts it comfortably ahead of The Times.

Though trailing The Sunday Times by 600,000 sales, The Sunday Telegraph

recorded a respectable figure of 849,406.

As Telegraph Group managing director Jeremy Deedes admitted on

announcing the split with JWT: "There is no single reason why I feel a

move is right for us." Other than his instinct that "now is a good time

for the papers to make a change".

So what shape do these changes need to take? We asked Toby Constantine,

former marketing director of The Times and The Sunday Times, and now

corporate development director at XT Marketing and Neil Christie,

marketing director for Partners BDDH, which held The Guardian account

until January this year, for their views.

VITAL STATISTICS

Average net circulation, Year-on-year

April-Sep 2001 change (%)

The Daily Telegraph 1,023,016 -0.59

The Times 715,535 -0.7

Financial Times 478,715 4.37

The Guardian 408,656 3.82

The Independent 228,830 1.68

Source: ABC.

DIAGNOSIS - Toby Constantine

At first sight the Telegraph Group circulation looks to be in reasonable

health. The reality is somewhat different, however. Take a glance at the

latest ABC figures and you will see that sales are kept artificially

high by expensive discounting. More than 50% of its daily sales are

discounted - and the figure is nearer 70% on Sundays. Add to this the

general decline of the broadsheet market and the picture is a less than

happy one.

Perhaps more worrying is that the demographic of the readership is not

getting any younger.

As a rule, newspaper groups make for demanding clients because they tend

not to take advice well and find it difficult to understand the creative

process.

The Telegraph is particularly challenging because its key

decision-makers do not fully understand, support or even value

marketing. One suspects that the activity is seen as a necessary

evil.

To make matters worse, the group has not acquired a deep and intimate

knowledge of its purchasing base.

For these reasons, the Telegraph is a very challenging brand to work

on.

DIAGNOSIS - Neil Christie

The Telegraph is the best old-fashioned newspaper. The Times has dumbed

down to become a tabloid in broadsheet format, The Guardian continues

the slow and difficult job of transcending perceptions that it is worthy

and left-wing and The Independent has thinned out to the point of

transparency.

But the Telegraph is big and clever. It's not afraid of challenging its

readers with long, analytical pieces.

The newspaper market is in long-term decline, the victim of a media

explosion and fundamental changes in people's lives. The task for the

Telegraph is the same as for everyone else: to attract new, younger

readers before all its existing ones die off. In what is now a

repertoire market, in which people read different papers on different

days, it's important to capture and retain 'share of reading' among

promiscuous buyers.

The image that it's a paper for old buffers doesn't help. The

Telegraph's quality and depth is a strength and a weakness. It can

differentiate itself via the excellence of its journalism. But how can

it do this without appearing too challenging for new readers?

TREATMENT

CONSTANTINE'S CLUES

- Without the confidence of the editors, the appointed agency will not

create strong advertising.

- A case for brave and imaginative marketing must be built.

- To grow its franchise, the Telegraph has to address the complex needs

of a younger audience without alienating the older and loyal

readers.

CHRISTIE'S CURE

- Position it as the 'proper' quality newspaper with insight and strong

opinions.

- Promote supplements, but within a brand-building theme.

- Develop competitive positioning against The Times.

- Continue sampling initiatives as a way of changing perceptions.

- Come up with some memorable, well-branded advertising.