Hathway Media to splurge Rs 1 crore on Traveller launch

Hathway Media has lined up a massive promotional blitz for its new magazine Outlook Traveller. Slated to hit the stands on June 1, the group has earmarked an investment of close to Rs 1 crore, which will be spent on direct marketing and a high voltage print campaign.

Talking about the group's plans, R Rajmohan, general manager, advertising, Outlook, said, "We are undertaking the sampling exercise in a phased manner. We have circulated two sets of the sampler issue with Outlook and Intelligent Investor already." To elaborate, the sampling exercise was kicked off with the May 7 issue of Outlook. It was circulated first as a 20-page insert with Outlook and then as a 16-page insert with the Outlook issue dated May 14 as well as in Intelligent Investor.

"It would have reached about 2,30,000 Outlook subscribers, plus 1,10,000 Intelligent Investor subscribers and another 1 lakh news-stand buyers already. This is just a feeler - to give them an idea of what the Rs 50 magazine is all about," said Rajmohan.

Hathway is luring potential subscribers with an attractive subscription scheme as well -with offers of a 60 per cent discount, guaranteed gifts, supported by a ‘sweepstakes offer' with prizes like holiday for a couple in Australia (first prize), holiday for a couple in Malaysia (second prize) and 10 third prizes touting exotic domestic locations.

Rajmohan indicated that the magazine has roped in 3,000 subscribers already. By the time the subscription offer closes on June 30, the magazine hopes to touch a subscriber base of 20,000. "That's pretty good to start with," exclaimed Rajmohan. However, the company plans to print 50,000 copies of the first issue - which is more than double the expected subscription base. "Once the first issue hits the stands on June 1, we will undertake a direct sampling drive targeting institutions, like hotels, travel companies etc," added Rajmohan.

On June 1, Hathway will run what it calls a "launch announcement ad" across all the major dailies including The Times of India, Midday, Telegraph, Hindu, Indian Express, Business Standard and Hindustan Times. Following this it will run a three-ad campaign in The Times, Outlook, Intelligent Investor, Business India and A&M.

"All the spadework in done," claimed Rajmohan. "We had set a date of June 1 for Traveller launch and we are going to do it. Two forms of the magazine have been released today and the magazine will go to bed on Saturday. On June 1 morning we will be on the stands across the country," said a visibly excited Rajmohan.

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