An innovation a day, coming your way

Media News

New Delhi, November 5, 2010

Sambad, the most widely read newspaper in Orissa ran a month-long innovative campaign in September to engage its readers and drive circulation figures.

To commemorate it's 26th anniversary, Sambad, the oriya language newspaper daily that has eight editions across the state, did an innovative campaign "30 days, 30 changes."

The innovation was preceded by a teaser campaign highlighting 'time for change,' as the theme. The campaign revolved around innovation and interactivity. Every day of the campaign, the newspaper carried a change in its editorial content, which later became a permanent feature. In another words, they introduced 30 permanent changes to the paper's look over a month long period.

Bringing in the element of interactivity, the newspaper urged its readers to locate the changes in the newspaper and SMS the replies. "We ran the campaign to test waters and gauge readers' response. Sambad brought in the new look journalism in Orissa market. With this innovation we wanted to engage with our readers," says Saumya Ranjan Patnaik, Editor, Sambad.

Some of the changes that the newspaper's content witnessed through the campaign were: adding a cartoon strip on the edit page, making the daily astrological forecast pictorial and thus much more appealing, carrying a section called Bhalo Khabar - profiling common people from across the state, doing extraordinary work.

Out of all replies received through SMS, three winners were selected every day, awarded a cash prize of Rs. 1,000 and their photographs printed in the newspaper the next day. The bumper prize winner was awarded a cash prize of Rs. One lakh.

"Interactivity is the new buzz word. We had set up an SMS contest where readers would spot the change and SMS it to us. We got around a lakh SMS in a month," says Monica Nayyar Patnaik, Joint MD of Eastern Media Ltd. (EML), owners of the daily.

Talking about the difficulties faced while implementing the campaign, Nayyar said, "It (the campaign) was a difficult thing. To carry on with the ideas and implementing them each day was a little difficult because Sambad has eight different editions across the state. Some of the content had to be different for different editions."

The editor of the newspaper opines that, "apart from engaging with its readers, the campaign aimed at quelling the notion that newspapers have no space for developmental and positive news. Force of habit is so strong that any change is met with resistance".

The Oriya daily which has a total readership of over 62 lacs and about 40 per cent market share, aims at capturing half the market. "We want our market share to go up to 50 per cent in a year's time," Ranjan says. 30 innovations is certainly a good way to start on that route, it seems.