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Chennai’s English newspaper readers never complained of a lack of choice. And if they did, no one seemed to notice. For Chennai-ites, till recently, it was either ‘The Hindu’, or ‘The New Indian Express’. Then, came along the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle in end-March 2005, urging the reader to ‘move on’. And of course, there is ‘The Times of India’, which is, say industry watchers, playing the waiting game. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what will eventually happen in this so-called ‘traditional’ market. And most opinions lead to the question of not how ‘The Hindu’ will be challenged, but if ‘The Hindu’ would be challenged at all, on its home ground.
The ‘Institution’
In 1878, residents of Chennai started reading news published from an address at Anna Salai, which today, is a landmark by itself. Soon, the weekly became a daily newspaper and other cities followed. The progress has been consistent over the last 125 years. Today, ‘The Hindu’ sells over 10,47,121 copies, according to the ABC data for July to December 2004. In the period between Jan-June 2004, ‘The Hindu’ registered a circulation of 9,89,147 copies.
‘The Hindu’, which started as a weekly and became a daily in 1889, just had its ‘most comprehensive re-design’ and hit the stands in its new ‘avatar’ from April 14, the occasion of Tamil New Year’s day. This has been done under the guidance of design guru, Dr. Mario Garcia, whose much-acclaimed collaboration with over 450 news organisations across the world include work for ‘The Wall Street Journal’. He has previously worked with the ‘Malayala Manorama’ in India, and more recently, with ‘The Week’.
The view that ‘The Hindu’ has embarked with a re-designing mission in the face of new entrants into Chennai’s English daily space is far from reality. The process of re-designing was set in motion as early as 1994 and the current re-designing activity was started off six to eight months ago, according to N. Murali, Joint Managing Director, ‘The Hindu’. He adds, “This is the most comprehensive redesign in ‘The Hindu’s history. Last time, it was done through a journalist turned designer called Edwin Taylor in 1998-99.”
Murali explains, “The entire process has taken about eight months. We aligned the entire organisation to the process — bringing the edit, marketing and design teams on board. Based on dipsticks on dummies, where we received positive feedback, we decided to go ahead. No real research was undertaken.” Dr. Garcia’s confidence seems to have helped in the decision, with his conviction on what would appeal to readers directing the publication’s way forward on design.
To read the entire story, grab your copy of Impact Advertising and Weekly magazine issue dated April 18-24, 2005