Change.
That may be the most powerful word in the English language.
We went through a change this week – and you’re either holding the results in your hands or looking at it onscreen.
The Fort Worth Business Press is now Fort Worth Business. Along with the new name comes a new look, new features and a new investment in our news operation. Notice I didn’t say “newspaper.”
Yes, we’re still publishing a weekly newspaper. And now a quarterly magazine, along with our many special sections and other publications. But we, like many other publications today, are bringing increased emphasis to our online and digital platforms. We’re amping up our digital products with new graphics and designs as well. A few months back we launched a new website that allows us to offer more video, audio and better graphics to better tell your story – the story of business in North Texas.
What you’ll see:
• Our weekly publication will be called Fort Worth Business. The paper will be printed on coated stock that will look cleaner and bolder. It will also be easier to read.
• New logos and banners sporting “Fort Worth Business” or “FWB” across our publications, websites and graphic materials.
• New digital content with increased emphasis on videos, audio and graphics.
• New columns on food, wine, beer, automobiles and real estate.
Ten years ago, our digital and online publications were just blips on the radar screen. Now, hardly a day – and certainly not a week – goes by that we don’t get a comment about our twice-daily email newsletters. You’re reading us in whatever form you see us. You may not always agree with us, but that’s OK – what matters is that you’re reading us.
So what have we changed? For our weekly publication, we have a new glossy paper throughout. Photos, advertising and copy stands out. We’re adding more graphics to tell our stories visually.
And the new Fort Worth Business is slightly smaller, making it easier to handle and leaving more room on your desk or coffee table so you can keep the paper handy throughout the week.
Our design has changed, too, with bolder typefaces and easier-to-read type.
Unlike many publications that continue to cut back on content, we’re adding new features. We now offer a monthly restaurant column from longtime food writer Courtney Dabney. Readers’ passion for food and news about what and where to eat, we’ve found, is universal. Restaurants, bars and breweries are business news, but readers aren’t just viewing those stories with an eye for the economics of cuisine. They also want to know where to go for dinner.
You’ve already read about us adding Paul Harral to our staff to man our FWB CEO quarterly publication. We have other announcements coming. Suffice to say, we believe Fort Worth Business will be providing you with not just better looking content, but better and improved journalism as well.
Change is not always easy. But it happens, no matter what. Still, there’s a core to what we do that won’t change and that’s a commitment to provide the best, most relevant and reliable business and community news we possibly can.
The idea to reinvent ourselves goes back several years. But our recent push to actually accomplish the changes we’d been talking about goes back a few months. In the meantime, people have come and gone, ideas have been set in stone, scrapped and set in stone again.
Change is not easy. But standing still is not an option.
Rarely do publications get to use the words tossed around by advertisers like peanuts: New and improved. But that’s what Fort Worth Business is.
“This rebranding of our newspaper and related products is the latest manifestation of the growth and change that has marked our evolution for more than 27 years,” said Richard Connor, chairman of DRC Media, the parent company of Fort Worth Business. “The most dramatic or noticeable change, of course, is dropping “Press” from our name. This is essentially a concession to the times: The emergence of the Internet and our many digital platforms means we no longer publish only on a printing press. But let’s face it – on the street and in the homes and offices of many readers, we will still be known as the ‘Business Press,’ which is fine by us.”
As always, we want to hear from you. We’re by no means through with our changes, but let’s hear what you have to say.
So here’s our first issue of Fort Worth Business. It wasn’t an easy journey, but we’ve arrived – we’ve changed.
Want to see a copy? Contact Lauren Vay at lvay@bizpress.net