Sunday morning will, for millions of UK households, mean covering the kitchen table with a mass of newspaper pages - sport, business, travel, property and careers, plus a gamut of supplements.
The vast offering of most Sunday papers these days can seem equal to half a rainforest and, for an increasingly time-poor and eco-aware society, more than a touch daunting.
With this in mind, The Mail on Sunday has slimmed down to a two-section, two-supplement product, launched mid-January, that managing director Stephen Miron describes as "a very neat proposition".
Although he insists it is not a relaunch, merely an "upgrade", he admits the previous embodiment - a 160-page, one-section paper with the usual cache of supplements - was "a pretty cumbersome product to navigate your way through".
He says: "Readers want simplicity: they want easy-to-use products."
The catalyst for the upgrade was investment in a new print plant in Didcot, which allows for greater flexibility, for example, a nationwide property section that gives advertisers the option of a regional split.
The Mail on Sunday's new look also incorporates a beefed-up travel section, with "more editorial and a lower ad ratio", reflecting the fact that travel is the paper's biggest advertising category. "You want to invest in your advertisers," says Miron.
Gender split
Miron talks about "his and hers" sections, with the first part of the paper covering manly stuff such as news, finance and sport, and the second incorporating the "fluffier" subjects such as travel, reviews, property, puzzles and an "upbeat" health section. This gender split is reflected in the paper's two magazines, Live and You.
But The Mail on Sunday's strategy is about more than targeting the two sexes. Miron admits that part of the aim is unashamedly to attract the hallowed "younger reader".
Alongside the streamlining of the paper, this means well-publicised promotions such as the Prince album giveaway last July, which, Miron estimates, gave the paper more than 拢3m in broadcast PR value alone, and an increase in non-promotional-related sales of 1.2%.
Other giveaways have included Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and an exclusive Vinnie Jones film, The Riddler, with more on the way - all part of creating a package designed to pull in readers who would otherwise bypass the paper completely.
"Readers walk through different doors," Miron explains. "We used to think everyone came in the front door (the main editorial), but we don't think that at all any more.
"People have a perception about The Mail on Sunday that is not founded on fact: (they think) that it is not a paper for them; that it is a paper for their parents.
"All we are saying is, 'we may not be what you think we are'."
However, this doesn't mean the newspaper is chasing teenagers.
"It is madness for us to target 21-year-olds," Miron concedes: "Getting a Sunday paper is a life stage. The whole thing about (Sunday papers) is that they give a nice feeling. We want to get into people's heads that we lead such hectic lives that we need to give ourselves treats, and that one of those should be buying this paper.
"I hope (the upgrade) will give us a competitive advantage," he adds, with some understatement.
Challenging market
The Mail on Sunday is already holding its own in what might generously be called a challenging market. The December ABCs showed the Sunday newspapers down by an average of 5.6% year on year, with the Mail losing just 1.4%.
"The market has been in an awful state for some years," admits Miron. "There's an issue with papers being so big; I'm not sure quality control is as it should be."
Not that Miron indulges in any schadenfreude over his competitors' misfortune.
"We don't take any pleasure in the fact that fewer people are coming into the market," he insists. "We take 20%, but I want the market to be bigger. I worry that some papers are just starving (for investment); that they've turned the lights off."
The difference at his manor, he contends, is that he is unique in being a newspaper managing director focused on one day of the week, meaning that he and the rest of his team put all their efforts into making sure that, when people do decide to devote the holy day to a newspaper, it is devoted to theirs.
"Sunday is a day when most people would traditionally buy more than one paper, but they are increasingly only buying one," he says.
"We have to make sure that when people do buy just one newspaper, it is The Mail on Sunday."
He adds: "It is only going to get harder to keep circulation and attract new people. You have to think 'what weapons have I got?'
"We have a fantastic editorial package, married with some exceptional added value, at a 拢1.50 price point. If I get that right, I have got a better chance than anybody else."
CV
2003: Managing director, The Mail on Sunday
2002: Managing director, Associated New Ventures
1998: Commercial director, Independent Newspapers
1988: Sales executive, rising to ad manager, The Mail on Sunday
1985: Sales assistant, rising to sales executive, TV Times.