Hindustan Times pledges to raise and solve issues

Hindustan Times has extended its brand campaign ‘Let’s make news better’ with a film, which has been released online and is also being screened in cinemas.

The film poses a series of questions pertaining to bringing about change in society. It opens with a girl sitting in a car and reading Hindustan Times. She sees an overflowing garbage dump with litter strewn all around. As she views the dump through a cut out in the paper, against a headline and voice over that say “What if a newspaper could make your city cleaner?”, the scene shifts to uniformed men clearing the garbage. A series of situations featuring different readers of HT are featured against the questions, “What if a newspaper could solve your traffic woes?”, “What if a newspaper could switch on a street light?”, and “What if a newspaper could make you feel safer?” The change that the newspaper can effect is shown through the cut out. The films ends with the voice over, “Lets’ raise issues, let’s solve issues. Hindustan Times - Let’s make news better.”

On the idea behind the campaign, Shantanu Bhanja, business head and vice-president, marketing, HT Media, said, “This campaign came from the insight that as a news brand, we continuously keep our finger on the pulse of our readers – and we know that today, they expect their newspaper to not just report news, but to take on their problems, and actively work with them to effect the change that they want to see. The transformative power of media will increasingly be the dominant focus of the brand.”

R Balki, chairman and chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas, said, “’Let’s make news better’ is a bold step by HT to bring about the change that other newspapers only moan and cry about. Result-oriented reporting is in! It is time for other papers to wake up. And do a bit more than their job.”

The campaign broke on 9 September in print, and is being screened in cinemas since 2 October. The campaign will also straddle OOH and digital media.

Credits

Creative agency: Lowe Lintas

Production House: Equinox Films

Director: Deb Medhekar

Producer: Lisa D’ Costa