Telugu daily speaks Hindi on English channels

Sakshi, the new Telugu daily, has launched a television commercial in Hindi, which was aired on English news channels CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN and NDTV 24x7. The objective is to reach out to advertisers

The new Telugu daily, Sakshi, which hit the stands on March 24 in Andhra Pradesh, has come up with a Hindi television commercial. The TVC was aired on English news channels CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN and NDTV 24x7.

Did that surprise you?

Well, it seems to be a much thought out strategy. The rationale that KRP Reddy, director, marketing Sakshi, offers is that the TVC is meant to reach out to media buyers and advertisers in their language.

Telugu daily speaks Hindi on English channels

The TVC

shows an NRI son giving his father a shave with the latter’s old fashioned shaving soap. The son asks his father if he travelled miles to go to school and studied under a street lamp. The father answers in the affirmative and adds that he had to climb a mountain as well. The son jokes that the lamp-post must be really crowded then, as everybody’s dad tells the same story. The son then tells his father that he’s bought a piece of land in the village – not for farming, but to open up a school, which will be named after “him”. He tells his father that the school will have many lamps so that nobody’s father will have to fib like that again. The VO announces: “Hum aapke saath hain uss safar mein, jo aapko beete hue kal se uss kal mein le jayega, jo aap banana chahte hain (We are with you in the journey from the past to the future that you want to build). Sakshi, Telugu Samacharpatra.”

(Submit your opinion on this ad.)

The baseline for the paper is: Move to Tomorrow.

Shots from the ad

The TVC has been conceptualised by O&M Hyderabad. Rani Reddy, branch head, O&M Hyderabad, explains the reasons for making a Hindi TVC for a Telugu daily. She says, “The TVC has a high emotional appeal. We couldn’t have had it in English, as the Indianness of the TVC and the emotional appeal would have been lost in the translation.”

Reddy explains that because all advertisers and media buyers do not know Telugu, it was important to have a Hindi TVC to announce the launch of Sakshi. The TVC also has a Telugu version. While the Hindi version, Reddy says, is targeted at advertisers and media buyers, the Telugu version is targeted at readers.

The campaign will be on air for the next two weeks, and will then be followed by direct marketing initiatives like direct mailers, events and web based ads.

The campaign also has a web version, which says, “A beautiful tomorrow has arrived in Andhra Pradesh. Will you be a part of it?”

The TVC has been produced by Corcoise Films.

Rani Reddy

Reddy of O&M adds that there was no one brief for the TVC. It is part of the larger campaign, which has been supported by localised TVCs as well, which target the readers, using the word ‘Sakshi’ intelligently. Sakshi means ‘witness’ in English. One TVC shows an NRI going back to the US; he announces that all will be sakshi (witness) to the day when Americans will seek a visa to find a job in India. Another ad shows a potter girl, who wants others to be a witness to the day when she’ll be a successful Kuchipudi dancer, while her family wants her to learn pottery, cooking and to study hard. Similarly, the aspirations of a would-be astronaut and cricketer (both female) are depicted in the other two TVCs.

agencyfaqs! had broken the story of Sakshi heating up the Telugu market as early as December 2007. In all, the paper has 23 editions (19 in Andhra Pradesh and four in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai); it sells at a cover price of Rs 2.

The newspaper is part of Jagati Publications, the chairman of which is YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The paper has been designed by well-known newspaper designer Mario Garcia, and claims to have an initial print run of more than 11 lakhs. It is competing with the current leader, Eenadu, in the Telugu market, which, as per ABC figures for July-December 2007, has an all India average net paid circulation of 11,76,028 copies, an increase of 5.4 per cent over January-June 2007. Eenadu is priced at Rs 3 on weekdays and Rs 3.50 on Sundays.

As per media reports, Jagan Mohan Reddy has invested about Rs 120 crore in the launch of Sakshi.

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