Mudra bags mandate for Femina

Mudra gained ground in the territory of Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) in January 2008 by winning over the creative duties for the conglomerate's financial daily, The Economic Times (ET). Femina, the magazine targeted at women, becomes the second brand from the BCCL stable that the agency adds to its list of clientele.

Femina is a 50 year old brand which is part of the Worldwide Media Group, a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and BCCL. The creative duties for the brand move from Lowe Lintas, which has been handling the business for about a year – it won the business in August 2008. Going by the ad spends of the magazine category, the brand may consider spending about Rs 15 crore on its marketing efforts.

Arijit Ray, executive vice-president and head, Mudra Mumbai, believes that its work on ET has definitely helped the agency, along with its work for projects such as The Power of Ideas, Most Trusted Brands, Brand Equity Quiz and The Manufacturing Excellence Awards – which made the agency a part of the consideration list.

Femina has always attempted to keep in touch with the changing needs and style of its readers - with every passing decade, the positioning of the magazine has been altered. In the early 90's, one may remember the strong positioning of the brand in the Woman of Substance proposition. Believe was adopted around five years ago, with the contemporary and dynamic women of the time. For the Hindi edition of the magazine, too, the current positioning of Jiyo Femina Zindagi has been taken up for an audience which lives the life of Femina.

Appointing Mudra is basically looking at a fresh perspective for the English edition, reveals Tiwari. The key task for the brand now is to grow even more, in an already slowing environment, she states.

The magazine market in India boasts of more than 200 titles across various genres. The category of publications for women accounts for almost 24 per cent of the total magazine industry. Within the specific genre of English women's magazines, Femina claims to be the largest read fortnightly publication.

The challenge for the brand, as Tiwari of Femina says, is not just about holding onto its leadership position, but also to help in expanding the magazine market, which is estimated to be about 6-8 per cent of the total print industry.

Femina has been the market leader by far, with more than 10 per cent lead over the next player in the English women's magazine genre in 2008 (Source IRS: data R1 and R2, 2008).