The Hindu Business Line : Ambush Times

It started with the teaser ads that had several people with a tape stuck across their lips. This was blitzkrieged across Mumbai's hoardings in a most overwhelming manner.

Suddenly, Maharashtra Times ambushed the teasers and showed similar faces peeling the tape off their faces with a message that some IRS survey had positioned them well. Before people could start thinking that the original teaser was for Maharashtra Times, Loksatta had a series of advertisements with similar people now holding the peeled-off tape in their hands and refuting Maharastra Times' claims.

In all this the original "teaser" DNA (Daily News & Analysis) actually took the tape off and went to Court against Maharashtra Times for behaving like a spoilsport. Now you know why this column decided to wait before revealing the name of the company behind the teasers. Maharashtra Times piously stood before a judge and said it had absolutely no intention of carrying on with the campaign it had initiated. Well, an ambush by definition is sudden and abrupt. You really cannot carry on an ambush "campaign" unless you are carrying on against the official cola of a World Cup Series. Then you can go to town declaring "there's nothing official about it."

DN&A

OK, for those who came in late DN&A is the name of the daily newspaper that is going to be launched initially in Mumbai by Zee-Bhaskar. The publishers say it will hit the stands by September, but the competition feels this is not true. DN&A could ambush the market and arrive in Mumbai along with the monsoons in June itself. The Agarwal brothers (Sudhir and Girish) of Dainik Bhaskar are camping in Mumbai recruiting (some call it poaching) human resource. Unfortunately, the going is rough with the talent pool almost all tied up. The Hindustan Times and The Times of India tried to suck up as much human inventory as they could from The Indian Express and Mid-day. Now DN&A is trying to grab whatever is left in these newspapers. Meanwhile, The Times of India is aggressively protecting its own turf by promising substantial goodies to loyalists. The market is thick with rumours flying around as to who has joined where.

High-level changes

HT has the irrepressible Bachi Karkaria to lead the editorial team, so one can expect some racy contemporary content. Bachi lead the charge for The Times of India in Bangalore and Kolkata with distinction. Delhi seemed to muzzle the queen of pun, but then Delhi can prove depressing for most creative people. Now she returns to Mumbai from Delhi where one is told she was rather uncomfortable in the highly politicised environment, and will no doubt make a difference to HT.

It is also almost certain that a high-profile editor of The Times of India who was abruptly moved to head only the sports desk will join DN&A with multiple responsibilities. This will be a good catch for the newcomer.

So is it going to be June/July or August/September when the blood begins to spill on the streets of Mumbai? In all this, the big question is, who will launch when. Is it going to be HT or DN&A to be the first off the starters' block in the Mumbai sweepstakes?

Victoria is placing her bets on a dark horse you've never heard of. A new colt from The Times of India stable. And remember, we told you first.

The campaign

In the midst of all this heat and dust one must find a second to commend Rediffusion for the strategy and concept behind the DN&A campaign. An approach that attempts a buy-in from the target group from the concept stage itself is admirable. True, all the ambushing took a little steam out of the campaign, but it seems there is a lot of advertising left to come yet.

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