ITV

Tag: HT Next

  • O&M works on new campaign for ‘HT Next’

    NEW DELHI: The Hindustan Times has initiated a multi-media campaign for its recently introduced youth-centric edition HT Next. Beginning with a series of print advertisements, the campaign will soon be extended to outdoor and radio mediums as well.    
    Ogilvy & Mather Delhi office, which had bagged The Hindustan Times advertising account last year, has worked on the new campaign. The agency had also worked on Delhi-based publishing company’s new communication strategy for the flagship daily and Brunch edition.

    On the new campaign, O&M creative consultant Ajay Gahlaut said, “HT Next edition has been developed for youngsters in their teens, who are experiencing those wonder years between childhood and full adulthood. This is the insight the communication attempts to leverage.”

    For instance, one of the print advertisement says: ‘Run to mommy’ on the left and ‘Run from mommy’ on the right, with a line connecting the two which says: ‘A newspaper for those in-between years.’ Another says ‘Party ends at 6 pm’ on the left and ‘Party ends at 6 am’ on the right with the same connecting line.

    While outdoor is an extension of the print work, the agency has also worked upon one spot for radio. “It’s a 30-second spot, which is basically a youthful peppy song. Through this music-based approach, we decided to communicate the fact that it’s a youth-centric edition,” he said.

    “As it is completely typographical and based on a strong insight, this campaign has the merit of being clutter breaking yet relevant. The campaign is different from the Hindustan Times and Brunch campaigns in that it is completely typo led. The other two were visual campaigns,” says Gahlaut.

    According to media reports, Hindustan Times had conducted a research and the new edition’s content has been shaped up on the basis of the findings, in which the target audience didn’t show much inclination towards politics and business or finance news.

    The editorial, according to HT, contains sports news, nuggets on celebrities, world news etc. The website Htnext.com, in addition to the print content, also has two sections – Trendy Teens and Juniors in order to cater to specific segments of the youth. Trendy Teens has sections such as career tips, space trek, e-humor, mixed bag and fight it out. Juniors, on the other hand, has sections such as summer camps, around the world and other sections that are targeted to audiences below the age of 12.

    The agency has stressed on the fact that HT Next is especially for young audience. “Since HT Next as a newspaper edition for youngsters is a first for India, it was important to highlight the age band of its target audience in the communication. People needed to know that it was a newspaper exclusively for teens,” says Gahlaut.

  • ‘HT Next’ launches with an eye on youth

    NEW DELHI: In a bid to open up another segment of the market and readership, Hindustan Times on Monday launched a daily newspaper, called HT Next, aimed at the youth.
    Priced at Rs 1.50, HT Next is targeted at those who are in their mid-teens and early 20s, which could also include non-working adults.

     

     
    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Hindustan Times vice-president
    (marketing), Anand Bhardwaj, said, “The paper has been launched after research work carried out three months ago amongst youth where it was highlighted that the youth of the country want less of politics and stock reports and more of ‘their’ kind of news.”
    The areas that mainstream newspapers did not cover adequately, youth felt, included news from around the world (on topics like terrorism, for instance), about the real world and those on science and technology and travel. The youth also wanted a lot of interactivity, Bhardwaj said, adding that this is also being addressed.

    That’s why the two issues that have come out till now have write-ups on varied topics like planet Saturn and a history of Rolls Royce, amongst others.

    Pointing out that the basic aim is to have a product “more sharply focused” at the youth, Bhardwaj said that the separately priced newspaper would not be much of a burden on a household that already gets Hindustan Times.

    The new paper has been launched with a print order of 40,000-odd copies, but the target is to up the circulation to approximately 70,000 in the next couple of months.

    The 16-page newspaper for the youth, launched just ahead of summer vacations, would see hectic activity once the schools reopen after the holidays. “But the initial feedback that we have received from readers on the two issues has been positive,” Bhardwaj said.

    Though the HT marketing team is not willing to spell out the details of the promotional activities, but the traditional route of radio, print and outdoor advertising would be taken for publicity.

    “We are not looking at the TV medium at the moment, but would have HT Next ads placed in magazines like Reader’s Digest and Competition & Success Review (journals that are read by a majority of youth, presumably),” Bhardwaj pointed out.

    The advertising space in HT Next would be sold separately as also as a package with Hindustan Times, but the separate ad rates have not yet been finalized.

    “We feel that all those advertisers who would want to target the youth (like the cola companies) would also be interested in HT Next,” Bhardwaj said.

    But considering similar products had been launched by other media
    organizations — some in the magazine format — and were unable to sustain for a long period of time, a question mark would always hang over HT Next’s long-term future.