Adgully Exclusive | Content matters more than platform: Chitralekha's Mitrajit Bhattacharya

Mitrajit Bhattacharya is the president and publisher of the Chitralekha Group and general secretary of Association of Indian Magazines (AIM). Bhattacharya's rich experience includes a stint as the chief sales manager-dailies of ABP Ltd ” his engagement prior to coming aboard Chitralekha ” and a stretch as the product manager of ICI India. In this exclusive interview with Adgully, Bhattacharya limns his career and the future of print.

Adgully began by asking him to point out to the key milestones crossed by Chitralekha since he assumed charge. "Chitralekha is a 60-year-old publication, which has a lot of inherent strength and never lost its leadership position through the entire course of its history," Bhattacharya said. "However, the key challenge I faced ten years back was how to stop the negative slide the brand was encountering in the latter part of 1990s. I identified three priorities, which in my opinion, would set the structure for growth in years to come." He said the first priority was to focus on people. "The real asset of any organisation is its "manpower', and it's even more important in an industry like ours," he said. "But recruiting people who share the same vision as you, is tough and retaining them tougher. I am proud to say that we have the most stable team in the media industry today, with all our key people serving us for over up to eight years. This is true of all departments including ad sales, circulation sales, editorial, production, and finance."

Bhattacharya said his second challenge was to Improve the image of the brand for the advertiser, while retaining the core editorial value. "This led to holding fort for Chitralekha, with its basic editorial stance (which has been unmatched for the past six decades) and launching a slew of world-class magazines like Watch World, Watch Couture and BTW, all in English," Bhattacharya said. "And in Gujarati, magazines like Chitralekha Travel and Home Decor were launched. Today, all these products are leaders in their respective genres, adding significantly to the topline and bottomline growth for the company."

Bhattacharya said even the group's flagship, Chitralekha, had gone through several face-lifts ” including masthead change in the past decade in order to look more contemporary.

"The third priority was working relentlessly on costs to manage the business efficiently," he said. "Many professional managers lose sight of the bottom line in order to chase topline growth. For privately owned firms, year-on-year delivery of profits matters. And that happens when you run a tight ship."

So the group will approach the 60th anniversary in good shape. We asked Bhattacharya how the group intended to celebrate the occasion. "The celebrations began in April 2010 and will continue throughout the year," he said. "We have planned a series of events maintaining our key focus”our readers. We have taken 60 of our readers to a paid-for international holiday as a token of appreciation: a first of its kind initiative in the industry." The group has also kick-started a six-city "Spirit of Gujarat' tour of the state and of Mumbai, which began on September 8, he said. "The tour includes events like day-long seminars on "how to make money?', and some allied subjects," he added. "In the evenings, we have entertainment programmes with a superstar line-up of entertainers: solo performances by Kailash Kher, Pankaj Udhas, Parthiv Gohil and group presentation by Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chasma and Khichdi teams. Thanks to Chitralekha, Gujarat is literally celebrating Navratri ahead of calendar! The tour concludes in Mumbai with the launch of Chitralekha's 500-page mega Anniversary Issue on September 21."

Bhattacharya said the special issue boasts of some of the biggest names as contributors, like Dr APJ Kalam, LK Advani, Kapil Sibal, Mukesh Ambani, Vallabh Bhansali, Javed Akhtar, Gautam Adani, and Jignesh Shah. "We are very proud to be associated with the Reliance Industries Ltd and the Adani Enterprises for our Diamond Jubilee Celebrations," he said.

Adgully then came to the question of the evolution of the print industry over the past five years. "A lot has changed," Bhattacharya said. "In any big project you undertake, whether editorially or commercially, you need to think "multi-media'. This needs a different kind of training for your manpower. Most of our big projects are planned simultaneously for television and digital media."

This led Bhattacharya to discuss the main challenges ahead for the group. "The first is to convince all concerned that a regional group can deliver the best in the world," he said. "Today, Watch World is a world-class product with editorial comparable with the Top 5 watch magazines in the world." Bhattacharya said the second challenge was to convince clients to advertise in the group's magazines and pay premium in a scenario where no credible readership data is available for magazines. "I must say, it is the confidence of clients about the response factor of our magazines which keeps us going," he said.

As for international magazines viewing India as a propitious market, Bhattacharya said: "It's not about international or domestic titles. The critical success factor remains the same. There are enough international brands which have fared well in India, but being "international' is not key to success."

Bhattacharya then switched on to the subject of convergence. "Many may not be aware that Chitralekha is a pioneer in this regard," he said. "We launched our website way back in 1995 but lost focus thereafter. We have a strong digital presence now. But the best is yet to come. You will hear some big announcements on this soon."

Finally we asked Bhattacharya to describe the characteristics of a successful magazine. "Focus on content and create differentiation," he said. "There is no other way to succeed. Having done that, start thinking multi-media. The content will matter, not the platform. " Bhattacharya ended by saying to readers, "Read more. Don't think you are doing yourself a favour by reading less."