Sunday Paper announces expansion
December 5, 2008 at 4:31 pm by Andisheh Nouraee in NewsLess than two weeks after he publicly offered a measly $1 million dollars to buy CL’s Atlanta operation, Sunday Paper publisher Patrick Best announced his plans today to publish editions in Tampa and Charlotte — two other markets where Creative Loafing Inc. has newspapers.
Atlanta Magazine’s Steve Fennessy wonders if Best’s announcement might be a bluff.
CL is in the midst of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Best’s move could be intended to pressure CL’s creditors into selling him the Atlanta, Charlotte and Tampa papers:
Best’s announcement could be seen as a way to elevate his profile as a potential buyer of Creative Loafing. His message then would be pretty obvious: Sell the papers to me or I’ll try to run them out of business.
If you have a second, be sure to read Sunday Paper’s terrific press release on the expansion plan.
In the final paragraph, Best openly acknowledges that Sunday Paper’s “brand” strategy is to confuse people:
“‘The Sunday Paper’ is the newspaper industry’s strongest brand,” Best says. “When you refer to the Sunday edition of the Charlotte Observer or the St. Pete Times, you refer to it as the Sunday Paper. We’re taking advantage of the good will and recognition of this product name . . .”
If his short-term expansion plans are successful, expect Patrick to eventually launch a weekly international news magazine. He’ll probably call it Thyme.
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