Hindi-language daily newspaper — Rajasthan Patrika, founded in 1956, recently unveiled a brand identity in an attempt to 'contemporise the brand’.
The national daily is published as Rajasthan Patrika in Delhi and Rajasthan, and as Patrika in nine other states.
We caught up with Siddharth Kothari, additional managing director, Patrika Group for a quick chat about the idea of choosing Kulish as a visual in the logo.
“Kulish was my grandfather's (Shri Karpur Chandra Kulish, the founder of Patrika Group) chosen pen name, which signifies Vajra — the instrument used to re-establish order. This is exactly what a newspaper does; it seeks to bring positive changes in society through fair and balanced reporting,” Kothari clarifies.
A natural progression?
According to him, the journey from an evening newspaper to the present status has been a long and significant migration. The logo is therefore an image added to communicate the brand shift and consolidate the new identity.
"Today our reach has several touch points starting from morning newspaper, in transit FM, en route OOH, updates on mobile/laptop and noon paper, social media and evening headlines on television. It was about time to leverage this complex yet effective ecosystem of cross media news and inter-vertical synergies that we have achieved," he states.
Who were the creative brains behind this new identity?
Kothari informs, “We did have several pitches with agencies. But finally after an exercise spanning one year, with involvement from various top and mid level executives and after several brainstorming sessions and feedback, the new identity was evolved with our own brand team at the helm of it all.”
We also quizzed him about whether the logo of the newspaper has undergone changes since its inception.
And, here is his response, “For a newspaper the masthead becomes the default logo. And this has definitely evolved over the years. The purpose of adding this logo is to reflect new energies.”