Hindustan Times Vs Toi

Brand Audit HINDUSTAN TIMES VS TIMES OF INDIA May 2008 Submitted by:- Tushar Narula Amity University Amity International Business School, Noida

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Brand’s personality in terms of how the brand would look like, Broke up in: Physical attributes: What people, places and colors associate with the brand.

Symbols:

What does the brand symbolize?

Related Brands:

What sort of brands does it relate to, how much efficacy does the communication has in brand building.

Associations

HT

TOI

People

Most people associated HT are Vir Sanghvi, Manmohan Singh, Karan Thapar .Some people associated HT with the irrepressible Khushwant Singh.

Association with cartoonist RK laxman Page3 models, film stars like SRK, Katrina kaif, Politicians & Sports icons.

Places

Associate with Delhi. Delhi is a dog-eat-dog print market .DU festival carnival, College canteens, Delhi Metro, Markets(Khan, Basant lok & Siri fort)

Separate editions for Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai ,Hyderabad, Chennai Lounges Fashion Shows like ( Wills, Pantaloons, Lakme ) Café Coffee Day

Colors

Red & Blue Stripes Respondents also citied the colors of HT’s new avtar i.e. green ,pink & purple

Red and Black followed by white and other vibrant colors. Some respondents also mentioned blue.

Associations

HT

TOI

Visuals and pictures

Politicians ,The Hindustan Times web site is good, that too with Archives. ‘.

Photos of the beautiful semi clad women, one of the USPs of TOI Others including cartoon strips (specially Dubyaman) ,the Speaking tree . ‘GOD & I’ article by celebrity.

Some respondents also mentioned columns including Life& Universe, The Sunday Magazine Section and the HT Job Seema Goswami column which is usually featured under the column of Live

Signs and symbols

Straight lines, Most respondents could not draw an association with any particular symbol, however they only had known their sun sign symbols.

Astrology (Daily Prediction), then comes the most favorite - SUDOKU

Bennett and Coleman logo (some referred to it as the two elephants) and the mast head.

Associations

HT

TOI

With other brands

Fever 104FM,Vodafone Philips Electronic goods, Domino pizza ,

Many respondents mentioned Nike, Reebok, Koutons ,TNG, Others mentioned brands like HT, ford, Samsung ,indiatimes poll ,ICICI bank WLC college, Pantaloon, IPL …(cheerleaders!!)

Other news papers like Asian Age Navbharat Times etc

Advertising recall

Its only fewer among business executives and 2 students had recalled the Leadership Summit ,. A daily column on Hot new careers has the max recall.

Lead India campaign had a very high recall. ’INDIA POISED’ . India today” Conclave “has no recall, despite of max coverage in papers &magazine .

Observation • HT’ under Vir Sanghvi has overtaken them in almost all the issues of importance. The only area where ’TOI’’ competes favourable is the ’’Delhi Times’’ supplement. . • The language is simple and yet expressive. •TOI associates itself with people who are the heroes of modern society like SRK, Business Tycoons ,Designer Clothes. • The Edit Page layout of HT is of high quality with lots of good articles and editorials to look forward to. • The problem with this was that TOI was more concerned with image, style, gossipy language

Brand personality: So, if the brand had a mood, what would it be? What exactly is the brand to a user?

Would sum up the brand as…

HT

TOI

Dominant thought: HT is a paper that combines the sophistication of design with topicality of content’ Other thought: Balanced, properly structured

Dominant thought:TOI has enjoyed a widespread appeal.. more so among the younger generation for its uninhibited and bold approach towards news Other thought: where the news is mainly who dated whom, who wore the skimpiest clothing, where is the ’hottest’ party!!!

Mood of the brand

Dominant thought: Serious, not happening, lack the in-depth coverage Other Thoughts: Sober

Dominant thought: spicy, entertaining, infotainment , young, dynamic Other Thoughts: for more matured audience .sobriety and mindfulness

Observation

• The HT has an impressive editorial board and good articles of national interest, but it loses out on national level news. • Since many respondents read both papers noticing the inherently better coverage on local City issues in the HT as compared to TOI. TOI is heading all attempts at internationalization.

Emotional associations: What feeling does the brand evoke and how much has it been able to move beyond the functional benefits into the consumer’s life

Feelings and emotions associated

HT

TOI

‘Feeling of restlessness and an incomplete day if I missed reading it.’

‘I will say that the paper is worth reading for a person who wants to be updated about the current happenings.

‘Empowered in sync with one likings ‘Kudos to HT city for offering gamut of offerings on career , fashion, My city, games, bollywood ’

How does it makes me feel about myself?/Other people using HT

‘Lots Of Masala for Breakfast’ ‘TOI viz. Education Times ,Times Ascent etc. are icing on the cake. It helps us to get update with relevant subject matter.’

The respondents thought reading HT or TOI doesn' t really make a difference in any ones image, but reading ET or any business paper does make a difference in the way a person is perceived.

HT

TOI

Relationships Very few respondent believe that educative / articles from supplements including business times/ standard or education times is an ideal piece Work or Home of information for discussion at workplace or meet., rest felt otherwise. Occasionally they refer for infotainment!!!. It does not affect them.

Feelings about the brand VS competition HT HT Reader s

• Balanced • Matured • Catchy phrases • Easy language • Boring, Less gossips, Politics oriented

TOI • Spicy, entertaining, infotainment but no news • TOI is just not meant for the masses . • Uses slanged even to report critical news • TOI is often confusing. It uses cheap gimmicks

HT T0I Reader s

• lifeless, boring • Page 3 missing • Sports pages are better than the rest of the news paper covers. • The front page news are sometimes bizarre.

TOI • Times: Pride of India • Useful with some top news and company specific news . • Brilliant presentation, Resourceful • Good times of page 3 celebrities • The Life of Indians... • Soft News, Infotainment

Observation • No newspapers, be it HT or TOI have really been able to make a space in consumers life. •However TOI - education times gives info about the career opportunities to students. The economic times is the best economy newspaper in India. The accent provide info on the various job opportunities. With such supplements TOI is ahead of HT • Many readers believe that the general outlook of the Times of India is so better than that of Hindustan Times. Not only the main newspaper but also the supplements are of interest. • The brevity of description is compensated by good design and excellent edit pieces &HT is the testimony to the fact. Here HT outplayed TOI. •Respondents believed that New HT City REALLY LOOKS GOOD.The headlines are very catchy…one .Also the use of these pink, red, Green and black color on top looks attractive. Having separate sections is suited to those looking for tailored made news

Newspaper should bring out the headlines from the T.V. news, in a more elaborate manner and be truthful to the news as well as to its readers, letting them decide which side of story they are, not by commenting on the news, giving the notion that the Reporter/Editor have instead of the reader forming a opinion on his own.

Learning •Respondents didn’t find the idea great to leave their existing paper for the other, unless one is price conscious. Not all changes are welcome. •Habit & loyalty are the only things which are responsible for keeping the readers base of both HT&TOI •Newspaper should bring out the headlines from the T.V. news, in a more elaborate manner and be truthful to the news as well as to its readers, letting them decide which side of story they are, not by commenting on the news, giving the notion that the Reporter/Editor have instead of the reader forming a opinion on his own. .