Taking a leaf out of English print dailies, ‘Dainik Jagran’, one of the largest selling Hindi dailies in the country, has launched a customised city supplement for all its 26 editions. Apart from keeping uniform masthead across 49 cities, there are some changes done on the layout, with more photographs and white space having a more enhanced role on the page.
Stating reasons for the changes in the supplement, Sanjay Gupta, CEO & Editor, ‘Dainik Jagran’, says, “To sustain our leadership status in the market, it is necessary that the packaging of products or services should be contemporary. It helps to eliminate the fatigue factor by rejuvenating the brand. Particularly in the newspaper business, periodic changes in the product (both look of the product and the content) are a must to keep the reader glued.”
The changes incorporated in the look of the city supplement are also an exercise in brand building and is purely content driven. Gupta adds, “Earlier, the layout of the city supplements were different for different cities. We decided to make it uniform across the Jagran domain to boost the recall value of the brand.”
Gupta says that competition has not spurred the process of bringing about these changes. “It’s because the advertisers and marketers found it difficult to comprehend the nuances of various city supplements with different names,” he adds.
But isn’t a city supplement more of a metro phenomenon? Gupta does not agree and says, “With the times, markets have evolved. The readers in the small cities have their own aspirations such as shopping malls, eating joints, fun zones, multiplexes, and amusement parks. We try and satisfy the reader by giving him content that covers city events and satisfies his varied aspirations.”
Gupta adds, “City supplements were believed to be beneficial only in metro cities in terms of both attracting new readers and advertisers. We are present in metros, big and small cities too. In all the targeted 49 cities, we were already coming out with supplements. These supplements have helped us to reach out to more urban readers simultaneously also provided advertisers better value and new opportunities.
To read the entire story, grab your copy of Impact Advertising and Weekly magazine issue dated May 30-June 5, 2005
