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Mid-Day bags a gold at the IFRA Awards
The marketing property, Bollywood Lunch Contest, was launched to engage YUMPIs within the context of their working environment
The afternooner, Mid-Day, recently won the Global IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards 2008 for its innovative marketing property, the Bollywood Lunch Contest. The awards were announced at the IFRA Expo 2008 on October 27 in Amsterdam.
Mid-Day won the Category B Award for medium sized newspapers with a circulation of between 1,00,000 and 2,50,000 copies per day. The runner-up was the Cash Group, a leading multimedia business platform in Switzerland and part of the media corporation, Ringier, for its project, Crossmedia Marketplace for the Derivatives Market. The second runner-up was Vecernji List, Croatia, for Volim.
Malayala Manorama's campaign for Apple-a-Day Properties, an upcoming real estate developer in Kerala, was shortlisted for the awards. The campaign helped to connect, interact with and engage prospective customers.
The Global IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards focus on cross-media advertising projects undertaken by newspaper publishing houses. Around 56 publishers from 27 countries sent in entries for the awards. The jury comprised international newspaper and media experts.
With the prestigious award in its bag, Mid-Day Infomedia plans to increase the frequency of the Bollywood Lunch Contest and make it a monthly event. “It is one of our best received properties and a marketing initiative with which we are making good money. It is an effort to take the brand beyond the newspaper,” says Ghoshal.
He adds, “As an afternooner arriving at a time when the professional is taking a break from his stressful day, Mid-Day made it its mission to 'Make Work Fun!' for its readers.”
The Bollywood Lunch Contest was initiated by Mid-Day a year ago in an effort to strengthen its positioning of 'Make Work Fun'. This innovative property translated into a ground level activity in which readers got to participate in a contest. Not just the winner, but his entire office, too, got a chance to win a lunch date with Bollywood stars on the office campus.
The contest ran across all Mid-Day editions, including those in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Aamir Khan, Rakhi Sawant, the star cast of Chak De! India, John Abraham, Boman Irani, Ajay Devgan, Ayesha Takia, Rajpal Yadav, Irfaan Khan, Emraan Hashmi, Sonal Chauhan and many other film stars have visited corporate offices and interacted with the winners as part of the initiative.
“The idea behind the contest came from the company's decision to take Mid-Day one step closer to its readers and take the association beyond the paper. Since Bollywood is Mid-Day's strength, we decided to cash in on this property,” says Ghoshal.
The company promoted the contest through a media blitzkrieg, including ads across print, radio, the website, Mid-day.com, and various trade publications. It also roped in sponsors such as Popkorn Entertainment, Sahara Filmy and Fosters.
Encouraged by the response it has received for the Bollywood Lunch Contest, Mid-Day Infomedia plans to start more such cross-media innovations. For its print and Internet editions, Mid-Day will start the Fun Work Place Contest, in which employees will decide which office is the best to work in.
In an official communiqué, Neville Bastawalla, head, marketing, Mid-Day Multimedia, says, “ Mid-Day has put a lot of thought and effort into engaging the coveted audience of YUMPIs and delivering effective and innovative advertising solutions that break through the clutter and get noticed.”
Mid-Day recently won the Global INMA Award in the Print Advertising, Sales and Retention category. It was awarded second place in two additional categories, New Marketing Services and Public Relations and Community Service.