The New Year holiday is usually marked with an exchange of greetings and pleasantries by sending greeting cards, calling up or meeting one another. Since the concept of sending greeting cards is long forgotten, it was thought to revive it through a greeting message on a big folder with gift ribbon welcoming the New Year.
The New Indian Express (an English-language daily newspaper) and Dinamani (a Tamil-language daily newspaper), Coimbatore edition, came up with an innovative idea of designing and distributing a folder containing a monthly calendar and the newspaper of 30th December 2017.
Execution
The plan was well-coordinated among vendors, hawkers, circulation team and space marketing team. Extra personnel resources were also deployed to insert the calendar and newspaper in the folder, and a gift ribbon was tied and packed for distribution through regular channels. Importantly, this innovation did not cost time and the regular time schedule of newspaper distribution was maintained.
The folders were distributed to all the readers, educational institutions and who’s who of Coimbatore: industrialists, businessmen, professional organizations, bureaucrats, politicians and traders in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Nilgiris districts.
The folders were also distributed to morning walkers, and copies in stalls were also increased. This impacted the market and was well-received among all circles and remained a talking point. The client who advertised on the front page was happy and was complimented by his friends and contacts.
A total of 30,000 folders was distributed with The New Indian Express, Coimbatore edition, covering Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Nilgiris Districts. And 35,000 folders were distributed with Dinamani, Coimbatore edition, covering Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Nilgiris Districts.
Result
This created an overwhelming response in the market for innovation from clients, contemporaries and prospective advertisers along with the readers.x