Print ads are the new fad

During a morning tea session with her father early in June this year Shilpa Chawla an influencer and an advertising professional caught a whiff of Alphonso mangoes But there were none around Her father could smell them tooAs they looked around wondering where the aroma was coming from they noticed a fullpage newspaper ad from Swiggy Instamart selling fresh mangoes on the app ldquoIt was a sensory ad that said lsquoread this ad with your nosersquordquo explains the Bandra resident There has been an uptick in such outofthebox thinking in the year past with over a dozen brands going all out on newspapers and magazinesTo launch its quick commerce app in October Flipkart used magazinegrade glazed GSM paper with hydrochromic ink which disappears when exposed to water for an interactive experience with readers drawing millions of views online on platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube The ad featured a family running short on daily supplies and a swipe with a wet cloth revealed the hidden message beneath the ink about the apprsquos 10minute delivery promiseCreative and design director Ricky runs Creative Injection a creative and digital agency He believes print advertising hasnrsquot necessarily seen a significant resurgence postpandemic and digital ads continue to dominate marketing budgets PicAnurag AhireIn July Zomatorsquos 16thanniversary ad was a meme poster inspired by local politiciansrsquo birthday wishes It read ldquoZomato ke 16th janamdin par aap sabhi ko apna pyaar barsaane ke liye koti koti dhanyavaadrdquo featuring a nearly quarterpage photo of CEO Deepinder Goyal labelled as ldquocompany pramukhrdquo The ad offered Zomato Gold membership for Rs 30Another ad in August announcing Swiggyrsquos 10th anniversary in newspapers had a balloon attached to the front page which when inflated revealed a QR code for discount couponsThis month Aditya Birla Capitalrsquos ad invited readers to invest in brands through their financial services It included a mirror in the middle of a panorama spread of faces on the front page allowing readers to see themselves as ldquoThe Believers of Indiardquomdashthe driving force behind iconic brands like Tata and MahindraKeigan PintoItrsquos not like print ads have not gone all out in the past In 2010 Volkswagen ldquospokerdquo to readers through Yes The German car brand stuck speakers on the last page fullpage ad in 22 lakh newspaper copies which read out the specifications of Volkswagen VentoEarlier this year a report speculated that advertising in newspapers would surpass prepandemic levels exceeding R20000 crore For the print news industry these numbers are significant as it has been claimed for decades that ldquoprint media is dying due to lack of readershiprdquoNewspapers in India mainly depend on advertisements for survivalmdashAs per analytics firm Crisil 70 per cent of revenue in 2023 for newspapers came from ads and only 30 per cent came from subscriptions The analysis covered 40 per cent of the total revenue generated by the print media sectorIn September the Indian Newspaper Society the central organisation for newspapers and periodicals reported an 11 per cent rise in ad revenue for the calendar year 2023 reaching R1647240 crore compared to R1489234 crore in 2022Keigan Pinto an advertising professional with 20 years in the trade explains why big brands still prefer to put out ads in newspapers along with newer avenues such as digital mediums which may arguably have a broader impact ldquoTake for examplerdquo says Pinto ldquogoods such as cars real estate or banking services People who can afford these are relatively older a significant portion of the target audience still subscribes to newspapers Thus advertisers need to reach them there While outdoor social media and digital space have their own reasons for exponential growth the continued presence of ads in newspapers indicates that people are still reading themrdquoNewspaper ads are also a show of strength Pinto explains ldquoTo showcase ambition and scale a brand might publish a fullpage ad not necessarily on the front page but even inside A fullpage ad in a national daily can be read as the brand means business However there exists a parallel digital world where brands may not advertise in print at all because their entire presence and target audience is online which rules out the need for a show of strength A prime example of this is car brand Tesla which has recently started advertisingrdquoTeslarsquos CEO Elon Musk has gone on record that the brand doesnrsquot believe in traditional advertising because the demand for its products has always exceeded supply However in March this year the American electric vehicle maker experimented with some paid social media campaigns and a few websitesMaladbased Ricky who has also been in the ad business for over 14 years as creative and design director highlights the synergy needed between online and offline business channels Drawing a parallel between print media and offline stores he explains ldquoTake the example of Lenskartrdquo says Ricky founder of Creative Injection a creative and digital agency ldquoIt started as an online platform but soon realised the need for physical stores Today Lenskart offers franchise stores because the trust value of physical presence is much higher for consumers The same ad can appear on Instagram but its impact in a daily newspaper magazine or billboard is differentrdquoBack in 2010 when Ricky started his agency which now operates in Mumbai Pune and Dubai marketers didnrsquot understand digital advertising He explains ldquoBack then roughly about only one per cent of the budget was allotted for digital But today the general market standard has jumped to about 15 per cent Though itrsquos not true for every brand Itrsquos a standard numberrdquoHowever he says even today many brands do not realise that digital media is only for pushing the product and the brand cannot be built solely on itBrands have seemingly started investing in print ads more after the pandemic However about the marketing budget Ricky explains ldquoPrint advertising hasnrsquot necessarily seen a significant resurgence postpandemic Digital advertising continues to dominate marketing budgets However there are some nuanced developments like brands becoming more strategic about print using it for niche highend publications specific demographic targeting creating tangible brand experiences and complementing digital campaigns The reasons for selective print investments include credibility and quality of the brand reaching specific demographic segments creating memorable tactile brand interactions and cutting through digital noiserdquoCredibility and quality of journalism are also factors that many experts discussed as deciding why ads are making a comeback to newspapers Sameer Makani director of Makani Creatives Pvt LTD an Andheribased ad agency with over 25 years in the business says ldquoNewspapers need to stay relevant and some have lost credibility due to overcommercialisation Highprofile businesses use print media to interact with people at the grassroots level thereby capturing the attention of a large target audiencerdquoOn print ads extending into digital campaigns as seen with Swiggyrsquos 10thanniversary ad or Flipkartrsquos interactive ldquospilt milkrdquo one Makani says ldquoPrint advertising can spark debates on social media providing marketers with a new method to engage with audiences We know that the dominance of digital advertising is here to stay but we cannot deny that digital can go handinhand with print to make it even more effective For example if a QR code is added to the print ad the effectiveness of the messaging and reach increases We are already seeing artificial intelligence and augmented reality being used in tandem with printrdquoHowever on the strategy of incorporating digital elements in print ads Ricky adds another perspective ldquoIf a QR code is included in an ad few people might actually scan it for a discount But the real strategy is creating a PR kit and giving it to influencers When ten big names talk about it other microinfluencers or aspiring influencers join the conversation This expands the brandrsquos reachrdquoOf late some interactive ads have even drawn Gen Z to newspapers a demographic not typically known for reading them While many may believe that interactive ads are designed to attract a younger crowd ad expert Pinto notes ldquoGen Z prefers quick onthego content So interactive ads are not necessarily targeted at them An interactive ad captures attention and excites everyonerdquoSoon after the Flipkart Minutes adrsquos success Shailee Mehta vice president at Leo Burnett India the firm that designed the ldquospilt milkrdquo ad had lauded the power of print media saying ldquoA print ad can become viral on digital platforms the reverse RarehelliprdquoGiven how well print media has rebounded after the COVID19 pandemic compared to sectors like tourism hospitality and even the automobile industry which are still recovering from the global impact itrsquos safe to say that print ads and more importantly print media are here to stayAlso ReadHow social media is revolutionising oldschool marketing