Tamil readers are getting the best of both worlds with the launch of a regional-language version of The Hindu.
Kasturi & Sons corporate general manager Bharath Ganapathi says the edition successfully penetrates the regional niche, delivering “a brand they loved and trusted, but in their mother tongue”.
The launch follows audience research which showed a need for a Tamil-language print edition, and complements what is south India’s most widely read English daily.
Bharath Ganapathi says The Hindu has maintained its lead in the face of heavy competition in the English print media market for many decades. “The newspaper’s reputation for authenticity and credibility, as well as its award-winning team of journalists, has earned the trust of millions of loyal readers during the past 136 years,” he says.
However, continuing growth in the market for Indian regional language newspapers – both in circulation and ad revenue – presented an opportunity. Ganapathi says the publisher also found demand for a Tamil newspaper that had The Hindu’s values.
“Armed with this overwhelmingly positive research, we put together an editorial team of 150 people for The Hindu in Tamil, headed by an editor with more than 25 years of experience on a leading Tamil language magazine,” he says in an INMA blog.
The decision to name the brand The Hindu (in Tamil) was made to capitalise on the equity that the mother brand had built over the course of a century. An editorial mandate – to deliver the same quality of journalism that has been delivered in the English language for 136 years – was supported by product design reflecting that mandate.
A 360-degree marketing campaign titled ‘The world comes alive in Tamil with The Hindu’ generated buzz around launch and drove subscriptions. It included a 12-day teaser to keep interest levels high and generate advance subscription enquiries – considered “a lofty goal” by industry analysts in light of well-entrenched players.
“However, this goal was achieved following an extensive campaign that included radio, outdoor, social media, print, and television spots,” he says. Advance subscription requests via SMS touched exceeded 15,000 in two months.
A website was launched on the first day, and a Facebook page had picked up 100,000 likes in four months and has now gone on to more than half a million. “There was also significant traction that could be seen in the number of shares and discussion threads on the news items that were posted on the page,” he says.
“The long months of preparation, research, planning, and marketing culminated in this success. In a short time, The Hindu Tamil had gone from being ‘the new kid on the block’ to a force to reckon with both as an editorial product as well as an audience delivery tool for marketers.