Vikatan Group carves a medium out of promotional posters

When Tamil Weekly Ananda Vikatan ran out of ‘innovation’ options to offer advertisers for an issue in end-July, this idea was born. An idea so simple that one might wonder why it hadn’t been done before – the bottom portion of the magazine’s promotional poster sports advertising. Here’s why it works.

To place things in context, magazines are retailed a little differently in Tamil Nadu, than people are used to seeing in some other parts of the country. In the State, newsstands display posters of different hues promoting magazines, and even daily newspapers – with the posters being more prominent for the evening dailies.

For Ananda Vikatan, which hits stands each Thursday, an average of 1.5 lakh posters find their way to these stalls each week. For a movie looking to release Friday, this was perfect timing. What was a coincidence (for the second such poster) is Rajnikanth promoting the magazine, and the movie being promoted starring his son-in-law Dhanush.

“We offered this as a value-addition to a movie which was being advertised in the magazine as a double-spread, at an additional cost. For the posters that feature the ads, we printed an additional 30,000 copies each, which works well for both the magazine and the movie. It’s a win-win,” noted Praveen Menon, national head – ad sales, Vikatan Media Services.

 With the newsstands selling much more than magazines (everything from toffees to toothpaste, actually), the publication house sees opportunity in taking the offering to FMCG companies. Menon revealed that a case is being prepared for the category.

With the very next issue’s poster also featuring a movie advertisement, some newsstand owners have, expectedly, started asking for a cut.

“We have longstanding relationships with them, with Vikatan’s posters assured of a premium position at the stalls. We will try and ensure that all parties benefit,” explained Menon.