Having beaten News International to the punch last Wednesday with its rushed-looking London Lite, Associated paid the price as thelondonpaper appeared looking more bright and modern and by having a design that clearly marks it out from the competition.
However, the two papers splashed with identical stories, covering the death of Steve Irwin, the Australian "crocodile hunter" and conservationist.
While some might find it disappointing that thelondonpaper failed to find a true London story to launch with, its cleaner design managed to pack a lot more on its front page than its rival London Lite's messy and dated look.
Out on the streets, it appeared that thelondonpaper also had the advantage with the more polished distribution of the two, which will be a key factor in the ongoing success of the two papers.
According to today's Media Week, News International claimed to have 700 distributors handing out 400,000 copies in Zone 1, while Associated has more than 500 merchandisers also giving away 400,000 copies in an expanded area which, additionally, takes in parts of Zone 2.
Among media buyers, there was a clear tilt towards the newest arrival.
Paul Thomas, MindShare managing partner, said: "I would definitely say that as a product thelondonpaper looks cleaner and somehow more modern than Lite.
"I'm not sure why this is, but Lite feels like it's from the Daily Mail stable. It must be something to do with layout, I also think that the 2cm height difference somehow makes a difference."
Similarly for Steve Goodman, group press director at MediaCom, thelondonpaper had the edge. "I'd say that out of the two products, I think thelondonpaper has the edge over its target market. In terms of the type font and its overall layout it's less cluttered and has a more modern feel, which I think will appeal to its designated readership."
However, he also saw good in London Lite, which he sees as a strong product too.
Thelondonpaper, with its colour-coded design -- blue for London news, pink for London shopping and mustard for television, with other sections on shopping, green news, sport and gossip -- gave a real impression that it had packed a lot in, which buyers picked up on.
One said that it looked like it had a lot in it, adding to the impression that time had gone into the thelondonpaper and that Associated Newspapers had been caught out.
"I think that given the time that Associated have had to work up a possible London freesheet, why have they been caught on the hop? At the end of the day, I saw lots of people having both products, the success or failure will be down to the readers," Thomas said.
As for the reader, Goodman sees clear evidence that thelondonpaper has put the time in and researched its reader and has someone in mind.
"Thelondonpaper has done a lot of analysis into its demographic. It's looked at the flow of pedestrians and who its readers are. The danger of spreading its footprint is that it will dilute the purity of its audience. But the chances are they might widen their distribution a bit further out once the audience has had a chance to assess both products."
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