Puzzler, the UK’s largest creator of puzzle content, has announced it is to change its iconic logo after 43 years on newsagents’ shelves.
Puzzler Media’s most famous titles, The Puzzler and Puzzler Collection, will as of this week feature the new marque which Managing Director Neil Flockhart has described as “more modern but unmistakably Puzzler”.
He said: “Puzzler essentially defined the puzzle magazine category in the UK but we’re now in our fifth decade and I certainly don’t wear my 70s gear anymore so we decided it was time to spruce up the brand and get with the times.”
Puzzler first arrived on the shelves in 1973 when Ted Heath was Prime Minister. Since then Britain has seen 17 James Bond movies, nine Royal Weddings, hosted four Eurovision Song Contests (winning three), and gone through 10 regenerations of Doctor Who.
Puzzler Media, which introduced the first Sudoku magazine to the UK in 2005, is the market leader in the country’s £50m puzzle market where three quarters of the population are estimated to do some sort of puzzle every week.
The puzzle giant publishes over 80 titles of puzzle magazines in a category which has bucked the trend of declining sales in the magazine industry, recently expanding into Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany and Finland.
Its puzzle magazines have made a string of TV appearances over the years from EastEnders to Alan Carr Chatty Man and Puzzler Media’s Marketing Director Lynda Newland is confident fans will love the new look.
She said: “Because of how well established the Puzzler brand is with its fans, we knew that anything we created as the next step in our logo’s development had to be an evolution rather than a revolution.
“The biggest change was swapping the letter P in Puzzler for a question mark, which cements the connection between Puzzler and puzzling in a more direct way.
“It also cleverly ensures that when the magazines are stacked on shelf, the ‘?’ is still visible, meaning that Puzzler’s identity can be communicated clearly even if the consumer only sees the first letter of the name.”
It is thought that over 12 million Brits a week attempt a crossword in addition to the host of newer puzzle categories which Puzzler Media has been at the forefront of, including releasing the first Sudoku magazine and launching the UK’s only magazine dedicated to the Japanese logic puzzle Suguru.
Puzzle Club, another title in the stable, is the only puzzle magazine linked to the national curriculum and earlier this month Puzzler Media announced it has been awarded a licence by King Digital Entertainment to release the first Candy Crush magazine.
