Malayala Manorama News Paper

“3 in 1” Promotional Scheme

Target market : Subscribers of all Malayalam Dailies (Males in the aget group 20-25) with Monthly income of Rs 7500 and above

Agency : Mudra Communications

Planning / Production time: 4 months

Reach : 10 Million readers

Length of Customer engagement Life span: 3 Months

Brief : Launch of an Innovative interactive game which can be played only with copy of Manorama daily. Over 15 Million INR worth of of Gifts were announced for this

Focus : 3 games in one card. Dream number , Lucky Number and SMS

Budget: Indian Rs 15 Million advertisment Objective: Increase of single copy sales through agents and through shops

Goal: 150000 copies increase in sales on the date of issue of 3 In 1 promotional game card and retention of 40000 copies subsequently Background: Malayala manorama daily is a 124 year old daily published by Manorama company limited whcih is one of the most reputed publishing houses in India. Malayala manorama daily is published in malayaam, the vernacular language in the state of kerala in India. It is the largest selling regional language daily in India with a ABC certified circulation figure of 1.97 lakhs circulation for the ABC audit period of Jan June 2011.

Competition:

There is intense competition in the state from other news papers and also from 18 different Television channels which also telecast news at Periodical intervals. The political parties in the sate and the religions groups in kerala also have their own news papers and TV channels. In the light of the above factors , Kerala is one of the states in India where there is hightest competition amongst print media. In the above background , to retain our brand leadership amonst all regional language dailes in India and to further distinctly increase the single copy sales , the following strategy was arrived at .

Stragegy for increasing copies of manorama daily in a highly competitive situation

General measures

To get the new buyers for Manorama daily a “ Door knock campaign “ was efffectively implemented during the year. We physically door knocked 50000 households every month during the year to get new subscribers using 100 trained sales promoters . Our despatch colleagues and circulation field staff ensure that our news paper is delivered to all agents before 5.30 Am every day. We usually hold conference of agents areawise once in a year. At least once in a year we put a questionnaire in our news paper unit wise through which we get the “ feedback “ from our readers on the contents mix. We have impemented “Bhoomikku oru kuda” and “Aircell family freedom offer” also during the period 2011. “Bhomikoru Kuda” scheme was a corporate social responsibility campaign. The Aircel family freedom offer was run with the main objective of increasing single copy sales. Special promotion for single copies:

In addition to the above activities we arrived at an attractive news paper reader promotional game in tie up with one of the news paper promotional games company from Europe. The objective of this promotional game was to offer a very attractive reader scheme to increase single copy sales of manorma daily for a period of 3 months. The logic of this is that a reader who buys the daily continuously for three months is likely to continue to remain with our daily subsequently as well .

Exibhit - 3 In 1 promotional planning

2010 2011 Timeline N D J F

Concept development *

Word of mouth * Poster Stickers * Danglers * Press * * TV * * Radio * *

CCTV stations * * * 3 in 1 Response Cell * * * Hoarding * * * Naming of the Game:

We branded the game as “3 in 1” promotional scheme as it had 3 games in one card. Since it gave 3 opportunities every day to win prizes . Therefore it was found innovative by our readers. The details of how the promotional game was run.

HOW TO PLAY '3 in 1” Promotional Game

This Card enables the Readers to play 12 Games, for a period of 12 Weeks from Starting Date. Each Game lasts for 7 days starting from Sunday.To win the 3 in 1 sammanavarsham game prize, the lucky number printed on the particular game on the gamecard must match with the number printed in Malayala Manorama daily . Each card will contain a unique 10 digit Dream number. Each week, the dream number of the card in play can be entered into a draw via SMS. The prizes for each day will be mentionedin the daily everyday. There is a third chance for prize through the 10 digit dream number . Manorama will publish 10 dream numbers in daily on each day. If any body could match the number with the dream number in their card , they will be entitled for an attractive prize. We have offered Sarees, Bedsheet, watches and Trolley bags as gifts to our readers.

CREATIVE DIRECTION

In the Game '3 in 1', the Readers are able to win a Prize if they are able to get the exact number in their card from the numbers published in the daily over a period of 7 days. We have incorporated three chances to win prizes in a single card.

The Card was physically stuck on to the sunday supplement' that we offered free with our Sunday Newspaper every week. This ensured that all our Readers got a copy of the Card without any problem. The date on which the Card is made available through our Daily was advertised through our Daily, our Publications, through Radio and through Television in advance. Therefore, the prospective buyers of our Daily were aware of the date on which the Card is being offered alongwith our Daily in advance. We have used 3 most famous film actresses in Kerala as our brand ambassadors for promoting the campaign. ADVERTISING & COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

The Target Audience for the Communication Campaign were Households which have financial the capacity of buying an Additional Newspaper and the Core Target Segment for the Campaign were Women and children (Women and Children are most fond of such Promotional Games in the State of Kerala). Through a Sponsor, we had got Prizes worth INR15,000,000 (Fifteen Million Indian Rupees) and this very attractive offer of prizes was highlighted in almost all the Advertisement. The main objective of the Advertisement Campaign was to induce mainly Women and Children to buy Manorama Daily on the date on which the Card is offered and continue to buy it for a period of three months so that they could play this simple game everyday and at the same time win very attractive prizes.

TV, Radio, Print Media and Outdoor Media were effectively used to promote the '3 in 1 sammana varsham' Newspaper Promotional Game. On the sales side, the objective was to increase the Sales of the Daily by 35000 copies over a period of three months. The You tube link given below was the TV commercial created specially for the campaign. You Tube link ------http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOO6lZVUCzg&feature=g- upl&context=G2a3c1e0AUAAAAAAABAA

ADVERTISEMENT COPY AND POSITIONING

The positioning of the Game was carefully throught out to differentiate '3 in 1 sammanavarshamt' from the Previous Games. The brief given to the Agency was to highlight the Easiness and 3 lucky chances to win prizes in a single card . Thus, the Campaign throughout the period carried the Message that the game has "3 lucky chances to win prizes in a single card".

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

We have used TV Ads, Hoardings, Posters, Displays and POPs all in the Launch Week itself.

We have focussed on the following forces as part of a strategy. All the below mentioned aspects made significant contribution for the successful launch of the Newspaper Promotional Game Concept. 1.Effective use of Advertisement

The Campaign used TV, Outdoor Hoardings and Radio Spots to promote the Game among the Readers. Since the Game is a Newspaper Promotional Game for Readers, we have used Inhouse Advertisements and Editorial Announcements to create Awareness among the Public.As the duplication of readership between Manorama and its nearest Competitor is significantly large (35% as per Indian Readership Survey), the strategy proved all the more effective. Moreover, the usage of TV News Channels also proved effective to attract those who watch Television channels as well.

2.Campaign on Wheels and Public Events

Mobile Vans were hired for about 2 weeks to explain the rules of the Game and exhibited big cut out of Game Card. This has helped in shaping the Product Experience among the Target Segment. The Van carried a Mascot which really became a Crowd Puller in Cities. In the last month of the Game, an Event has been organised to select a Bumper Winner. Around famous 6 Film Stars participated in this Event. The Event was also organised in such a way that every Participant got a feeling of 'LUCK AND SUSPENSE'. Every Participant was asked to put a lot in the lucky box and the final draw from it was taken by super film star in Kerala .

3.Attracting the readers

Every day, we had one fixed space in Daily devoted to the Game, which carried a Contest Grid. The Digitally produced Grid was a module in a fixed position and it persuaded the Target Group to buy the Newspaper regularly. Moreover, this Grid also carried Normal Surprise Gift Announcements in the Daily everyday(Sample Grid is given below). 4.Celebrity Endorsement

Celebrity Endorsement was of couse, a Main Attraction amongst the Target Audience and it definitely helped the Scheme to communicate all the ideas very fast. Miss Meera Nandan, Miss Bhama and Miss Radhika were the most famous Malayalam Film Actresses who were the Brand ambasssadors of the scheme introduced the Game to Readers from the very beginning. EFFORTS TO INCREASE AND RETAIN COPIES OF MANORAMADAILY

We had given Feedback to the Editorial Team from the Field at frequent intervals and had made further improvements in the quality of our Daily. In addition to this, an Agents Incentive Scheme was offered to Agents so that we got the benefit of 'Dealer Push' as well. The Agents Incentive Scheme was as follows:

The Agents who increase 3 copies of Daily and retain it for a period of three months continuously is given 2 dhothi as Gift. The Agents who increase two copies of daily and retain it for a period of three months is given an option of choosing from either gas lighter + knife or Calculator as Gift. The Agents who increase5 copies of Daily and retain it for the period is given an option of shirt + Dhothi or churidar as Gift. The Agents who inrease 7 copies of Daily and retain it for the peiod is given saree as Gift. Agents who increase 10 copies were offered an Iron Box

RESULTS ACHIEVED

By making very effective use of an innovative Newspaper Promotional Game and by marketing it in a very creative way and through the Direct Marketing Efforts, effective use of agents Incentive Schemes, use of Feedback from the Field to improve the daily and through creation of Goodwill from Campaigns of Social Relevance, we have been able to take up the Single Copy Sales of Manorama daily in 2011 by 76611 copies compared to July december 2010 ABC. The following table shows the increase of single copie during the months when we ran the scheme. Thus we could not only increase copies substantially but also retain and got further increase in the immediate audit period of the circulation.

Month ABC copies Increase November 10' 1918081 December 10' 1969401 51320 January 11' 1961027 -8374 February 11' 1960434 -593 Net increase 42353 REVIEW

 Manorama Daily announced the launch of “3 in 1 ' promotional scheme through Daily and TV using 3 film Actresses as the Brand Ambassadors. Editorial Announcements were published regularly to create an Excitement in respect of the Game.  The Advertisements were positioned well in Manorama Daily. The Launch Advertisement was in Front Page using an Innovative Space.  We have offered 3 chances to win prizes in a single card for the first time.  On the day on which the '3 in 1 ' Game Card was issued, the increase in Sales for Malayala Manorama daily was over 1,00,000 copies. Out of this, there is an effective retention of over 40,000 copies even after three months from the commencement of the Newspaper Promotional Game.  During the ABC Audit Period Jan -June 2011 the Circulation of Manorama Daily further went up by 76611 copies from the immediate preceding ABC Audit Period.

Thus, it will be seen that by very effectively running the innovative newspaper promotional game '3 in 1” and by promoting it in a very creative way and through the direct marketing efforts, effective use of agents' incentive schemes, use of feedback from the field to improve the editorial quality of the daily and through creation of goodwill amongst the pubilc through campaigns of social relevance, we have been able to increase the single copy sales of malayala manorama daly by 76611 copies during the ABC period Jan – June 2011 (ie , six month period). Supporting file attachments uploaded for Malayala Manorama Daily

1. ABC Certificates in PDF format (for 2 audit periods in case of Manorama & Mathrubumi) 2. Press advertisements JPEG"s format. 3. Hoarding JPEG 4. Text file containing strategies, objectives, concept and results in PDF format. 5. 3 in 1 TV advertisement- You Tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=gOO6lZVUCzg&feature=g- upl&context=G2a3c1e0AUAAAAAAABAA