A rise in creative ads in print media through 2024 highlights the resilience of newspapers, and the reliance of major brands on the good old written word
Akshita Maheshwari, a third-year journalism student at St Xavier’s, was captivated by recent creative ads, compelling her to pick up a newspaper. The recent ads from Flipkart and Aditya Birla Capital can be seen in the photo. Pic/Ashish Raje
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 too.
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As they looked around, wondering where the aroma was coming from, they noticed a full-page newspaper ad from Swiggy Instamart, selling fresh mangoes on the app. “It was a sensory ad that said, ‘read this ad with your nose’,” explains the Bandra resident. There has been an uptick in such out-of-the-box thinking in the year past, with over a dozen brands going all out on newspapers and magazines.
To launch its quick commerce app in October, Flipkart, used magazine-grade 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 app’s 10-minute delivery promise.
Creative and design director Ricky runs Creative Injection, a creative and digital agency. He believes print advertising hasn’t necessarily seen a significant resurgence post-pandemic and digital ads continue to dominate marketing budgets. Pic/Anurag Ahire
In July, Zomato’s 16th-anniversary ad was a meme poster inspired by local politicians’ birthday wishes. It read, “Zomato ke 16th janamdin par aap sabhi ko apna pyaar barsaane ke liye koti koti dhanyavaad,” featuring a nearly quarter-page photo of CEO Deepinder Goyal, labelled as “company pramukh”. The ad offered Zomato Gold membership for Rs 30.
Another ad in August announcing Swiggy’s 10th anniversary in newspapers had a balloon attached to the front page, which, when inflated, revealed a QR code for discount coupons.
This month, Aditya Birla Capital’s 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 “The Believers of India”—the driving force behind iconic brands like Tata and Mahindra.
Keigan Pinto
It’s not like print ads have not gone all out in the past. In 2010, Volkswagen “spoke” to readers through. Yes. The German car brand stuck speakers on the last page [full-page ad] in 22 lakh newspaper copies which read out the specifications of Volkswagen Vento.
Earlier this year, a report speculated that advertising in newspapers would surpass pre-pandemic levels, exceeding R20,000 crore. For the print news industry, these numbers are significant as it has been claimed for decades that “print media is dying due to lack of readership”.
Newspapers in India mainly depend on advertisements for survival—As 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 sector.
In 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 R16,472.40 crore compared to R14,892.34 crore in 2022.
Keigan 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. “Take, for example,” says Pinto, “goods 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 them.”
Newspaper ads are also a show of strength. Pinto explains, “To showcase ambition and scale, a brand might publish a full-page ad, not necessarily on the front page but even inside. A full-page 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 advertising.”
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has gone on record that the brand doesn’t 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 websites.
Malad-based 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, “Take the example of Lenskart,” says Ricky, founder of Creative Injection, a creative and digital agency, “It 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 different.”
Back in 2010, when Ricky started his agency, which now operates in Mumbai, Pune, and Dubai, marketers didn’t understand digital advertising. He explains, “Back 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 it’s not true for every brand. It’s a standard number.”
However, 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 it.
Brands have seemingly started investing in print ads more after the pandemic. However, about the marketing budget, Ricky explains, “Print advertising hasn’t necessarily seen a significant resurgence post-pandemic. Digital advertising continues to dominate marketing budgets. However, there are some nuanced developments, like brands becoming more strategic about print, using it for niche, high-end 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 noise.”
Credibility 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 Andheri-based ad agency with over 25 years in the business, says, “Newspapers need to stay relevant, and some have lost credibility due to over-commercialisation. High-profile businesses use print media to interact with people at the grassroots level, thereby capturing the attention of a large target audience.”
On print ads extending into digital campaigns, as seen with Swiggy’s 10th-anniversary ad or Flipkart’s interactive “spilt milk” one, Makani says, “Print 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 hand-in-hand 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 print.”
However, on the strategy of incorporating digital elements in print ads, Ricky adds another perspective: “If 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 micro-influencers or aspiring influencers join the conversation. This expands the brand’s reach.”
Of 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, “Gen Z prefers quick, on-the-go content. So interactive ads are not necessarily targeted at them. An interactive ad captures attention and excites everyone.”
Soon after the Flipkart Minutes ad’s success, Shailee Mehta, vice president at Leo Burnett India, the firm that designed the “spilt milk” ad, had lauded the power of print media, saying, “A print ad can become viral on digital platforms, the reverse? Rare…”
Given how well print media has rebounded after the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to sectors like tourism, hospitality, and even the automobile industry, which are still recovering from the global impact, it’s safe to say that print ads, and more importantly, print media, are here to stay.
Also Read: How social media is revolutionising old-school marketing
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