The Times of India, owned by the Times Group, is the largest English-language daily newspaper globally and among the world’s six best newspapers. It is a trendsetter adhering to the highest standards of journalism.
The Times of India is tremendously vocal about campaigns for the benefit of India and its people. What makes their campaigns so unique, you ask?
Their marketing strategy is quite different from other newspapers. They’ve moved away from functional, circulation-based advertising promises. They are now attempting to strike an emotional chord with their audience.
They’ve employed a range of emotions, from harsh reality to laughter, from a slice of life creative to those honouring a typical day in the life of an Indian. The common thread has been a distinct ‘true to India’ approach, garnered reader approval and a slew of prizes from various advertising functions. The digital marketing team of Times of India is impressive, they have created campaigns that strive to impact every Indian’s life. Now without any further delay, let’s look at The top 5 most extensive campaigns of Times of India.
1. Lead India Campaign
2. India Poised Campaign
3. Flirt With Your City Campaign
4. Lost Votes Campaign
5. Scrap Section 377 Campaign
Here are some of the biggest campaigns of Times of India.
1. Lead India Campaign
The ‘Lead India’ programme, which began in August 2007. Times of India deployed a multi-media campaign to raise awareness about the project. The newspaper campaign was saturated with print ads titled ‘D.O.’ with Shah Rukh Khan as the primary face.
The Lead India programme’s main objective was to identify new leaders within India’s educated urban middle class. Someone with a socioeconomic stratum that did not often enter politics but aspired to work in business.
People with this background tend to overlook the local and rural middle classes, which are overly tied to local interests and removed from the cosmopolitan environment of the urban elite.
This campaign was extensive and successful and inspired the ‘Teach India’ movement by the Times of India.
2. India Poised Campaign
The last generation of political leaders’ local democracy is economically and visually unattractive from the ‘old’ middle class. The nation’s economic pulse, according to this vision, is in the urban middle class, which should consequently have political clout. The campaign’s theme song, written by famed poet and lyricist Gulzar, was dubbed “the new anthem.”
The commercial’s insight was that most people in the country were aware of the country’s economic, political, and social problems. Still, no one wanted to do anything about them.
People were aware of the solutions to issues, yet they would rather complain than take action. As a result, regardless of their differences or divisions, all people needed to come together. To participate in the race to a bright future, everyone, according to their abilities, irrespective of any handicaps, must become one.
India Poised was intended as a call to action to involve the general public and instil a sense of empowerment and involvement. Times of India presented the audience with stories of committed individuals, civil society members whose activities are rarely reported in print or television.
The Times of India urged readers to come forward with proposals for what they thought were the best remedies to problems that plagued significant sectors. At the same time, the advertising in the daily condemned problems that plagued essential industries. Naturally, readers had to register and provide their e-mail address or cell phone number to participate, thereby becoming potential clients for the Times group.
3. Flirt With Your City Campaign
This campaign began in June of 2018. A simple observation inspired this ad: everyone has a relationship with the city they choose to live in, perpetuating numerous shared interests, progress, and quality of life. However, city-dwellers eventually get content in their cocoons and self-imposed geographic constraints, which limit their pleasure of the metropolis in which they live. It’s time to rekindle this love affair with the city by informing Times of India readers about the new daily hub for everything city-related.
From waterholes to starvation zones, for party animals, artists, activists, and everything else that makes their city their city, Times of India’s metro supplements (TIMS) encouraged individuals to flirt with their city because every relationship requires a sense of adventure and shared ideas to succeed.
This campaign aimed to produce a dynamic anthem for each city, inspired by its own pop culture and featuring the Times of India’s Metro Supplements (TIMS) at the centre.
As the film wore a city avatar, the campaign’s narrative used Rap as the backdrop, drawn from the traditions of each city, sounds of the city environs, and edgy lyrics. The campaign began with a series of short films that depicted the nuances of their towns and featured several well-known figures.
Damini Bhandary
4. Lost Votes Campaign
When everything is becoming portable and movable in today’s digital age, why is a significant activity like voting, a constitutional right, still bound to our domiciles?
Over 280 million voters were unable to vote last time because their ballots were not mobile. It’s a startling figure: nearly one-third of India’s voting population! A third of the voting population could completely turn the tide in an election where a few points can make all the difference.
The Lost Votes campaign enabled people all around the country to ask the government this fundamental question, to the point where the Election Commission has noticed!
A 360-degree nationwide campaign, Lost Votes is amplified through various media, including editorial content, TV, print, outdoor, activations, and digital advertising. It aims to ensure that everyone, regardless of their location, can exercise their right to vote.
The effort aims to make people’s votes as mobile as they are. It’s a revolutionary, powerful idea that’s gaining traction, with people from all walks of life demanding the right to vote from anywhere.
Avantika Bhardwaj
5. Scrap Section 377 Campaign
For decades, the LGBT community has been assaulted, arrested, imprisoned, humiliated, obloquy, thrashed, pressured to incarcerate, and stigmatised. Homosexuality is unnatural, according to Section 377, 158-year-old British era legislation that carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.
In 2009, the Delhi high court ruled that the statute was discriminatory. People should not criminalise a same-sex relationship between two consenting people. Activists and academics applauded the move, believing that India was finally opening up to the rights of sexual minorities.
Numerous campaigns, notably the Times of India’s “Scrap Section 377,” were launched, signing many petitions. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court decriminalised sexual interactions between consenting homosexual adults, bringing variety and pluralism to the forefront of India’s public debate.
It not only overturned the 158-year-old contentious legal provision, but it also signalled the end of prejudice, which it claimed had plagued India.
FAQ
When was Times Group founded?
Times group was founded on 4 November 1838.
What are the newspapers under the Times group?
Newspapers under Times Group are:
- Times of India
- The Economic Times
- Navbharat Times
- Maharashtra Times
- Ei Samay
- Mumbai Mirror
- Vijaya Karnataka
- Bangalore Mirror
Which company owns the newspaper The Times of India?
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.(B.C.C.L.) owns the Times of India and the Sahu Jain family owns the B.C.C.L.
Who is the CEO of Times of India?
Sivakumar Sundaram is the current CEO of Times of India.
