Kasturi & Sons, publishers of The Hindu, launched an eponymous Tamil daily on 16 September.
Suresh Srinivasan, VP, The Hindu, said, “The newspaper is different with variety of news that cut across politics, sports, local and international news.” Srinivasan said that The Hindu’s ‘robust distribution network’ will be leveraged for the Tamil daily.
The online edition of the newspaper (tamil.thehindu.com) was also launched on the same day. The Hindu has adopted a paid subscription model for its e-paper from the day of launch.
Launched with the tagline ‘Ulagam uyir perum ungal mozhiyil’ (The world will come alive in your language), The Hindu Tamil will compete with Dinakaran, Daily Thanthi, Dinamalar and Dinamani.
According to Srinivasan, a print, outdoor and television campaign will be used to promote the new offering.
Ad agency Ogilvy & Mather has created an ad film for the launch campaign. The film features a variety of people in different situations from across the world, spelling out the letters of the Tamil alphabet.
Kasturi & Sons has roped in senior journalist and former Vikatan editor K Asokan as editor. The Chennai edition has 20 pages while the other editions have16 pages. The new entrant to the Tamil daily space has been priced at Rs 4 during weekdays and Rs 5 weekends. With an initial print run of six lakh copies, the Tamil daily will be published from six centers: Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru.
According to Srinivasan, the Bengaluru edition will cater to readers of Northern Tamil Nadu while the Thiruvananthapuram edition will cater to readers in Nagercoil and its surroundings.
Film Credits
Client: The Hindu
Brand: The Hindu - Tamil
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Creative director: Joono Simon
Client servicing: Karthik Hariharan, Aruna Nars
Script: Deepan Ramachandran
Production house: Black Box Films
Executive producer: Gowri Krishnakumar
Director: Krishnakumar R
Director of photography: Soundar Rajan S