When a newspaper brand repositioned Sunday...

A look at The Hindu's new ad that promotes its special Sunday edition, first launched in February.

In February, this year, The Hindu revamped its look. It was the same time when the Chennai headquartered English daily launched The Hindu on Sunday to rekindle the reading habit and encourage everyone - young and old alike - to experience the joy of reading.

Now, the 138-year-old newspaper brand has launched the #SundayIsForReading campaign, a proposition seeking to do just that for you. An 80-second video, curated and developed as part of this campaign, blends reading into various scenarios that one can relate to on a regular Sunday. It's a wonderful, slice of life ad that creates all the day-to-day situations that actually take place in our lives, and shows how The Hindu becomes a part of it. It further emphasises the importance of reading and aims to break the myth that reading is a solo act.

"We all know reading is an important habit to nurture and sustain. Yet in today's fast-paced world, who sets the time aside to read?...We thought, why not use the recently introduced, The Hindu on Sunday, which has so much more to read, and encourage people to set Sundays aside for reading," says Dr. Sathya Sriram, head - strategy and marketing, The Hindu Group.

It is predominantly a digital campaign and the video is just one part of the #SundayIsForReading campaign. There are many more interesting surround ideas and engagement plans which will be released in a phased manner. The video is also being promoted on TV, as well as through radio and outdoor in a few markets.

But 'what was the reason to come up with a campaign, which promotes newspaper reading only on Sundays?' we asked.

"Our research showed that people spend more time reading the newspaper during weekends than on weekdays, and that's precisely why we have launched The Hindu on Sunday with much more content to read... We feel Sunday can be an ideal day to unwind and experience the joy of reading while still getting to spend time with family and friends. That's the theme we have chosen to articulate in the #SundayIsForReading campaign... to indulge in your newspaper, especially on Sundays!" explains Abilasha Anish, head - brand marketing, The Hindu Group.

The brand also understands that nowadays a lot of people read news online as it has a significant group of readers, reading news from the website and mobile app as well. However, for the video, the physical newspaper has been chosen because the brand believes that it evokes a certain emotion that many people can relate to.

"We are already part of the English-speaking homes and the Sunday edition is now refreshed with more reinvigorating content that will be every newspaper readers' delight. The Hindu has seen a steady growth in circulation over the years in our core southern markets, especially in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad," informs Abilasha.

The Hindu on Sunday was launched with several new pages covering a wide range of topics curated to inform and delight readers. This super-sized edition has sections such as Explainers (5Ws of journalism), Despatches - from correspondents around the world, Framed - a double-spread photo feature, international business and investment guidance through Portfolio, Science & Technology, Sports and the privileges of long-form journalism through Magazine and Literary Review.

Therefore, the ad shows a mixture of youngsters as well as the elderly reading the newspaper, further emphasising the fact that there is no core TG for reading! The film explores many of those moments and reasons, be it a young couple spending time together on an early Sunday morning over a cup of coffee, or a group of young school children reading to do their science project, or a group of older men finding companionship by reading side by side.

"This is a national campaign and is not specific to any city / region. It is a big shout out to anyone and everyone who loves to and wants to read," says Abilasha, adding, "The Hindu on Sunday was launched three months back and is available nationally. The feedback from our readers has been very encouraging. This video itself, is inspired from some of our readers' letters on how The Hindu on Sunday is now an integral part of their Sunday routine."