Print advertising seen with a renewed focus: Report

According to a report published in Brand Equity on 9 June, advertisers are revaluating print as a medium of advertising. The reason? According to an Ormax Media study, traditional media, led by print, still receives higher credibility in the dissemination of news, compared to digital media. It is the credibility factor that is making brands place their bets on advertising through newspapers.

23 Jun 2021 | By PrintWeek Team

The report quotes Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia, as saying, “Print has the ability to give a lot of information, thus enabling the reader to take an informed decision. A lot of search activity on the internet today is triggered by a stimulus on print and we see that consumers do react in a positive way after being exposed to the same.”

Proving the point, recently, Nestlé India’s ran a print campaign to reinforce the brand’s assurance of offering quality products. The ad campaign came a few days after news reports questioning the ‘healthiness’ of the company’s products surfaced.

The damage control initiative from the food and beverage giant comes following a Financial Times story around an internal company presentation. It showed that about 70% of its food products portfolio failed to achieve a rating above 3.5 (out of 5) under Australia’s health star rating system. The development caused ripples globally.

The print ad invoked the brand’s long-standing presence in the Indian market to reinforce trust. ‘We've been part of your lives for over 100 years. It feels great to be trusted like family’.

Meanwhile, according to a report by TAM AdEx, the January to March quarter saw a 9% increase in Print ad spaces, according to TAM AdEx. However, when compared to October-December 2020, the print ad space decreased by 13% in January-March 21.

Auto sector was the biggest advertiser during the quarter and SBS Biotech was the biggest advertisers.

(Courtesy: Agency)