AIM launches a new campaign to build on the relevance of Magazines

The popular belief is that readership of Magazines is declining, and is declining possibly faster than newspapers. The new IRS 2017 numbers indicate a stupendous growth in Magazine readership. Magazines almost doubled the Total Readership from 40 million in IRS 2014 to 78 million in the latest IRS 2017. The growth has come from the urban areas, which added 22 million readers; and also rural India added 17 million readers. That is a whopping 95% growth in the Total Readership of magazines in India, and this growth is coming only from Print and does not take into consideration the online portals of magazines. The total readership of newspapers also registered a growth during the same period, of 40%.

Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) briefed Bang in the Middle to create a campaign that puts  this 95% growth in sharp focus. The campaign is devised to showcase the dramatic growth in readership. 

For the agency the creative challenge was large, the campaign could not be descriptive that just informed the readers about growth in readership. The campaign has to make the reader stop and drive the feeling that they knew reading magazine had never gone out of fashion.

As the idea, Bang in the Middle kept the execution simple. The campaign is designed around the intrigue of number 95%. The 6 ad campaign builds the growth in readership by making the ads contextual to the reader segments. 

Speaking about the campaign R. Rajmohan, President of AIM said “we at the association knew that magazine readership is very robust and when the new numbers were released it only added to our confidence. AIM took this opportunity to build on the habit of reading magazines and drive its relevance to  both readers and advertisers.”

Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner and CCO of Bang in the Middle said “The brief was sharp and singular. Let the world know that Total Magazine Readship has grown 95%. Big growth. Big number. Big picture. Big story. And all of that came alive in the campaign. We didn’t have to get creative for creative’s sake. The number was dramatic by itself. We just had to make sure the number come through bold. With a small witty statistic to add in some wit, and with a hidden image inside the big 95% that hinted and revealed a hidden consumer story. The execution too worked to make it topical for different magazine genres.”

Naresh Gupta, Managing Partner and CSO Bang in the Middle said “It's a happy number and we wanted to drive this feeling of amazement in readers, advertisers and brand owners about this surge in numbers. While many advertisers have always been convinced about the efficacy of magazines, a 95% growth in readership adds to their confidence. Our campaign, in a matter of fact way, builds on the reading habit of our audience”

Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) is the national magazine association in India and is affiliated to the global industry association, International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) . AIM members include all the top magazine publishers of the country.

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