Launching by stealth is obviously all the rage with Bowie last week and prolific entrepreneur and journalist Nick Jaspan today.
Nick and his team have unveiled Prolific North a new destination for news, opinion, features and gossip about the comings and goings of creative and media companies in the North.
The trained observers amongst us will spot a similarity with ‘How-Do’, Jaspan’s last major publishing venture. This is a better product. It covers a wider geographical area, it’s a better design and a much better name. When How Do first launched I didn’t get the idea of a web based publication with a limited and defined geographical reach. I do now. How-Do left a void. The north of England and particularly Manchester is a powerful source of creative, digital and media expertise and it needs a regional voice. The emergence of MediaCityUK, with the BBC, dock10 studios and ITV set to arrive in March elevates the status of Manchester to that of a global media player. There’s a great deal to talk about.
I had just a little forewarning of the launch as I was honoured to be asked to write Prolific North’s first opinion piece, but there was little or no pre-publicity. The reaction to the launch of the title today has been vocal and overwhelmingly positive. At Rule 5 we’re delighted that Prolific North has arrived.
RULE 5 
It’s great to see Jaspan back. The to and fro already happening on Prolific North already indicates how much of a void was left by the sad demise of How Do
I agree with both Rob and Simon, and all the Tweeting on Twitter today! It really is good to see Nick and his team back on the scene, and we will support this initiative all we can. In particular, I want to support the Prolific North service with our http://www.northernsohomentormatch.com scheme, which links older/more experienced people in the business with younger/less experienced, with help, support, advice, coffee, tea, etc! as they make their jourenys into and through our wonderful industry!
PS Are both of you – and anyone else reading this – willing to be Mentors? I’ll be writing to you separately!
Well done Nick. I was distraught when How-do went down it was exactly what our industry needed locally. I’m sure Prolific North will soon be the perfect replacement. Good luck.