The passing of Heath Ledger is sad, especially of one so young and with so much potential. His star status will mean newsagencies will be extra busy for the next couple of weeks starting with today’s newspapers (the Herald Sun today devotes the first seven pages to the story). One only has to look at the Google News listings to see how big this story is on the world stage. Who magazine will lead on Friday with what is sure to be massive coverage by the weekly magazines. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the weeklies due Monday publish early.
While it may sound mercenary, newsagents could consider taking orders to ensure fans get their copy of Who, and any other magazine with a Heath Ledger feature in the next few days. We will need to create displays based around the story and co-locate titles.
How we handle major news stories like this says something about how relevant we see ourselves as being. Our competitors in the newspaper and magazine categories – supermarkets, petrol outlets and convenience stores – will do what they usually do and have stock in the right slots on the right shelves. We can prove our relevance by going the extra mile and owning the story. Many newsagents did this with the passing of Steve Irwin.