Celebrating The Observer

This month we celebrated the 100th issue of the Oxford Observer. The Observer was started in 2011 by Jill Edwards to fill the gap she saw in getting local news and information out to the rural areas around Oxford. She named it ‘The Oxford Observer’ after a publication that was started in 1889 in Oxford. Jill began with an 8 page black and white publication, and it became a popular source of local news and information.

We bought the paper in 2018 and have worked on making some changes over the last two years. We wanted to bring a more magazine format to it, so we changed it to full colour and glossy paper to make it stand out from everything else people are receiving in their letterbox. We were also able to extend the distribution, and increase the number of pages.

 With the difficulties in print media, including the recent closing of long standing magazines in New Zealand, there is talk of how print media is dead. However, when it comes to magazines, most people like to hold them in their hands, not read them online. One of the things we really focused on was having the Observer be something people would want to hold onto, and not just throw straight in the recycling, as many do with newspapers. Lots of our older readers are not online, so would miss out on the content if it was not in physical form. The feedback we get from people, is that it sits on their coffee table and they go back to it many times in the month. This has a flow on benefit to our advertisers, in that their ads are seen time and time again, rather than just being scrolled past once on social media.

 Like everyone, we have seen some impacts of Covid-19 on our business. We rely solely on advertising, and many of our advertisers had to close their businesses for a time as well. Going forward, we are keen to expand into other areas. We have dropped the ‘Oxford’ from ‘The Oxford Observer’ to reflect the fact that we already cover a wide area, and hope to make this wider still. However, we are based in Oxford, and we certainly won’t be losing any of the Oxford content.

 We still intend to focus on showcasing local information, people who are doing great things in their community and local businesses. Truly local content connects North Canterbury Communities and enables us to support businesses, community projects, and celebrate the awesome people of our District.

Contact
Bruce and Emily Chapman

PH: 0800 627 378 37
EMAIL: advertise@oxfordobserver.co.nz
FACEBOOK: - The Observer

The Observer are also based at
Niche Shared Space
Level 1, 210 High Street, Rangiora
(appointments are recommended)