Ex | Helping children become their 'best selves': Delhi Press' V Natarajan

Delhi Press is one of the largest publishing house in the country with 32 magazines in 9 languages and a collective readership of over 30 million. Some of the popular magazines in its stable are Champak, the children’s magazine, popular women’s magazine Grihashobha, leading narrative journalism magazine, The Caravan and Saras Salil, the largest read magazine in India. Established in 1939, Delhi Press is a full-service publishing house with its own printing facilities and its own distribution and logistics company that reaches out to more than 3,000 magazine distributers and agents.

Delhi Press recently launched two new magazines, Highlights Champs for age group 6-12 years and Highlights Genies for age groups 2-6 years. While the first one is the most-read children’s publication in the United States. Dedicated to helping children become their “best selves,” the magazine is filled with fiction and nonfiction stories, science experiments, crafts, recipes, jokes and more. It also devotes many pages to publishing letters, artwork and other submissions from the kids who read it. Highlights is published by Highlights for Children, Inc., the leading children’s magazines publisher in the United States. Highlights Champs will be a 44-page magazine printed on 52 GSM hi bright paper. The magazine will be distributed monthly, priced at Rs. 40.

Highlights Genies is for young minds and helps them develop a love of reading through simple stories and colorful illustrations. It will be a 40-page magazine distributed monthly, priced at Rs. 40.

On the rational for launching the new magazines despite having Champak in its stable, V. Natarajan, Vice President, Brand and Marketing Strategy while speaking to Adgully  said, “Champak is for the  7 to 12 years bracket and the flagship of the brand is Champak Hindi. While there is some overlap between Highlights Champs and Champak in terms of target ages we must remember that  Champak is rooted in Indian sensibilities and the content is primarily Indian in nature. Champak has a signature mix of stories that are woven around animal characters, and values are imported through their fun and enjoyable narrative. In that respect, Highlights Champs and Genies, which have a different cultural milieu to it, actually fill a gap in the product portfolio of Delhi Press.  These two new products have a content that is rooted in American way of life.”

The children today are exposed to the cultures of various countries through Television, internet etc. The values and knowledge in Champs and Genies are primarily through human characters and the content is paced to the different facets of American children’s lives. The association between Highlights and  Delhi Press is very logical as the value both the groups place  on Children being the most important “ people” is a shared value.

On the arrangement with Highlights, he said, “It is a licensing arrangement. The content ratio will be 80 % from Highlights and 20 % Indian.

The children’s magazine genre is very important and there is a need for quality publications in the print space. Children are increasingly seen as a “ pester power” in the world of advertising and hence influence purchase decisions. This is supported by the growth of children’s genre television channels like Nick, Cartoon Network, Disney etc. Adds Natarajan, “There is a need for print products which are of high quality and Delhi Press which has always been in the forefront of reading, publishing (through magazines and also books) is clear that the relevance of print publications has not diminished in a digital scenario.”

The company understands the value and influence of the digital media and is taking efforts to have its footprints in this space through E Magazines (Magzster/Zinio) and websites. Next it is also planning to have an increased presence in the social media.

Parents in India place a high value on education and care deeply about helping their children develop strong learning skills at an early age. With a blend of Highlights’ exceptional content for children and Delhi Press’ unique understanding of the market, Highlights Champs and Highlights Genies will be ideally positioned to fulfill the needs of both parents and children.