Indian daily unveils national print push

NEW DELHI: Hindustan Times has launched a national campaign across India, re-emphasising its sombre and serious character to give the newspaper a new shine. The press and outdoor campaign is part of efforts to broaden the paper's appeal in the 32 to 40-year old market, beyond its traditional base of readers in the 45 to 50-year segment. The campaign is the first conducted by the paper, which has a stronghold in Delhi, but is preparing to expand into Mumbai, now dominated by its biggest rival Times of India. Grey New Delhi, which won Hindustan Times' advertising account in June this year, has turned the paper's "statesman-like, conservative" image on its head, using it as a strength to position the daily. The agency's associate vice-president Prathap Suthan said these perceptions of Hindustan Times, which is over a 100 years old, were gleaned from readership research Grey conducted. "As it happens with a lot of heritage brands, somewhere consumers start to feel it is an old-fashioned brand. This was the problem HT faced," said Prathap. "Our task was to give the brand a new shine, but not make it funky or young." Instead, the five executions created for the campaign were built around the word "smart" - a choice description, which Grey's research found readers associated the brand with. However, since the idea of "being smart" varies from person to person and from one age group to another, Grey chose to focus on it as an individual's philosophy. Hence the tagline, "Live smart". In one execution, a jogger talks about fitness for a smarter life. The text continues "Like my lungs need oxygen, my brain needs inspiration. My newspaper is my jogging track."

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