Kumar Nirmalendu, general manager, marketing, Gujarat Samachar, assumed charge on March 22, 2003, exactly three months prior to the launch of Divya Bhaskar (by the owners of Dainik Bhashar) in Ahmedabad. Brought in to help steer Samachar, the leading daily in Gujarat, through this period of heightened competition, 44-year-old Nirmalendu has seen the product go through a facelift apart from inducting new members in the team "to reach as many people within the given framework". "We are number one and we intend staying at the top," he says.

For the graduate in history from Hindu College, Delhi, this is probably one of his toughest assignments given the volatility of the Gujarat market and the presence of strong rivals such as Bhaskar and old foe Sandesh.

Nirmalendu has a total work experience of 18 years, bulk of which was spent in the tyre and finance sectors. He has been in the print industry for the last six years, associated with Dainik Bhaskar in Jaipur, Navbharat in Nagpur and as Mumbai region head of Amar Ujala. In this interview to Viveat Susan Pinto of agencyfaqs!, Ahmedabad-based Nirmalendu lists his priorities as well as the challenges up ahead for the brand.

Q. Gujarat has traditionally been the battleground for two arch-rivals - Samachar and Sandesh. As head of marketing, how are you dealing with competition from new entrant Divya Bhaskar? What kind of threat does the brand pose to your market?

A. As far as the rivalry between Gujarat Samachar and Sandesh is concerned, it is more about perception. In other words, it is notional in nature. There isn't much to it. We have two separate styles, feel, look, philosophy and, therefore, very different set of readers.

As far as Divya Bhaskar is concerned, with all that hype, excitement and "shor sharaba" that they created around the launch, their product has not been able to live up to expectations and is being perceived as a failure.

If you pick up an issue of Divya Bhaskar, Gujarat Samachar and Sandesh on an average for 30 days and you will see that we have around 1,200 column centimetres of booked ad space to Sandesh's 800 cc and Divya Bhaskar's 230 to 240 cc. Here, I am talking of ads pertaining to Gujarat and not fillers from other states. This is clearly an indicator of who is the leader. Again, the popularity of our brand can be gauged from the fact that we are referred to as Gujarat by the people in the state.

Let me say, I don't see any threat per se.

Q. Gujarat Samachar has been very active this year beefing up its marketing team as well as the product. Is this a result of heightened competition?

A. Yes and no. Change is the order of the day and beefing up the marketing team as well as improving the product needs to be seen in that light. We have always been strong on content and changes made were more in terms of how the product looked or appeared. Today, Gujarat Samachar is a fitter and smarter looking paper offering 30 pages on an average to a reader. Everybody else offers an average of 22 pages.

Q. What about your marketing team? What prompted you to induct so many new hands?

A. We have about 28 people on board. This is when taking into account the state of Gujarat as well as centres outside the state.

I must add, we have also upgraded our machinery. We have installed new machines at the printing facility in Ahmedabad and are in the process of replacing the machinery in all other centres where the paper is printed. This will give us the wherewithal to print colour pages inside the paper. Right now, only the Ahmedabad edition uses such technology. The edition averages about 13 colour pages per day including five pages in the main issue and eight pages in the supplements.

Q. What is the circulation of the paper? Has it hit saturation point or do you see scope for growth in far-flung areas such as the Kutch region? Samachar hardly has a presence there. Where do you stand in terms of readership?

A. Our circulation stands at 10.47 lakh copies when taking into account the Mumbai edition, which stands at 1.98 lakh copies (ABC, for the period of July-December 2002). However, we are well beyond this number now and the forthcoming ABC figures will bear testimony to this. We are targeting a figure of 15 lakh copies by the end of this year and Kutch is on our agenda.

Gujarat Samachar sells 11,635 copies to Sandesh's 6,705 copies in the Kutch region. That is a lead of 4,930 copies. Of course, we do plan to increase the number and are working towards it.

Besides, we are also looking to grow in the centres of Baroda, Surat, Bhavnagar and Rajkot, and are going rural as well. We want to remove the tag of being an 'urban-read daily'. We would prefer to be read both in the urban and rural areas.

As for readership, we are the sixth largest urban daily in any language according to the latest Indian Readership Survey.

Q. Divya Bhaskar is slowly moving to other regions in the state. They are putting up a full-fledged printing unit at Mehsana in the north of Gujarat. Does that worry you?

A. This was but expected. You can't rely on one area to fuel your growth prospects. So moving to the north of Gujarat was a natural move for them. We are not unnecessarily worried about competition. We have taken corrective measures and are confident about our product. It does provide value for money.

Q. Sony has had some prominent programming failures in the last two years. For instance Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke in 2001 and Kahin Naa Kahin Koi Hain in 2002. How will you ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated in 2003.

A. I wouldn't say Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke was a failure. It actually recovered more than it cost and got ratings for a long period of time. Yes, the Madhuri show was a failure. Until and unless you try something out, you wouldn't know whether it succeeds or fails. So, to say that we won't attempt something new again, would be wrong. We learn from our failures.

Q. Divya Bhaskar's entry triggered a price war in Ahmedabad. Sandesh reacted while Samachar did not. Is that an assertion of the brand's superiority in the marketplace?

A. I think the question itself makes a point. It is because we were confident of our product, which is why we did not react to the price war. Currently, the monthly outgo in the case of Gujarat Samachar is between Rs 72 to Rs 75, as against Rs 45 in the case of Sandesh and Divya Bhaskar, and, we are still going strong.

Q. How would you describe the audience you are targeting or the audience you deliver to your advertiser?

A. Our target audience cuts across SECs, though specifically, our paper caters to the middle class, upper middle class and the elite. We are attempting to broaden our appeal and include the lower classes as well in our consideration set.

Q. Gujarat Samachar has been known to be a bit of a sensationalist. Are you not compromising on the goodwill earned from readers and suppliers when you indulge in sensationalism? Is it permissible in the first place?

A. I am surprised at this query. If presenting facts and realities in the manner that they are is sensationalism then I wonder what is the role of a newspaper! The goodwill of Gujarat Samachar among its readers and suppliers has been well earned and retained, and that is proven by the credibility of our news, analysis etc. I am convinced that there are no permissible limits for any medium to indulge in sensationalism.

Q. Below-the-line activities have assumed greater significance among print players than ever before. What kind of activities has Gujarat Samachar undertaken to come closer to its readers and advertisers?

A. We have not neglected this area. There is a whole gamut of activities we have planned. We have tied up with Ayur for a beauty contest. We just concluded the Mrs Bhavnagar contest with Active Wheel. This contest will migrate to our other printing centres in Rajkot, Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad where a winner each will be picked. These women will participate in the grand finale where a Mrs Gujarat will be selected. We have lined up a series of activities for Navratri too.

Q. Gujaratis love supplements. How do you score on that front?

A. You are absolutely right. Gujaratis love supplements and we had seven in a week, which has now increased to 14. Which means two supplements a day.

Q. Having worked in different markets across the country, what trends do you see emerging in the print sector?

A. The trend emerging seems to be the aggression and willingness among print owners to provide a basket of offerings to its readers. Print owners want to hold supremacy across the board and have the best share of the ad pie. They are moving to various other states apart from their region of origin. Besides these, schemes - where gifts worth crores of rupees are offered to readers - are here to stay. This is clearly aimed at increasing numbers in terms of circulation and readership. Financially, it isn't working too well with most organisations. But such schemes cannot be given a go-by because your competitors are doing it and they give you the relevant numbers and thereby brighten the prospect for increasing revenues.

The fallout of this is that the print owner has numbers coming from quarters that may not be relevant to the advertiser. For instance, if Ford IKON decides to advertise in a paper, the relevant target group would be SEC A1, A. However, if numbers for the paper come from SEC C or D, there is clearly no fit or correlation in terms of the brand and target audience.

Q. You're saying while chasing numbers print players often lose sight of their core audience or the quality of the audience the advertiser is interested in. But that hasn't stopped you from floating financially attractive consumer offers like the Malamaal Pratayogitha...

A. Yes. However, a guaranteed gift has been restricted to the Ahmedabad edition only though the scheme is running throughout the state. During the first scheme, 4.25 lakh people responded while from the second scheme onwards, the figure has been constant at 5.36 lakh. The scheme is a monthly affair and currently the fourth one is on.

Q. Do you intend continuing with it?

A. Yes, we do.

Q. As head of marketing, what are the challenges ahead to maintain leadership? What is the ratio of local to national-level advertising in the paper?

A. Retain, sustain and innovate. That is my agenda. The moot point is to add value to the reader, advertiser and ad agency besides bringing in an element of flexibility and becoming more competitive. We have always had a 50:50 ratio in terms of local to national advertisements. Be it relation, reach, flavour or brand pull, we offer all these basic ingredients to our associates, advertisers or agencies. And I only see it getting better.

September 01, 2003
Mumbai
You can write to Kumar Nirmalendu at
knirmalendu@yahoo.com