Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

1.0 Introduction
This report has been prepared as a partial requirement of our Consumer Behavior course to depict the
relationship between marketing strategies and consumer behavior for a The Daily Prothom Alo, the
leading daily newspaper of the newspaper industry of Bangladesh.

1.1 Background
This is a report on Daily Prothom Alo. Its main objective is to give an overview of how marketing
strategies of the company are related to the behavior of the consumers in their target market; how
consumer perceive the need satisfaction by Prothom Alo along with related recommendations on
improving their marketing strategies with respect to their valued actual and potential customers.

1.2 Objectives
The specific objectives of the report are as follows:

 Identify the current marketing structure and strategies of Prothom Alo

 Identify the needs expected from Prothom Alo by consumers

 Examine the related factors that influence consumer behavior

 Examine the balance between the needs of customers and benefits provided

 Suggest related recommendations

1.3 Methodology
The primary data is obtained through interviews with Mr. Motiur Rahman, the Editor of Prothom Alo and
Mr. Sajjad Sharif, Deputy Editor, Prothom Alo. A survey was carried out within Dhaka City with sample
size being 100. Convenient sampling was used. Two focused group discussions (FGD) were also held to
facilitate the study. The first FGD was held on 23rd April 2009 in the Guardian’s Launge of Willes Little
Flower School. The location was chosen because it involved people from different background and from
different age groups. Fifteen people participated in the first FGD. A second FGD was held on 25 th April
2009. The event was held at Uttara Model Town and was attended by ten people.

The secondary data used in the study was collected from different yearly publications of Prothom Alo.
Different theories and models were used from the Consumer Behavior textbook as well.

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

1.4 Scope
This report deals with Sadakalo’s marketing strategies only with respect to the consumers’ aspect. Other
perspectives and dimensions are not covered.

1.5 Limitation
The major limitation of this study is time and human resource constraints; due to that, number of survey
correspondents was decided to be 100 which may not be the enough to explore every category of
consumers that Daily Prothom Alo caters to.

2.0 Industry Background

The newspaper industry in Bangladesh has become a profitable sector over time. Although the main thrust
of the newspaper is to provide service but investors also seek to make profit. In Bangladesh, since
investment in newspaper now has been recognized as profitable one, the big business firms of the country
like Transcom Group, Beximco, Jamuna group, Globe Group have invested in this sector. Newspaper
industry is still developing in our country. Except a very few, most of Bangladeshi newspaper are
published by big business houses. Some of the newspapers are published with political backing which
makes them financially solvent. For example, The Ajker Kagoj from the business house of Kazi Shahed
Ahamed, The Independent from Beximco, The Daily Daily Prothom Alo and Daily Star from the Media
World of Transcom Group, Daily Bhorer Kagoj from Karnafuli Group, Daily Janakantha from Globe –
Janakantha Group and the Daily Jugantor from Jamuna Group. With this background, it can be safely said
that the Bangladeshi newspaper industry is not so weak. Although over 1,800 dailies and periodicals are
published in the country, only about 15% of the population read a newspaper /periodical once a week. The
readership in the urban areas is comparatively higher at about 32%, while the rate in the rural areas,
especially among rural women, is very low - only about 2%. As for circulation, the dailies claim to sell a
total of 2,123,752 copies countrywide.

Table 1: Market Share in Dhaka city

Newspapers Market Share (%)

Daily Prothom Alo 38%
Jugantor 12%
Ittefaq 9%
Daily Star 6%
Financial Express 1%
Independent 0%
Others 34%
Total 100%

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

The above table and chart show us the market share of the leading newspapers in Dhaka city
operating in Bangladesh. These clearly show the supremacy of Daily Daily Prothom Alo over other
newspapers having 38% market share, whereas, its closest competitor Daily Jugantor has 12%
market share. Daily Star, the other newspaper of the same mother company, Transcom Group, leads
the market amongst the English newspapers of the country.

In the next table and chart, the countrywide market share of the leading Bengali newspapers has been
shown which show the dominance of Daily Daily Prothom Alo over other Bengali newspapers
having almost 36% market share where its closest competitor Daily Jugantor enjoys 12.75% market
share. Considering number of circulation, Amader Shomoy is in the third position but its price is the
lowest in the market (BDT 3.00).

Newspapers Market Share (%) Table 2: Market Share of Top 5 Bengali Dailies
in Bangladesh
Daily Prothom Alo 35.88%

Jugantor 12.75% In the next table, the price of the top daily
newspapers has been shown. The table gives a
Shamokal 7.75% picture about the price range of these
Ittefaq 6.81% newspapers. It depicts that, price of most of the
leading newspapers, including Daily Daily
Noya Diganta 6.56%
Prothom Alo, is usually BDT 8.00 only. The
Others 30.25% most expensive newspaper of these newspapers
is the Daily Star (BDT 10.00) and the cheapest
newspaper is Daily Amader Shomoy (BDT 3.00).

Newspapers Price (BDT)

Daily Prothom Alo 8.00
Jugantor 8.00
Ittefaq 8.00
Daily Star 10.00
Financial Express 8.00
Independent 7.00
Amader Shomoy 3.00
Table 3: Price in BDT of some of the leading newspapers of Bangladesh

3.0 Daily Prothom Alo

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

3.1 Background
Daily Prothom Alo started its operation from November 4, 1998 with Matiur Rahman as its Editor. The
publisher of the daily is Mahfuz Anam who is also an editor of Daily Star, the leading English daily of
Bangladesh. In the beginning of its journey, it started as a partnership venture and in 2000, it turned into a
public limited company. Although it is a common feature for the Bangladeshi media to become biased, the
Daily Daily Prothom Alo maintains neutrality in treating news, features, editorials etc. so in the vast array
of Bangladeshi newspapers, the Daily Daily Prothom Alo occupies a unique position.

The Daily Daily Prothom Alo enjoys a reputation of being intensely independent in its opinion and
thoroughly accurate in its facts. It produces the best possible news and views for very demanding target
market. To serve the readers, Daily Daily Prothom Alo maintains brilliant reporters everywhere. More
than any other newspaper, it exercises tremendous impact on Bangladeshi political life. It publishes
exclusive news stories and distinguished opinion pieces. So the number of circulation of Daily Daily
Prothom Alo is increasing everyday having percentage of unsold circulation as low as 3.06%.

Every day, around 3,000,000 (3 million) readers read Daily Daily Prothom Alo. Even between the internet
newspapers, it is the highest read Bengali newspaper in the internet. Everyday, it publishes 24-32 pages
fulfilled with updated news, views, information targeting both the youths and the aged people. Recently, it
has completed ten years of its successful journey since its inception.

3.2 Market Analysis

3.2.1 Consumer
Recently, the readers of newspapers are increasing everyday because of the increasing hunger of knowing
the latest news of the country and the world. The readers also have access to several television channels
which allow them to check the authenticity of the news published by the newspapers. So, the newspapers
have to publish authentic, updated news and at the same time, they have to meet all the needs of the
readers. Daily Daily Prothom Alo has been up to the mark since its operation meeting the needs of the
readers.

Every day, around 3 million readers (36% of newspaper readers, 2% of the whole population) glance
through the pages of Daily Daily Prothom Alo (according to a survey conducted by Daily Daily Prothom
Alo). Newpaper is such a product which is meant for the mass population of the country.

3.2.2 Company
A company must be skillful in order to operate in an industry successfully. Daily Daily Prothom Alo has
always been successful in gaining new readers and retaining readers thanks to their constant innovation.
Matiur Rahman, the editor of the newspaper, had a very clear idea which market the newspaper should
focus on from the very beginning. His team has successfully executed their knowledge about the markets,
channels and consumers which has gained them the first position in the industry.

3.2.3 Competitors

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

Daily Daily Prothom Alo was rather a late entrant in the market. They started operating in November,
1998 in a highly competitive market. But, thanks to the company’s consistency in meeting subscriber’s
needs, it grabbed the top spot of most of the consumer’s minds which helped them secure the leading
position in the industry. Right now, Daily Daily Prothom Alo has 36% market share whereas, their nearest
competitor Daily Jugantor has 13% market share; almost one-third of the market share of Daily Daily
Prothom Alo. Some other competitors of Daily Prohtom Alo are: Daily Shomokal, Daily Jonokontho,
Manabjamin, Noya Digonto, Amar Desh, Daily Ittefaq, Bhorer Kagoj etc.

3.2.4 Conditions
The government regulation sometimes works as an obstacle for the newspaper industry as often the
government intervenes while publishing controversial news. Daily Daily Prothom Alo has always
maintained the reputation of being credible although the government interference sometimes become
severe in case of publishing sensitive news. The economic condition does not cause much hindrance for
the newspapers operating in Bangladesh as it is not an expensive product. Daily Daily Prothom Alo is
very much aware of the technological advancement of the world as the company has recently launched e-
Daily Prothom Alo which is a novelty in our country. It enables the users to read Daily Daily Prothom Alo
in website in such an interface which gives readers a real time experience.

3.3 Market Segmentation

When defining the market segment that a company operates in, it needs to look at the needs that it
satisfies, not at how it satisfies them. Right now, most of the newspapers in Bangladesh are in a bind
because they are focused on trying to maintain the way that they’ve been operating since their inception,
which means selling a bunch of processed dead wood with ink all over it to people at their home every
morning, or at stands and shops in the street, not noticing that people these days expect a much more
engaging, visually captivating, immediate, interactive form of news. If they don’t identify these new
needs correctly and adjust their products to the new emerging market, they will not survive in this highly
competitive arena. Daily Daily Prothom Alo has shown its brilliance in this arena of meeting and
exceeding the needs of the customers time after time. Not only the market leader comes up with updated
authentic news, but also it provides various supplementary aiming different markets including tech-
savvies, youths, health conscious people, women etc.

It does not focus on a single segment. Rather, it intends to meet the needs of different segments.
According to Daily Daily Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, its main target market is people aging from
18 years to 60 years from middle class to upper class families.

3.4 Marketing Mix

3.4.1 Product

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

Daily Daily Prothom Alo, the leading daily newspaper, comes up with a wide range of supplementary
issues along with its main issue in order to satisfy the needs of the customers. The wide range of products
is described below:

3.4.1.1 The Main Issue

Daily Prothom Alo comes up with a main issue which is of 24-32 pages. The general structure of a
Sunday’s main issue is given below:

Page Topics Details

First page & last page Significant Headlines Important news of the day
2nd,3rd,17th & 19th page Shara Desh Extension of front and back page country news
4th & 5th page Bishal Bangla News of different divisions of the country
7th page Shara Bishwa News of the whole world
9th page Rajdhani News of Dhaka city
10th page Shompadokiyo Various editorials
11th page Khola Kolom Various articles
12th page Porashona Educaton news: specially for HSC & SSC students
15th page Ortho Banijjo Business news of the country and world, Stock price
16th page Binodon Entertainment & Interview of celebrities
18th page Khela Sports news
Other pages Advertisements Different advertisements

3.4.1.2 Supplementary Issues

Now-a-days, the readers are not content with only the main issue. Rather, they look for various types of
supplementary issues. Daily Daily Prothom Alo publishes sixteen supplementary issues, which is the
highest among all the newspapers operating in Bangladesh. In spite of being a late entrant in the market
compared to its competitors, Daily Daily Prothom Alo grabbed the highest market share delighting its
customers through these supplementary issues which are published on different days of the week. The
supplementary issues of Daily Daily Prothom Alo are given below:

Days No. of Name No. of pages Details

Supplementary
Sunday Dhakai Thaki 4 Dhaka City News
4 Stadium 2 Sports News
Biggan Projonmo 1 Science News
Ayeen Odhikar 1 Law & Order News
Monday 1 Rosh + Alo 24 Fun magazine
Tuesday 1 Noksha 16 Latest fashions & trends
Wednesday Nari Moncho 2 Articles about women
3 Shastho Kushol 1 Health related advices
Bondhu Shobha 1 Articles written by Daily
Prothom Alo readers
Thursday 1 Anondo 8 Entertainment
Friday Shahitto Shamoyiki 3 Literature related news
Onno Alo 2 Heritage related news
5 Projnmo Dot Com 1 Technology related news
Golla Chut 1 A page for kids

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

Cholti Bishwa 1 Recent practices in the

world
Saturday 1 Chutir Diney 16 Magazine written by the
readers
Table 5: Supplementary Issues of Daily Prothom Alo

Among these supplementary issues according to our survey result, the highest read ones are (in
descending order):

 Rosh + Alo
 Noksha
 Anondo
 Stadium
 Projnmo Dot Com
 Chutir Diney

3.4.1.3 Online Issues

Currently there are two online editions of Daily Daily Prothom Alo. Readers can go to these websites and
find all the issues of Daily Prothom Alo till date. These two issues are described below:

3.4.1.3.1 www.prothom-alo.com

This is the first website developed by Daily Daily Prothom Alo to facilitate the readers. This website
contains news in a normal website format but it does not give the readers a real time newspaper
experience. This website is the highest visited Bengali portal among all the Bengali portals. Especially the
Bangladeshi people, who live in abroad, use this website.

3.4.1.3.2 www.e-prothomalo.com

This is the second website which was developed in order to give the online readers a real time newspaper
reading experience. It is basically a better version of the first website. It is more interactive and user
friendly. Currently, only the beta version is available for the readers. Daily Daily Prothom Alo is still
working on this website which will enable the users to use this more comfortably.

3.4.2 Pricing
Newspapers are intended for the mass population of the country. For six days of the week, a customer can
get an issue of Daily Daily Prothom Alo for BDT. 8.00 only and on Friday, one has to pay BDT. 10.00
only. Daily Daily Prothom Alo tries to give the customers an idea that, the customers are getting more
compared to other newspapers by paying the same amount of money, which means that, the leading daily
prices its issues using value pricing.

For example, they publish 24-32 pages throughout the week and their closest competitor, Daily Jugantor,
publishes 20 pages everyday but both are priced the same. This gives the customers an impression that,
they are getting the best value for their money.

The price and the number of the pages of different Bengali newspapers are given below:

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

Name of Newspaper Pages Price in BDT

Daily Prothom Alo 24-32 8 (10 Tk. 1day)
Jugantor 20 8 (10 Tk. 1day)
Ittefaq 16-24 8
Jonokontho 12-16 8
Inquilab 16 8
Noya Digonto 16-20 7
Shomokal 16-24 7 Tk. 4 days, 8 Tk. 3 days

From the above table, we can see that, Daily Prothom Alo provides more pages compared to its
competitors for the same price. It is an excellent approach which led them to the peak.

3.4.3 Placement
Placement is a very crucial part for any product in order to successfully execute a marketing strategy.
Daily Prothom Alo has been successful in placing its products. There are innumerous hawkers present in
the city and through them Daily Prothom Alo makes its products available for all its customers from
where the customers can obtain the leading daily newspaper at ease.

3.4.4 Promotion
Since its inception, Daily Prothom Alo has rum some huge promotional campaigns which have helped
them to reach the top rung of the ladder of consumer’s mind. The several promotional campaigns that
Daily Prothom Alo has run are given below:

 Desher Shorbadhik Bikrito Doinik

 Ja Kichu Bhalo, Tar Shathey Prothom Alo
 Bodle Jao, Bodle Dao
 Meril Prothom Alo Puroshkar
 Billboard Advertisements
 Television Commercials
 Print Advertisements

4.0 Brand Image and Product Positioning

Over the years, Daily Prothom Alo has constantly re-branded itself. It has evolved from a regular
newspaper to the largest selling newspaper of the country to a socially aware newspaper. Daily Prothom
Alo has re-branded itself with time to consistently capture the customer’s mindshare.

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

Daily Prothom Alo has been one of the first news papers in Bangladesh to understand the importance of
creating a brand image. While most newspapers were concerned with the publications and the daily sales,
Daily Prothom Alo was simultaneously concerned to create a distinct image in the mind of the consumers.
The newspaper first started branding itself as the ‘most sold daily’ in Bangladesh. However, with time
Daily Prothom Alo decided to re-brand itself to a more powerful image that the consumer’s can easily
associate with.

Daily Prothom Alo is currently operating as a socially aware and to a greater extent socially active brand.
As a part of its current campaign, Daily Prothom Alo is spreading the message that change is only
possible if we change ourselve. Change is a buzz word nowadays, and Daily Prothom Alo has been able
to strongly associate itself with the buzz.

As a part of this re-branding campaign, Daily Prothom Alo is airing television commercials and billboard
advertisements. The scenes in the TVCs usually depict real life scenarios that poses serious ethical
questions, and yet we are so used to those scenarios that we barely notice it. The core message of this
campaign is the optimism that good days are ahead only if we change ourselves first. Through this
campaign, Daily Prothom Alo has become more than just a newspaper. Daily Prothom Alo has become an
entity that is guiding us through this crucial change.

5.0 Consumer Behavior Analysis

5.1 External Influences
5.1.1 Demographics
Daily Prothom Alo is basically a daily for readers of all ages and gender. Regarding the age, they target
people aging from 18 to 60 years. The readers of newspaper are generally divided in four groups; having
different reasons why they read newspaper. Teen age readers want to develop ideas through their reading.
They are most interested to read the talk of the town news and love to read humorous and glamorous
news. The second group, youth, read newspaper for their self enhancement. They love analytical articles
that help them improve their knowledge base and skill.

The middle aged readers are those who have already entered into the busy world of profession and
earning. They read newspaper to stay connected with the daily updates taking glance at dailies reading the
headlines and brief of the exclusive news. The old aged people read newspaper to be reassured of being
connected with the current world. Having ample time they go in detail, reading almost each section of the
newspaper.

There is difference in the type of news that the male and female readers want to read. Our FGD showed
that women generally read news on celebrities & gossip, entertainment, TV listing, fashion and beauty,
national news, human news and health pages. However, men are more interested in sports, national-
international news, business, culture, human interests and entertainment.

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

5.1.2 Cultural Values

Daily Prothom Alo being the leading daily in Bangaldesh, has to consider the overall cultural value of the
society. Keeping this in mind, Daily Prothom Alo has a defined internal guideline to be followed
regarding how to write and publish news about women. They do not disclose the picture or identity of
rape victim and it shows extra care while publishing sensitive news that might hurt religion minorities.

Bangladesh has a rich culture and numerous festivities throughout the year such as Pohela Boishakh, Eid,
Ekushey February, Independence day.etc. All these are highly connected with the lifestyle of the people.
Daily Prothom Alo, keeping this in mind, published regular supplements and articles on these occasions.
We found from our FGD that most of the readers take helps from newspapers about choosing the trendy
dress for any particular occasion. Daily Prothom Alo is always careful about publishing religious news.
Though Bangladesh is a Muslim based country, hence there are other religions as well. It is taken highly
care of that no religious thought is hurt.

5.1.3 Group Influence

Consumers are at times being influenced by group in their selection behavior. Daily Prothom Alo is a
newspaper catering news to almost all segments of the society. It’s a complete family newspaper. The
Daily Prothom Alo faces great competition due to group influence. The readers often talk with their
friends or at their workplace about what they read in the newspaper today. So there is information
interchange. Positive word of mouth can create new readers and negative word of mouth can reduce
readers. So Daily Prothom Alo has to consider the fact carefully and always makes sure that the current
customers or readers are happy with the contents and always aspire to cater better news to the readers.
Our survey has shown that 72% of the readers came to know about Daily Prothom Alo from their friends
and family, it clearly shows how important group influence is. Again, when we asked the individual
respondents if they would still buy Daily Prothom Alo for their family, 63% respondents said yes.

5.2 Internal Influences

5.2.1 Perception
Consumer perception is very important since it leads to retention of the brand image in the consumers’
memory which ultimately leads to the consumers brand preference during the buying decision. Our
survey shows that 70% of the consumers came to know about Daily Prothom Alo from Family and
Friends. About 15% of the consumers came to know from TVC and 10% from billboards. This shows that
word-of-mouth and opinion leaders are extremely vital for Daily Prothom Alo’s exposure.

Survey results show that of people, who have seen Daily Prothom Alo’s advertisement, 65% can recall the
themes, logo and brand, 20% remembers just the themes and the rest 10% can recall the logo and name
only. This shows that theme or message is very important to grab the attention of the consumers in case of
Daily Prothom Alo. Size, intensity and position of the advertisements play the most vital roles since large
billboard ads placed at strategic locations and print ads in front pages and right-hand pages attracted
attention of consumers.

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

The consumers interpret advertisements of Daily Prothom Alo as portrayal of a sincere personality. It is
due to the fact that Daily Prothom Alo consistently promoted their stance as unbiased newspaper which is
not afraid of publishing the truth and the sufferings of the general mass. Our survey shows that consumers
also see Daily Prothom Alo as socially responsible entity which cares about the society and wants to bring
changes for the betterment of the society. This proves the Daily Prothom Alo’s recent advertisements with
the theme “Bodle jao, bodle dao” (change yourself, change the world) has successfully conveyed the
message to its target audience.

5.2.2 Learning and Memory

The consumers of Daily Prothom Alo feel that, it is socially responsible, trend-setter, honest, unbiased,
brave etc. This shows that iconic rote learning is most influential in case of Daily Prothom Alo
consumers, thanks to repetition of catch phrases like “Ja kichu Bhalo…tar sathe Daily Prothom Alo” and
“Bodle jao…bodle dao” in the advertisements of Daily Prothom Alo.

Based on the survey findings, the following partial schematic diagram was drawn:

Diagram: Partial Schematic memory for Daily Prothom Alo

5.2.3 Motivation, Personality and Emotion

Focused group discussion and survey shows that aside from most trustworthy source of authentic and
neutral news, consumers are motivated to buy Daily Prothom Alo because of the perception of being a
member of a community that believes and works towards positive social changes, setting new trends,
helping the distressed people. This perception is cemented by Daily Prothom Alo’s Bondhushabha
activities and involvement in social movements like movements against women and child abuse, anti-
drug campaigns etc. Thus it can be said Daily Prothom Alo falls under Maslow’s Need for Belongingness
since its consumers wants to see themselves as a part of community.

Motivation for purchasing behavior can be further explained by McGuire’s psychological motives.
Consumers have cognitive growth motive which focuses on need for being adaptive towards environment
and motive for development. They feel Need for Stimulation and actively search for diverse content and
variety offered in Daily Prothom Alo and its supplementary magazines. They have Teleological Need

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

which propels them to match their views of how the world works. They have Utilitarian Need and resort
to Daily Prothom Alo for solution different problems of daily life such as learning about clothing styles,
lifestyle options, current trend, social issues etc.

Affective motives deal with the need for satisfying feeling states and reaching personal goals. Consumers
have the Need for Tension Reduction to alleviate the stressful situations of daily life. Thus they seek out
humor and entertainment provided by Daily Prothom Alo via its supplementary magazines, for example
Rosh + Alo.

5.2.4 Personality
Survey and FGD show that Daily Prothom Alo users views Daily Prothom Alo as an honest, realistic,
modern and sophisticated, educated , highly moral, socially responsible person. These perceived
characteristics levels Daily Prothom Alo mainly as a sincere persona with a few traits of sophisticated
persona. Consumers of Daily Prothom Alo share these following traits: youthful, sophisticated, intelligent,
open minded, novelty seeking which ultimately matches with personality trait of Prothom Alo.

5.2.5 Emotion
Daily Prothom Alo has actively involved itself in many social movements including movement against
acid violence, women’s right movement, and anti-drug campaigns. Daily Prothom Alo is always one of
the firsts to extend help and stand behind distressed people in times to natural calamities like flood and
cyclones. Daily Prothom Alo appealed to its readers and received spontaneous feedback which is further
cemented by active participation of readers via numerous Bondhushabha activities across the country.
This has gradually led to formation of surrogate society where readers feel a strong bond as members of
an inclusive community who share a sense of duty towards the society. This is also reflected in our survey
as well where majority of Daily Prothom Alo consumers mentioned that they feel emotional attachment to
Daily Prothom Alo for its social activities.

5.3 Self Concept and Lifestyle

Self-concept perspectives include how one sees oneself (Actual-Private), is seen by others (Actual-
Social), would like to see oneself (Ideal-Private) or would like to be seen (Ideal-Social). As for the
consumers of Daily Prothom Alo, they fall in the categories of actual-private and ideal-private self
-concept.

The youths find Prothom Alo as a social figure which promotes change. They believe Prothom Alo should
play and is playing the ideal role of a newspaper which shows directions to a nation. They perceive
Prothom Alo as a brand, see their friends reading them, and thus either for the purpose to learn authentic
and unbiased news or to get associated with a great motive, they prefer a newspaper like Prothom Alo.

The matured readers of Daily Prothom Alo fall under this category because they feel Daily Prothom Alo
is always an up-to-date newspaper. They always strive to keep pace with the modern world and find the
news and the supplementary issues of Daily Prothom Alo to satisfy this need.

Attitude

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

The readers of Daily Prothom Alo want authentic news and at the same time they welcome change.
Though they read Daily Prothom Alo, they know about competitor’s newspaper and are aware of the
content and price range of them. 90% of the respondents in the survey preferred authentic news over
entertaining but fabricated news.

5.4 Values and Opinions

Previously there used to be some traditional newspapers most of which were perceived to be politically
biased towards one of the political parties. So, when Prothom Alo started promoting its impartiality
people got interested and after proving the fairness time after time, consumers now believe it is a credible
source of information. As people tend to value positive change, they felt encouraged to be associated with
Daily Prothom Alo.

5.4.1 The VAL Segments

Daily Prothom Alo attracts three segments from VAL Segments. These are:

Fulfilled

People falling under this category want to value order, knowledge and responsibility. They see Prothom
Alo as a sophisticated, modern and honest persona – a source of enlightenment.

Achievers & Strivers

Status oriented consumers who are successful career and work oriented people, falls under this segment.
They are always eager to know the authentic and up-to-date news of happenings. They aresocially active
and likes to associate themselves with Prothom Alo’s social movements. They like Prothom Alo for its
authenticity and impartiality.

Experiencer

Experiencers are young, vital, enthusiastic, impulsive and rebellious. They often welcome change to
various social issues for the betterment of the surroundings and want to be part of it. They admire Daily
Prothom Alo and feel that, it is bringing positive changes for the society.

6.0 Consumer Decision Process

Prothom Alo has the largest number of readers and different groups of readers may use different decision
rules. Since the principles of decision rules are same and for purpose of simplicity we explain the
alertative selection process via elimination-by-aspect decision rule using the survey results we have
obtained. The most important evaluative criteria found from survey are authenticity and unbiased news.
While Daily Prothom Alo and its close rivals performed more or less the same in major criteria, Daily

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Analysis of Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behavior of Daily Prothom Alo

Prothom Alo’s competitive edges are good supplementary magazines and unbiased news. These two
criteria largely helped Daily Prothom Alo to come on top of its competitors.

7.0 Recommendations
Since Daily Prothom Alo is the market leader of Bangla daily newspapers, some strategies which will
help the firm to maintain its reputation and at the same time, it will enable to develop their current
position. The strategies are written below:

 Daily Prothom Alo should enter the minds of rural people through increased promotion and by
offering a less expensive subscription in rural areas.
 Daily Prothom Alo should develop its website. Currently, it does not have its mission and vision
statement in their website.
 Presence in trendy youth hubs: Since teenagers are future citizen and readers of Daily Prothom
Alo, it must consider a presence in trendy youth hubs like Facebook.
 Consider a line-extension in publication:
o Prothom Alo eid edition magazines – ‘Eid er Alo’
o Prothom Alo business supplementary – ‘Babshai Alo’
o Prothom Alo Supplementary for university students – ‘Alokito Campus’
 Promote its ‘Value Pricing Strategy’.

8.0 Conclusion
The Daily Prothom Alo is the leading bangle newspaper with more than double the circulation of its
nearest competitor. It has expanded its efficiency in not only publishing authentic and highly informative
content but also redefined the roles of a national newspaper and positioned itself as a socially responsible
entity. Its quality supplements have made it unique in the industry. Though the target market covers
almost all the age groups, the Daily Prothom Alo very consciously avoids the extremist part of the society.
The management of prothom alo does not claim any emotional bondage with the readers; however the
responsible attempts and commendable activities have created an emotional appeal to the readers,
building a surrogate community that feels attached to it. Over the last ten years of its lifetime the Daily
Prothom Alo successfully transited from one role to another which is clear from its messages conveyed in
the marketing communications. Currently the Daily Prothom Alo is promoting to take initiative to change
for the betterment of the society through its slogan “Bodle jao, bodle dao”. Our study suggests that to
retain the leading position in the industry the Daily Prothom Alo should go with perpetual innovation.

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