Brand Audit

HINDUSTAN TIMES VS TIMES OF INDIA

May 2008

Submitted by:- Tushar Narula

Amity University
Amity International Business School, Noida
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 Brand’s personality in terms of how the brand would look like,

Broke up in:

Physical attributes:
What people, places and colors associate with the brand.

Symbols:
What does the brand symbolize?

Related Brands:
What sort of brands does it relate to, how much efficacy does the communication
has in brand building.
Associations HT TOI
People Most people associated HT are Vir Sanghvi, Association with cartoonist RK laxman
Manmohan Singh, Karan Thapar .Some Page3 models, film stars like SRK,
people associated HT with the irrepressible Katrina kaif, Politicians & Sports icons.
Khushwant Singh.

Places Associate with Delhi. Delhi is a dog-eat-dog Separate editions for Delhi, Bangalore,
print market .DU festival carnival, College Mumbai ,Hyderabad, Chennai
canteens, Delhi Metro, Markets(Khan, Basant Lounges
lok & Siri fort) Fashion Shows like ( Wills, Pantaloons,
Lakme )
Café Coffee Day

Colors Red & Blue Stripes Red and Black

Respondents also citied the colors of HT’s followed by white and other vibrant
new avtar i.e. green ,pink colors. Some respondents also
& purple mentioned blue.
Associations HT
Visuals and Politicians ,The Hindustan Times web site is
good, that too with Archives. ‘.
pictures
Some respondents also mentioned
columns including Life& Universe, The
Sunday Magazine Section and the HT Job
Seema Goswami column which is usually
featured under the column of Live
Signs and Straight lines,
Most respondents could not draw an
symbols association with any particular symbol,
however they only had known their sun sign
symbols.
TOI
Photos of the beautiful semi clad
women, one of the USPs of TOI Others
including cartoon strips (specially
Dubyaman) ,the Speaking tree . ‘GOD
& I’ article by celebrity.
Astrology (Daily Prediction), then
comes the most favorite - SUDOKU
Bennett and Coleman logo (some
referred to it as the two elephants) and
the mast head.
Associations HT TOI

With other Fever 104FM,Vodafone Many respondents mentioned Nike,

Philips Electronic goods, Domino pizza ,
brands
Other news papers like Asian Age
Navbharat Times etc
Reebok, Koutons ,TNG,
Others mentioned brands like HT, ford,
Samsung ,indiatimes poll ,ICICI bank
WLC college, Pantaloon, IPL
…(cheerleaders!!)

Advertising Its only fewer among business executives Lead India campaign had a very high
and 2 students had recalled the recall. ’INDIA POISED’ . India today”
recall Leadership Summit ,. Conclave “has no recall, despite of max
A daily column on Hot new careers has coverage in papers &magazine
the max recall.
.
Observation

• HT’ under Vir Sanghvi has overtaken them in almost all the issues of importance. The
only area where ’TOI’’ competes favourable is the ’’Delhi Times’’ supplement. .
• The language is simple and yet expressive.

•TOI associates itself with people who are the heroes of modern society like SRK,
Business Tycoons ,Designer Clothes.
• The Edit Page layout of HT is of high quality with lots of good articles and editorials to
look forward to.
• The problem with this was that TOI was more concerned with image, style, gossipy
language
 Brand personality:

So, if the brand had a mood, what would it be? What

exactly is the brand to a user?
 HT
Would sum up Dominant thought: HT is a paper that
combines the sophistication of design
the brand as… with topicality of content’
Other thought: Balanced, properly
structured
Mood of the Dominant thought: Serious, not
happening, lack the in-depth coverage
brand Other Thoughts: Sober
TOI
Dominant thought:TOI has enjoyed a
widespread appeal.. more so among the
younger generation for its uninhibited
and bold approach towards news
Other thought: where the news is mainly
who dated whom, who wore the
skimpiest clothing, where is the ’hottest’
party!!!
Dominant thought:
spicy, entertaining, infotainment , young,
dynamic
Other Thoughts: for more matured
audience .sobriety and mindfulness
Observation

• The HT has an impressive editorial board and good articles of national interest, but it
loses out on national level news.

• Since many respondents read both papers noticing the inherently better coverage on
local City issues in the HT as compared to TOI. TOI is heading all attempts at
internationalization.
 Emotional associations:

What feeling does the brand evoke and how much has it been able to
move beyond the functional benefits into the consumer’s life
 HT
Feelings and ‘Feeling of restlessness and an incomplete
emotions day if I missed reading it.’
associated
‘Empowered in sync with one likings
‘Kudos to HT city for offering gamut of
offerings on career , fashion, My city,
games, bollywood ’
TOI
‘I will say that the paper is worth reading
for a person who wants to be updated
about the current happenings.
‘Lots Of Masala for Breakfast’
‘TOI viz. Education Times ,Times Ascent
etc. are icing on the cake. It helps us to get
update with relevant subject matter.’

How does it
makes me feel The respondents thought reading HT or TOI doesn' t really make a difference
about in any ones image, but reading ET or any business paper does make a
myself?/Other difference in the way a person is perceived.
people using HT
 HT TOI
Relationships

Very few respondent believe that educative / articles from supplements

including business times/ standard or education times is an ideal piece
Work or Home of information for discussion at workplace or meet., rest felt otherwise.
Occasionally they refer for infotainment!!!. It does not affect them.
Feelings about the brand VS competition

HT TOI HT TOI

HT • Balanced • Spicy, T0I • lifeless, boring • Times: Pride of

Reader • Matured entertaining, Reader • Page 3 missing India
s • Catchy phrases infotainment but s • Sports pages are • Useful with
no news better than the rest some top news
• Easy language
of the news paper and company
• Boring, Less specific news .
gossips, Politics • TOI is just not covers.
oriented meant for the • The front page • Brilliant
masses . news are sometimes presentation,
• Uses slanged bizarre. Resourceful
even to report
critical news • Good times of
• TOI is often page 3 celebrities
confusing. It • The Life of
uses cheap Indians...
gimmicks • Soft News,
Infotainment
Observation

• No newspapers, be it HT or TOI have really been able to make a space in consumers

life.

•However TOI - education times gives info about the career opportunities to students. The
economic times is the best economy newspaper in India. The accent provide info on the
various job opportunities. With such supplements TOI is ahead of HT

• Many readers believe that the general outlook of the Times of India is so better than
that of Hindustan Times. Not only the main newspaper but also the supplements are of
interest.
• The brevity of description is compensated by good design and excellent edit
pieces &HT is the testimony to the fact. Here HT outplayed TOI.
•Respondents believed that New HT City REALLY LOOKS GOOD.The headlines are
very catchy…one .Also the use of these pink, red, Green and black color on top looks
attractive. Having separate sections is suited to those looking for tailored made news
Newspaper should bring out the headlines from the T.V. news, in a more elaborate manner and be truthful to the news as well as
to its readers, letting them decide which side of story they are, not by commenting on the news, giving the notion that the
Reporter/Editor have instead of the reader forming a opinion on his own.

Learning

•Respondents didn’t find the idea great to leave their existing paper for
the other, unless one is price conscious. Not all changes are welcome.

•Habit & loyalty are the only things which are responsible for keeping the
readers base of both HT&TOI

•Newspaper should bring out the headlines from the T.V. news, in a more
elaborate manner and be truthful to the news as well as to its readers,
letting them decide which side of story they are, not by commenting on
the news, giving the notion that the Reporter/Editor have instead of the
reader forming a opinion on his own.
.