The Hindu makes a point in HT-TOI scuffle

Taking advantage of the ongoing TOI-HT scuffle, The Hindu launched an advertising campaign urging people to be calm and read The Hindu.

Much is being made about the TOI-HT scuffle in media circles as the two giants attack each other with everything they have got. Somewhere in this scuffle, The Hindu launched its campaign titled 'Keep Calm and Read The Hindu' to take advantage from the situation and reach out to the advertisers and planners community.

The creatives of the campaign showcase caricatures of HT and TOI and the communication each used to attack the other with a message from The Hindu saying 'Don't be confused. Keep Calm and read The Hindu'. The message was followed by the publication's claim of being Delhi's, and India's, most sensible newspaper - and the undisputed No.1 in southern India.

The publication released electronic mailers for a set of three creatives and placed ads in trade media magazines. Shashi Kumar, AGM - Brand, The Hindu, says, "The Hindu has a long tradition of high quality journalism and is respected for in-depth news reporting and pre-eminent views. In our view, any media organization, especially print media organization, should be measured by these parameters, and not merely by numbers. We felt that it was our responsibility to remind the media and advertising fraternity to make sensible, informed judgement, based on quality and not to be confused by the rhetoric of numbers."

The campaign will run for three weeks and the publication aims at informing media colleagues and readers to focus on sensible news reporting. For the record, TOI attacked HT on its circulation numbers and how it did not do justice to the advertisers. Quick to respond, HT came up with its counter-attack calling TOI a moaning baby.

The Hindu Group started in 1878 and has a business daily, English and regional language dailies, along with a couple of magazines to its name. Its English daily, The Hindu, is published from 20 cities across eight states and enjoys a dominant status in South India. The group also launched its Tamil daily 'The Hindu' nearly a year back.