Is your newspaper turning into a product catalogue?

True Story

It’s a Friday in October 2010. India is in celebration mode with Navratri, Dussehra, Diwali, Dhanteras, Bhaubeej and the soon to come Christmas and New Year.

It’s 12:30 AM. A young brand manager at one of India’s leading electronics retail chain sits at his desk staring at his laptop screen trying hard to focus, even as his brain has gone numb and his eyelids feel heavier than a 50kg dumbbell. But no, today isn’t the day to give in. In his borderline hallucination, he remembers the good old lines of Robert Frost, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.”

But what on earth is this zealous marketer working on at this hour, you ask?Well, if you have been into branding and media management, you will empathise with him when you realise that today is the day for his “Material deadline” for the company’s Dussera ads to go live on the weekend.

He and his colleagues have worked countless hours getting approvals, following up with buyers, working with the agencies and fighting for page positions with publications. In this quest, they’ve probably forgotten all else.

3 AM. Finally, the last of the press ad material has gone for print and we call it a night. The media agency has confirmed that their ad will be the first jacket on TOI the coming weekend. What a mighty achievement this was, even though at a high cost. Feels like we’ve won a world war. We knew that everyone in the office would love this and sales heads would have one more reason to motivate their staff by telling them about the hordes of customers who would walk-in to the store looking at this ad.

In the end, marketing had delivered! Or has it?

It’s Sunday noon and Mr Brand Manager is just stirring out of his bed. He’s been knocked out the entire Saturday as his body decides to show him who is the boss! He walks into his drawing room all excited and finds his Dad sitting on his “spot” going through his Sunday reads.

Mr Brand Manager (BM) – Dad did you see our huge ad in this mornings newspaper?

Dad (already has the “Is this the time to wake up young man” look)–  Ad? What Ad? Where was it? I didn’t get anything.

BM – Dad! Really? It was a front-page jacket on this mornings’ Times of India. You just couldn’t have missed it. In fact, no one could have missed it.

Dad (looking at Mom and smirking) – This young man is still dreaming I think. Since when did newspapers start wearing jackets?

BM – Dad! Please, I am serious. Where is the huge 2-page ad that pretty much formed the cover of the Times of India (TOI) today?

Dad – Oh!! You mean that sales promotion thing. I just took it off and put it there in that pile. It just seemed so uninteresting and useless to me. These newspapers just hand us so much nonsense every morning. I swear one of these days I am going to change to a more intellectually forward newspaper if there is one left.

BM in shock, stands still, looks at his Mom. He turns around and walks back to his room slightly disappointed. In his room, he pings a few of his “close buddies” and apparently none of them even read the newspaper, leave alone see the ad. He now has a faint idea of how Vincent Van Gogh must have felt!

Anyway, it’s time for the Sunday family lunch. BM walks into the kitchen only to find his maid cleaning fish on his labour of love, his TOI jacket ad. What has this world come to!

If you’ve read this story up until this point, thank you for indulging me. I will try and ensure it wasn’t in vain.

Back to September 2017.

As marketers fight to create the best communication and deploy them on mass media, here are a few reflections that might give them a sharp nudge

?   Today’s newspaper readers have mastered the fine art of cutting out the crap. They know very well the content they would like to read and where to find it. For marketers who invest millions of rupees in the large more in-your-face ads like jackets, leaflets, catalogues and spend hours creating that “M F Hussain” masterpiece ad, is a complete waste.

?   For a growing number of millennials (me included), the daily newspaper has just become something that keeps their folks occupied. This helps the said millennials to focus on reading the news the way they like i.e via facebook, twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp or at times even google news. But how can Facebook, Twitter and Insta be considered as news? Well in our world, breaking news isn’t just something that happens in the fields of business, politics or sports but also in the lives of our friends, colleagues and loved ones. When this comes together, it gives us a complete, more personalized picture of our world.

?  There have been times when the articles in the newspaper have already gone stale and our folks turn to us get more updated news, which we share with a slight smirk in our tone.

The point I would like to make is not just about the evident behavioural shift taking place. It’s also a reminder for newspapers that if they continue to ignore the content preferences of a growing digitally progressive population, then they are at a grave risk of going into oblivion soon.

How can a newspaper remain relevant in such times, when it faces the strong onslaught from digital platforms and revenue pressures?

In my opinion, they need to

?   Maintain integrity of the news at all cost, no matter what.

?   Showcasing the most important news should be the focus of a national newspaper and not covering them up with gigantic ads. I am sure people want to know more about the plight of thousands affected by floods, and the SALE ads can wait.

?   Promotional content should be better integrated into the editorial so that it seems relevant to the reader. Would you mind if the entire list of electronics showcased in an e-commerce sale ad is perhaps inserted strategically into a story or write up about “Transforming your home with technology” where the reader feels more deeply engaged? Yes, this would take time, but I believe at times this approach will have more takers than just the product shot & price approach.

?   A deeper integration of content with digital channels. Today’s news stories mostly begin and end with the newspaper itself, leaving no scope for interactivity, opinions or comments. By doing that, it just remains a monologue. A news article needs to evolve and come out of the defined space of broadsheet or a tabloid and follow us throughout the day. Then the newspaper becomes relevant and important to our lives.

As I end this post, I believe that newspapers shouldn’t get too comfortable of the so-called habit that they have become for the readers. You never know when the “Times” will change.