Media caught up with some of those involved in the campaign at Spikes Asia to find out where the newspaper is going next.
The initial campaign has been well documented. Developed in 2007 by JWT India, it aimed to find the country’s next generation of leaders. JWT created enormous reader participation around this idea, including town hall meetings, online applications, video upload sites, SMS voting, reality TV shows, celebrity and political endorsement, and traditional TV and print executions. The following
The initial campaign has been well documented. Developed in 2007 by JWT India, it aimed to find the country’s next generation of leaders. JWT created enormous reader participation around this idea, including town hall meetings, online applications, video upload sites, SMS voting, reality TV shows, celebrity and political endorsement, and traditional TV and print executions. The following
‘Teach India’ campaign, focusing on volunteer teaching, picked up two Grand Prix at Spikes Asia.
Those campaigns took place in an atmosphere of optimism. By 2009, the landscape had changed. The economy had soured, India had witnessed tragedy in the terrorist atrocities in Mumbai last year, and the country was preparing for an election.
The 2009 campaign launched in March to coincide with the general election. The aim this time was to “exhort the readers to do the right thing” and vote. The campaign’s tagline ‘Let’s make this vote count’ was created by TapRoot India, the new agency from Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, the duo behind the 2008 campaign at JWT.
“2009 saw one of the most critical polls in India’s recent history. This was the real thing; no more reality shows, talent hunts and dry runs. The idea behind the campaign was to be far more intense, pragmatic and provocative rather than the jingoistic rallying call to action in 2008,” says Padhi, chief creative officer at Taproot.
Rahul Kansal, the chief marketing officer of TOI’s publisher Bennett, Coleman & Company, says that it is difficult to evaluate the actual impact of the campaign as it is an “opinion change campaign” but he says it led to wider participation of the urban, upper middle-class in the election process. “In some places like Hyderabad we saw that the number of voters had gone up from 30 per cent to about 60 per cent. The people have elected some very qualified people. There has been a palpable impact”.
As for the effects on the newspaper, Dr Bhaskar Das, executive president for TOI, admits it is hard to gauge. “Circulation has gone up, but to attribute it directly to the campaign is not fair. We picked up an issue as a national masthead of India. Crisis of leadership in India is a problem. It is not for the micro objective of circulation growth but the macro objective of taking the brand to the next level. In terms of connecting with our readers, in terms of finding a leader, we have achieved our objective.”
Whether media owners in other countries will replicate TOI’s intiative remains to be seen. Das says: “Other markets can do it if they can decode the key issues facing the country. Cause-related marketing can be done by anyone.”
Moving forward, TOI has already started working on next year’s campaign, one that will engage young people in colleges, Kansal reveals. It will almost certainly be worth the wait.
Got a view?
Email Feedback@media.asia
This article was originally published in 24 September 2009 issue of Media.
Those campaigns took place in an atmosphere of optimism. By 2009, the landscape had changed. The economy had soured, India had witnessed tragedy in the terrorist atrocities in Mumbai last year, and the country was preparing for an election.
The 2009 campaign launched in March to coincide with the general election. The aim this time was to “exhort the readers to do the right thing” and vote. The campaign’s tagline ‘Let’s make this vote count’ was created by TapRoot India, the new agency from Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, the duo behind the 2008 campaign at JWT.
“2009 saw one of the most critical polls in India’s recent history. This was the real thing; no more reality shows, talent hunts and dry runs. The idea behind the campaign was to be far more intense, pragmatic and provocative rather than the jingoistic rallying call to action in 2008,” says Padhi, chief creative officer at Taproot.
Rahul Kansal, the chief marketing officer of TOI’s publisher Bennett, Coleman & Company, says that it is difficult to evaluate the actual impact of the campaign as it is an “opinion change campaign” but he says it led to wider participation of the urban, upper middle-class in the election process. “In some places like Hyderabad we saw that the number of voters had gone up from 30 per cent to about 60 per cent. The people have elected some very qualified people. There has been a palpable impact”.
As for the effects on the newspaper, Dr Bhaskar Das, executive president for TOI, admits it is hard to gauge. “Circulation has gone up, but to attribute it directly to the campaign is not fair. We picked up an issue as a national masthead of India. Crisis of leadership in India is a problem. It is not for the micro objective of circulation growth but the macro objective of taking the brand to the next level. In terms of connecting with our readers, in terms of finding a leader, we have achieved our objective.”
Whether media owners in other countries will replicate TOI’s intiative remains to be seen. Das says: “Other markets can do it if they can decode the key issues facing the country. Cause-related marketing can be done by anyone.”
Moving forward, TOI has already started working on next year’s campaign, one that will engage young people in colleges, Kansal reveals. It will almost certainly be worth the wait.
Got a view?
Email Feedback@media.asia
This article was originally published in 24 September 2009 issue of Media.
