Geoff Tan, now Singapore Press Holdings' senior vice president and head of strategic marketing, used famously to channel Steve Jobs on speaking engagements, dressing in the trademark sneakers and black teeshirt.

For Eugene Leow, it's Taylor Swift.

Not the long legs and blonde locks, but an understanding of audience that has made the singer the most adored of her generation.

And it's clearly working: At the Asian Digital Media Awards this month, Leow and his team collected 13 awards in the 12 categories, including five gold and six silver.

Despite his "old school" newspaper background, the digital editor at the group's flagship Straits Times says he is now focussed on understanding millennials' habits and creating content for an digital audience of they are a key part.

If that's possible, he categorises them into the 'accidental news junkie' - who consumes news off social media but doesn't really care about it, spending so much time on Facebook and Twitter that he develops a soft-focus expertise in current affairs - the 'news hermit' who doesn't keep up with current affairs but thinks he should, and the 'news snob' - the one who feels more sophisticated reading international publications, but misses out on local news as a result.

In an address after the awards presentations, he explains that millennials are tribal readers, quickly processing more information than ever, but attracted by clear, authentic opinions and what Leow calls 'the Thai commercial' effect... emotional content which tugs at the heartstrings.

But while content can be copied in seconds, a good user experience is less easy to replicate, and plays a key role in brand building.

At the Straits Times, the focus has been on growing the 'what' - with breaking news, videos and live blogs - and deepening the 'why' and the inspirational, with opinion and analysis, web specials and effort put into interactive graphics.

Special events - such as the ST Run, movie and other treats, contests and games - plus curated content via e-books and newsletters, all help retain subscribers.

Is it worth it? "Hell yeah, we won all those awards yesterday, didn't we," he tells delegates.

Which brings us to the star loving fans call 'Tay Tay': "If all else fails, we ask ourselves, 'what would Taylor Swift do'," says Leow.

Taking leaves out of the singer's book, the WWTSD factor delivers attention to:

-engaging directly, one on one;

-expressing your emotions;

-being accessible and personal, "including pictures of your wardrobe etc";

-creating viral moments and showing up unexpectedly; and

-giving presents to fans.



Not that the ST success is all driven by emotion and engagement. Leow says technology-driven publishing also plays a major part. A new metered paywall allows users to choose what they read, but requires registration at an early stage and then subscription.

"Most readers never pay, so you need to collect data and emails, and try to upsell them," he says.

Personalisation delivers the content users want, reflecting that they are short of time and have different and niche interests. Effectively, the result is a personalised homepage for every reader, with editors pinning specific stories and putting others into pools, from which algorithms draw the best fit for each person.

"Real-time data helps in building a returning and loyal audience," he says, "while tools let editors test headlines, images and story positions." On hand are AT Internet, Chartbeat, SimilarWeb, Echo Box, Locowise, Facebook Analytics and Google Trends.

Singapore Press Holdings has also invested in the ST Innovation Lab - a space for journalists to experiment with new technology, and where it can promote hackathons and 'proof of concept'; somewhere to explore new ways of creating content, extending reach and securing a future."It also helps us bring our IT colleagues closer to editorial," Leow says. "We're not a tech company, but we're competing with them."

The fundamentals - a crack team with a good grounding in journalism - are firmly in place, but the Straits Times' ongoing awards and digital success depends on more than that, including an awareness and understanding of what is going on, in the island state and globally. And that includes Taylor Swift.

Peter Coleman

Holding on - even Taylor Swift (main picture) has a safety wire; and Eugene Leow

Picture credit: Taylor Swift 12 photo by marcen27 (2015) https://www.flickr.com/phptps/marcen27/18910743770 (Creative Commons licence)

• Based on a presentation to WAN-Ifra Digital Media Asia 2015