The revamp will see the newspaper renamed The People from Sunday August 18 and launched with a new 48-page sports supplement called SP, which the publisher claims will be Britain's biggest sports newspaper.
SP will be distributed free in the newspaper, allowing the main paper to focus on news and showbusiness content. People Magazine is also being overhauled with a new design and a new editor.
Neil Wallis, editor of the People, said: "The SP is a totally new concept: a standalone sports newspaper with its own editorial team, its own masthead and its own distinct identity."
The five-week TV advertising campaign will focus on the paper's sports content. It will centre on football-related programmes such as ITV's 'The Premiership' and 'On the Ball' and Sky Sports football coverage.
The ad, created by M&C Saatchi, was directed by Brian Baderman. It shows a reader carrying out mundane Sunday tasks before becoming spellbound by a copy of the SP sports supplement.
Alisdair Luxmoore, Mirror Group Newspapers marketing director, said: "The People is the ultimate escape with its celebrity news and now, the UK's best sports paper. The People relaunch TV campaign dramatises this feeling with a compelling public information film, complete with amateur actors, starbursts and, of course, scantily dressed young women."
The news of the relaunch follows recent speculation that Trinity Mirror was looking to sell the newspaper, which trails sister title the Sunday Mirror, the sector's second-biggest paper, by around 400,000 copies. Both lag way behind the market leader, the News of the World, by at least 2m.
In the latest ABC figures for the month of July, the Sunday People recorded sales of 1.324m, while the Sunday Mirror had a circulation of 1.762m. The News of the World has a sale of 3.862m.
Wallis said: "The People has had a great year, holding its own in the toughest of marketplaces. We are already in a strong position, and we decided that now was the time to raise our game even further."
Reports earlier in the year indicated that Express Newspapers proprietor Richard Desmond was interested in the title. He is also thought to have been considering launching a Sunday edition of The Star, but has put plans for this on hold.
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