Trinity Mirror’s Herald & Post series in the North East has been renamed, as part of a strategy to strengthen the brand of Newcastle’s Evening Chronicle.

The existing free newspaper series will be known as Chronicle Extra, an overt link to the main daily title.

A new edition of Chronicle Extra is also being published for Derwentside, the only area the Evening Chronicle serves which did not previously have a free title. Around 30,000 copies will distributed in that area.

Evening Chronicle editor Paul Robertson said he was confident the move was in the long-term interests of the Chronicle brand.

He said: “We are making this move from a position of strength.

“Our most recent research confirms that the Evening Chronicle is read by over 500,000 people every week and it remains the strongest media brand in the North East.

“What we are doing now is seriously strengthening the brand by using the power and consistency of our free newspaper base.

“It is one of the biggest free titles in the UK and Chronicle Extra will be a weekly reminder in 360,000 homes of all that the Chronicle has to offer.”

The Herald & Post had its own small staff, but as a result of the rebranding its team has been integrated with that of Evening Chronicle.

Staff will work across all platforms, the daily paid-for, weekly free and website, with all content handled by one team.

Chronicle Extra will have six editions, covering Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Newcastle, Gateshead and Derwentside. As with the Herald & Post it will be distributed on a Wednesday/Thursday.

Paul added: “The third element of our strategy is the further development of Chroniclelive, our companion website.

“It already has over 100,000 unique users every week and it’s an important part of our ambition to reach as many people as we can through the Chronicle brand.”

All three products will offer something different, with the Evening Chronicle concentrating on the big stories, Newcastle United and Jobs, Motors and Leisure platforms.

Chronicle Extra will focus on grass roots community news and Chroniclelive will continue to concentrate on breaking news, video, blogs, forums and podcasts.

Steve Brown, managing director of parent company ncjMedia, said the move made the most of the iconic Evening Chronicle brand which has been around for 120 years.

He said: “This strategy makes full and intelligent use of three key channels to our market: paid-for newspapers, free newspapers and online publishing.

“The Chronicle is an immensely strong brand and these significant changes will mean that just about 9 out of 10 adults in Tyneside, South East Northumberland and Derwentside will access one of the three Chronicle products every week.

“This is unbeatable audience strength and gives us an exciting and powerful base for the long-term.” Do you have a story about the regional press?
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