The Economic Times goes political

With elections around the corner, The Economic Times has decided to increase its political coverage.

The English business daily from Bennett, Coleman & Co (BCCL) has increased its focus on political news. The pink daily has, from March 11, added a page of political news coverage to its main paper in the run-up to the 2014 assembly elections. To highlight this development, the daily has added '& Political' to its masthead. This led to some buzz on social media with people wondering if a change in the name was in the works. Apparently not.

The newspaper till now had one page dedicated to political news coverage. Talking to afaqs!, Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, publishing, BCCL, says, "ET is a constantly changing business daily and keeping with the current demand of the readers, we decided to look at politics a little more deeply. This will continue till the time we spot something else that is more exciting." The political pages in the ET will be called Pure Politics.

The Economic Times will continue to flaunt the new masthead for the next few days, so that the readers can register the development. The change was also highlighted in a front page column.

Arming with knowledge

In another development, ET has launched a new brand campaign called 'ET Against Half Knowledge'. The campaign contextualises 'Half Knowledge' situations in people's daily lives and will be spread across media including print, TV, radio, digital and outdoor such as corporate parks and coffee shops.

Conceptualised by Lowe Lintas and Partners, the campaign will highlight ET standing up against half knowledge by drawing attention through the newspaper's analytical coverage of developments.

In an official communiqué, Arun Iyer, national creative director, Lowe Lintas and Partners, says, "We hit upon the thought that most subtle evil, which exists in corporate India, is half knowledge. And, this half knowledge is usually masked by overconfidence. There are opinions and firm ones at that, flying all around us. We feel that the biggest contribution that ET can make to this country is to increase the depth of knowledge because the more we know, the more we grow as individuals and as a country."

Dhariwal adds that this initiative has been launched to highlight the pitfalls of half knowledge. "ET has always focused on providing readers with the complete picture on every news story so that they never take decisions based on superficial intelligence," he avers.

The campaign is also being promoted through a microsite, www.knowgrow.economictimes.com, where people can learn more about the campaign and pledge their support.