Mid Day makes second foray into morning segment with new paper

A month after Mid Day's dawn edition made a quick exit within a week of its launch comes the news that the group has a new morning paper - The Morning Quick - in Mumbai. Launched yesterday (April 19), The Morning Quick, unlike the aborted Mid Day AM, is here to stay, says Manajit Ghosal, CFO, Mid Day Multimedia Limited. "Mid Day AM was more of a test run to check the appetite of readers for a morning tabloid," he insists, adding, "There is definitely a gap in the marketplace for a paper which offers a quick read."

Priced at Re 1, an average issue of The Morning Quick comprises 24 pages to Mid Day's 52 pages, which retails at Rs 3. The new morning paper, much like the earlier AM edition, is positioned as an alternative to the morning papers, with more news in its pages - as opposed to the feature-led, special-story approach of flagship tabloid, Mid Day. National and international news takes precedence over city news in The Morning Quick, which is targeted at the serious reader keen on getting his quota of daily news quickly and easily. Apart from the regular morning reader, Mid Day hopes to attract younger audiences and language readers on the strength of the product's competitive pricing (most morning papers sell in the Rs 3 bracket), aggressive marketing, tightly-edited content, easy-on-the-eye design and, of course, a high level of awareness.

To build awareness, an aggressive launch campaign using print, outdoor and radio has been devised. The company is banking on the campaign - created by Contract Advertising, with the slug ‘All the news. Just shorter' - to help the morning paper make inroads into the market. "Apart from eating into the market share of incumbent players, a new product tends to expand the market as well," Ghosal justifies the company's foray into the morning space. "Movement of language readers, peripheral readership… all add up to give numbers."

Mid Day, incidentally, is looking to increase the cover price of The Morning Quick to Rs 2, although Ghosal maintains that it is early days yet for such a move. In addition to The Morning Quick, two editions of Mid Day will circulate in the marketplace - one at 8.00 am, the second in the forenoon at around 11.00-11.30 am. © 2004 agencyfaqs!