The New Paper Rebrand: Resuscitated, But for How Long?
Say goodbye to the ✔️
SPH Media’s 36-year-old newspaper, The New Paper (TNP), recently refreshed its brand identity after more than eight years.
Like many traditional news media outlets, TNP has repeatedly changed its distribution strategy to cushion the fall in readership. Launched in 1988 as a tabloid, it was once the second-highest circulating paid English-language newspaper before becoming a freesheet in 2016. In 2021, The New Paper became digital-exclusive.
SPH Media describes The New Paper as “an outlet that keeps readers up to speed with hyperlocal content such as community, entertainment, lifestyle, racing, and inspiring social stories.”
The New Brand Identity
TNP’s wordmark uses Bitter, a narrow slab serif which gives the brand a youthful and modern feel. The word “New” is bolded and italicised for emphasis and helps break up the wordmark, as there are no spaces between the words.
The electric blue-yellow colour combination sets the logo apart from its SPH Media peers, which largely use muted colours. This is the first time orange is absent from the logo, though it still appears as part of the website’s UI colours.
A curious omission from TNP’s brand identity is the tick, a defining element of the paper since its launch. Although it remains as the site’s favicon and TNP’s Instagram profile photo, it is nowhere to be found on the website, suggesting that these graphics were not updated.
Think of TNP dropping the tick like X removing the blue bird icon. Sure, the tick is not synonymous with the paper, but discarding a symbol used for over 30 years signals a fresh start. TNP is betting that its new wordmark will become just as recognisable—but that’s unlikely, given how visually plain it is.
On Facebook and TikTok, TNP’s profile photo lists the outlet’s tagline in deadpan fashion: “local, vocal social.”
The refreshed website is definitely more alive than the profile photos let on. The homepage is sleek, well laid out, and concise—featuring only 10 headlines. Six are the latest articles, while the other four are top reads.
Look closer at the articles, and you’ll realise that a fair number are taken from The Straits Times (ST). This begs the question…
Why Does The New Paper Still Exist?
The paper built a strong following of sports fans over the years, thanks to its extensive coverage and explainers with eye-catching visuals. Together with soccer commentaries by writers like Neil Humphreys and Edwin Yeo, TNP had an edge over mainstream news outlets with its comprehensive sports section.
Another long-running humour column was Act Blur by SM Ong, who strung together the week’s biggest stories into relatable rojak. These types of articles made TNP the fun cousin of ST. Even its news graphics were stylistically daring and bold—a snapshot of sensationalist print design from a bygone era.
Many of these columnists have moved on to other outlets (in SM Ong’s case, ST), or have left the news business. Today, the paper is run by a tiny team of three journalists and an editor—smaller than some news desks. So, what is TNP’s focus now?
A new section called Kopitime publishes letters from readers (read: free content). Think of it as a mix between Reddit posts and Stomp articles—ranging from grievances about inaccessible estates to complaints about missing McDonald’s condiments.
On the branding front, Kopitime’s logo clashes with TNP’s as it does not use the same shade of blue. But that is the least of its problems—this section will not restore TNP to its former glory.
Reddit succeeds because the community curates the best posts through upvotes, with replies adding another layer of engagement. Stomp has been publishing reader submissions since its inception—so why would readers bother with TNP? Kopitime makes TNP a shell of its former self.
Furthermore, TNP once organised events like The New Paper Big Walk and The New Paper New Face, a modelling competition that discovered actress Julie Tan and DJ Jade Rasif. These events cemented TNP’s status as an influential media brand. With a team of four, they are unlikely to return.
What’s Next for The New Paper?
To predict TNP’s future, we can look at its rival, Mediacorp’s Today. Like TNP, Today started as a tabloid before going digital-only—until it was absorbed into CNA last year and rebranded as CNA Today, a long-form weekend magazine.
Had TNP remained focused on sports, its best-case scenario would have been integration into ST under its sports section. Now, it seems like TNP is marching towards extinction.
TNP needs a sharper focus that honours its legacy. Its new brand identity offers an opportunity to course-correct and SPH Media should look at TNP’s roots for direction, lest TNP ends up on a checklist of brands to axe.
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Branding Singapore is a series which highlights notable local brand identities.
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