The Hindu Business Line : When media brands advertise

Mrinalini Gupta was a worried lady. As the Vice-President, Marketing, of Hindustan Times (HT), the Capital's largest selling newspaper, she faced a peculiar situation. The 70-year-old market leader was not particularly deterred when a competitor threatened its position. The issue here was that a chunk of its young readers perceived HT to be an `old fashioned' paper. "As it happens with a lot of heritage brands, somewhere consumers start to feel that it is an old fashioned brand. This is the problem HT faced too," she says. So, HT decided to go in for an image makeover. In came the ad agency. The brief given to them was simple: Position HT as a contemporary, dynamic, youthful and "smart" brand. In September 2001, the newspaper splashed the Live Smart campaign across different media. "The campaign helped us to build the brand image in the right direction," she says. NRS 2002 figures are awaited to see the results.

ADVERTISING by media companies (newspaper, magazine or a TV channel) is an age-old phenomenon. Earlier, every player operated in a specific market and hardly had any competition to worry about. Back then, advertising by a media brand was merely communicating the product's attributes, in its own medium. However, increase in competition has now forced media brands to look beyond product parameters (such as content and design) and offer consumers those intangibles that contribute to brand building. This meant media owners had to keep track of whether the brand's personality was in sync with the profile of the consumer. For instance, HT created a sync with its smart positioning. Mrinalini says, "Every one wants be associated with being smart. As a paper we are providing smart new ideas, thoughts and insights. Hence, the tagline Live Smart."

They also needed to communicate to a larger audience and advertising across media, therefore became necessary. For instance: Indian Express has a TV spot to communicate its "Making it a point" message, BBC promotes its programmes on radio and in newspapers. Society, a lifestyle magazine, advertises on TV.

Targeting the consumer and the advertiser

The communication objective of a media company is to build its brand among non-users (non-readers/non-viewers) and consolidate its position among users. There are specific situations when a media company chooses to advertise:

To announce the launch of a new product

To bolster circulation (or viewership) or prop up ad revenues

To counter competition

To expand into new markets/new income segments

Take a look at the first situation:

When Ajay Vidyasagar took over the reins of the Star Vijay TV, he was aware of the enormous brand loyalty that the market leader, Sun TV, enjoyed. He also knew that Star Vijay had to scream out loud for the viewer to even recognise that a new channel had arrived, rather, that an existing channel had revamped itself. As a part of its strategy, Star Vijay painted the city's skyline with hoardings announcing the launch of its prime time programmes. This set off a trend. When Sun Network responded with the launch of another channel, KTV, it also used hoardings across the city. "Today any new programme is backed by advertising and promotion," says an official of a leading advertising agency.

Ads targeted at consumers (readers/viewers) may also talk to prospective advertisers. "There is a spin-off effect. A viewer may like a programme on your channel and may decide to place his product's ad," says Vidyasagar.

Media companies also resort to specific ads targeted at advertisers and media planners. The communication objective is clear: To help in selling more space/time. For instance, Malayala Manorama, the leading Malayalam daily, runs an ad with the tag line `Kerala's No.1 channel.' It substantiates this with a comparison of readership figures. The Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle runs a similar campaign with the provocative tag line `Catch me if you can'. Says A. Vijay Kumar, General <147,1,0>Manager (Advertising), Deccan Chronicle. "A classic example is the Deccan Herald versus The Times of India (TOI) battle, DH had higher readership but lower circulation. TOI had lower readership but higher circulation." Therefore, he says, this type of communication becomes necessary to counter competition. However, such ads may not be of any relevance to a reader, points out R.Krishna Mohan, Vice-President , Ogilvy & Mather. "Ads talking to advertisers seldom make any sense to the reader," he says.

Media companies also use direct mailers extensively for this purpose. "Direct marketing is used specifically to target media planners. This is done in bursts to coincide with the beginning of the financial year or the launch of a new feature," says Jayraj Rau, Vice-President and Client services director, HTA. Television channels also use direct mailers to communicate to the distributor. "We use direct mailers to talk to our cable operators," says Star Vijay's Vidyasagar.

The need to talk to advertisers is compounded by the fact that while readership figures (or TV ratings) may quantify the reach of a media vehicle, it lacks qualitative assessment. "There is no tool to assess the qualitative aspect of reach or brand fit," says an agency official.

Sometimes, media houses also barter time/space between each other to promote their respective content. An agency official explains that such deals happen only if there is a synergy between the companies. "However, co-branded promos happen quite a bit," he adds.

Contest and sponsoring events have also become a part of a media company's brand building exercise. Regional language dailies, in particular, are using this as a specific strategy to increase circulation. For instance, Amar Ujala, a leading Hindi daily, asked its readers to answer a simple question and gave away exciting prizes: a car, a motorbike and so on.

The writing on the wall is clear: When times are tough and competition is knocking on your door, media companies cannot ignore to invest in branding initiatives. As an advertising manager of a leading English daily puts it, "A medium which helps in building several brands cannot afford to be poorly branded itself."

BBC's gameplan

YOU cannot promote news," says Jane Gorard, Director of Marketing, BBC World, while explaining that viewership for news is dependent on happenings and events in the world. Therefore, the channel is focusing on localised content that would interest the viewer. It recently launched Commando!, a reality programme for its Indian audience.

Gorard says that the channel used a number of media to promote the programme. "We did radio spots on FM targeting the listener who is driving to work in the mornings,'' she says. BBC World also uses print media to promote its India-specific programmes such as Question Time India and Mastermind India.

Gorard explains that BBC defines its target audience as IBDM - International Business Decision Maker - who may also be the channel's potential advertiser. "The idea is to reach out to this segment and therefore all our communication is directed towards them," she says.

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