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Print News Brands Adding Literal Weight to Brand Communication


“One of the biggest advantages of print over a medium like TV is that consumers are allowed enough time to absorb the communication and process it at their own pace.”

 Print news brands offer a breadth of opportunities to advertisers. No other medium can offer advertising in as many aesthetic variants as print can. Besides, as is commonly acknowledged, advertising in print can be more synergistic to content than any other medium. Through newspapers, brands in a way come in physical contact with their customers, adding a literal weight to brand communication. This tangible platform offers a medium to connect with the audience on their terms and at their time. The outcome is high impact and excellent consumer-connect.

An excellent example of newspaper advertising to win back its consumers is the much awarded campaign by KFC in the UK last year. KFC had to temporarily close about 100 stores in UK due to a major supply chain issue. It not only led to £1 million loss of revenue per day, but also quickly became front page news, impacting the brand adversely.

To demonstrate humility and in a bid to take control of the situation KFC used news brands to say ‘we’re sorry’. A timely and impactful message was delivered to a big audience, which resonated with the consumers. As newspapers are a more trustworthy medium than other media, there was excellent impact, and the campaign succeeded in generating a positive sentiment.

Another very effective print campaign a year back was a Dainik Jagran campaign, which counselled people to be conscientious while clebrating Diwali. A powerful graphic of lungs completely engulfed in smoke sent across an impactful message and discouraged customers from using fire cracers.

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For savvy marketers, print matters for excellent consumer-connect in the real world. We spoke to Mayank Shah, Senior Category Head, Parle Products, on print advertising. Excerpts of the conversation:

Print matters in Parle’s overall brand communication strategy. Role of print in communication of evolved and elaborate messages is unparalleled. Be it communication about details of reason to believe (RTB) or detailing of brand claims, there is no other medium which can rival the effectiveness of print. In addition to this, the reach that brands can secure through print advertising is significant and spans a wide audience age group.

Parle has traditionally used print as an advertising medium to great effect and success. We have advertisements ranging right back to the mid 1900’s and have covered several brands through it, such as Poppins, Jeff’s, Monaco, Melody, Parle-G, Krackjack and Hide & Seek, over the years. More recently, we have advertised the Milano range of cookies that featured Twinkle Khanna and currently we are advertising our Health range with ads revolving around Nutricrunch, which has multiple health benefits. Print becomes an ideal medium to communicate such messages for aforementioned reasons.

Print advertising gives consumers ample time to understand the communication, especially in categories like Health Biscuits, Corporate ads and a few tactical ads. One of the biggest advantages of print over a medium like TV, where casual viewing may lead to loss of intended message takeout, is that consumers are allowed enough time to absorb the communication and process it at their own pace. Moreover, in a country like India, with a significant chunk of the audiences residing in villages with limitations such as power shortages, print media turns out to be a better option as the media consumption/ time spent on print is higher.

Print, thus, as a medium is used by Parle for effective communication of elaborate brand messages that are critical to be retained in the consumer’s mind. Secondly, print enables us to reach consumers in the hinterlands that are power starved across geographies. In a way, it mobilises the brand’s communications despite physical challenges. Finally, without a doubt, print has better targeting capabilities in a country like India when compared to a medium such as TV, given the degree to which publications vary across zones and markets.

Parle has gone the native advertising route too. It is a great way for rivalling impact properties on TV (Innovation). Moreover, due to reasons I mentioned earlier, it lends higher credibility to the brand’s communication when compared to other mediums of communications.

In my opinion, communication in print, by virtue of it being mostly part of a newspaper, is perceived to be more credible. This is an observation that we have made in quite a few of our past campaigns.

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