We won’t hijack ZEE-Bhaskar adverts again, TOI tells the courts

Bennett, Coleman and Co, the publishers of The Times of India, has given an undertaking at the Bombay High Court on Monday to drop its campaign that hijacked the ZEE-Bhaskar advertisements for the combine’s forthcoming English language newspaper in Mumbai.

This was in response to the civil suit filed by Diligent Media Corporation, the ZEE-Bhaskar joint venture company, claiming that the creative of its teaser advert – ‘Speak up. It's in your DNA’ – was lifted by The Times of India Group for the advantage of one of its publications.

The court disposed off the suit on Monday after Bennett, Coleman and Co. (BCCL) gave the undertaking.

Confirming this development, Ashish Kaul, vice-president, Corporate Brand Development Group, ZEE Telefilms, said, “However, the legal case on unconditional apology and our seeking damages worth Rs 100 crore will continue.”

He was referring to Diligent Media Corporation suing BCCL for Rs 100 crore in damages and seeking an unconditional apology.

The controversy relates to Maharashtra Times, a BCCL group publication, running a campaign showing visuals of five individuals – similar to the ones in the hoarding campaign by ZEE-Bhaskar – taking off the grey stickers that seal their mouths.

The original ZEE-Bhaskar campaign has the faces of different people (including a grey haired, bearded man) with their mouths sealed shut with a grey strip. These billboards (sans copy and logo) have dotted the Mumbai landscape for the last fortnight creating quite a stir in the marketplace. The second phase of the campaign was launched on March 27 with a line accompanying the original image – ‘Speak up. It’s in your DNA’.

The ZEE-Bhaskar group has claimed that the hoardings were part of the teaser campaigns in which the main draw was the curiosity factor, and that The Times of India group has tried to hijack the curiosity factor by using it to its advantage in its own ad.

Media observers said The Times of India group’s move to hijack the ZEE-Bhaskar adverts were perhaps driven by the fact that the combine was entering a territory, which has not only been traditionally ruled by The Times of India, the market was the cash-cow for the group as well.

They referred to agencyfaqs! reports where Rahul Kansal, brand director, The Times of India, has been quoted as saying that the BCCL effort was “to have a sequel to the teaser campaign (of ZEE-Bhaskar).” They also remembered that Kansal had given BCCL managing director Vineet Jain the credit for the sequel’s idea.

For ZEE, it’s the first time venture in the English newspaper genre. There’s no doubt that ZEE will be drawing on the rich experience of Pradeep Guha, who is currently the CEO of ZEE Telefilms. Guha, who joined ZEE recently, was with BCCL for twenty-nine years and had a major contribution in turning BCCL into the powerhouse that it today is.

It’s ironic that BCCL chose to play spoilsport to Guha’s plans. © 2005 agencyfaqs!