HT Media brings out an all-new ‘Hindustan’

HT Media unveiled a new brand identity for its 85-year-old Hindi newspaper Hindustan yesterday. The refreshed Hindustan debuts with a new brand positioning and a host of digital navigators to enable a seamless journey from the newspaper to the website and mobile app for the readers.

On Wednesday, the readers received their daily with a new masthead and crest. Hindustan has also changed its tagline from ‘Tarakki Ko Chahiye Naya Nazariya’ to ‘Bharosa Naye Hindustan Ka’. The new tagline reflects Hindustan’s emphasis on trust and credibility.

“As an instrument of change in the Hindi Heartland, at Hindustan, our endeavour has always been to understand the evolving news consumption habits of our audience, give them what they are seeking, and how they are seeking it,” said Shashi Shekhar, editor-in-chief, Hindustan.

“‘Bharosa Naye Hindustan Ka’ is a reaffirmation of our continued commitment to deliver credible and progressive journalism through this refreshed, digitally-enhanced product. It will satiate the fast-paced, yet, in-depth media consumption habits of the millennials, without alienating the older generation, who are also fast adapting to the new ways of news consumption.”

The demand for Hindi language content on the Internet is increasing at an exponential rate. Earlier, a Google-KPMG report had predicted that Hindi Internet users will outnumber those accessing the web in English by 2021.

Hindustan’s refreshed product portfolio is reimagined with a digital-first approach, enabling print and digital synergies to sync the platform’s offerings with the accelerated change in consumer habits.

The company has been working on the revamp for the last six months. To reimagine the design elements across brand and product, the Hindustan team partnered with Dr Mario Garcia, a media industry stalwart. Garcia is a newsroom transformation expert, with successful projects across The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post under his belt.

On the design front, Hindustan’s new masthead is classic, yet contemporary, evoking the legacy that the brand brings to its modern-day readers. The new crest symbolises the values of trust and credibility Hindustan has embodied since its inception in 1936.

The refreshed Hindustan product portfolio is replete with elements that offer seamless print to digital integrations, giving the readers more than what is available on just the print medium via QR codes, social cards and photo galleries. All these direct the readers to Hindustan’s digital platforms to experience, engage and share the content.

In an industry-first concept, destinations like ‘Pramukh Paanch’ and ‘30 seconds’ have been created to give the pressed-for-time readers a quick snapshot of everything they need to know at a glance.

“Many of the refreshed Hindustan brand and product enhancements are in response to intensive research studies, user data, and feedback from our readers and partners. Our marketing, insights, and editorial teams have worked tirelessly over the last few months. They have completely revamped the content architecture to offer credible news and meaningful content to each of our key reader cohorts like millennials, working professionals, women and families,” said Samudra Bhattacharya, CEO – print, HT Media Group.

“As an instance, the addition of destinations like The Naya Hindustan is a result of the growing preference for content around career, lifestyle and health amongst the readers of Hindi Hindustan. We are extremely excited about this new offering and are certain that this will raise the bar for the news industry in our country.”

The refresh comes as the daily’s reader base moves beyond 130 million Hindi readers across its print and digital platforms, positioning it amongst the top three multi-channel Hindi news brands in the country.

“Hindustan offers an unparalleled integrated print reach of 50 million readers to our advertisers in the Hindi Heartland. That, combined with the addition of close to 80 million LiveHindustan.com visitors, provides them with all-India access to Hindi Speakers,” mentioned Rajeev Beotra, executive director, revenue, advertising and distribution, HT Media Group.

“This Hindi belt is also the new epicentre of India’s rapidly growing consumption story, leading the growth and stealing a march away from the ‘saturated’ metro cities, making it imperative for marketers to address these consumers.”

“Hindi Heartland has always been the centre of culture, transformation, and discourse on the matters of national importance. In its revamped avatar, Hindustan is committed to scaling up its key thought leadership and education focused platforms like Shikhar Samagam, Purvoday, Olympiad, and many more, engaging our readers and partners.”

Hindustan partnered with Dentsu Aegis Network to work on the print and digital communication campaign of the relaunch. The campaign is themed around ‘Naya Hindustan Padh Bhi Raha Hoon, Dekh Bhi Raha Hoon’ and showcases the various dimensions of the new India.