New Delhi: Attention teenyboppers crazed by latest dress fad and heavy metal and the crowd young at heart! If your fantasies belong to a zone where a handsome prince rescues the planet’s most beautiful princess from a terrible demon or a bird gives moral lessons instead of chirping, here is plenty to know from the person who promises to add wings to your imaginations.
Sixty-year old Chennai-based children’s magazine Chandamama that was acquired by Geodesic Information Systems early this year now runs under the stewardship of Chief Executive Officer L. (Subu) Subramanyan, a former IT journalist.
The magazine, which nearly faced extinction, was held afloat by a set of people who grew up with it and could not bear to see it die. Subu plans to carry the brand forward across different multimedia platforms. He hopes to in the process preserve culture, educate children and make the Chandamana story a financial success too. Simantik Dowerah spoke to Subu about his strategies to turn this old Indian brand into a profit making business. Edited excerpts:
What value did you see in a magazine like Chandamama that had a successful innings as a children’s magazine in the 70’s and 80’s but lost substantial brand equity?
The brand has been around for 60 years. The last decade saw it run into rough weather. As a child, I grew up on
Chandamama and so did my parents. In that sense, this is a legacy and one that provided an opportunity to rebuild a set of values for the current generation.
This was a good platform to reach out to children and something I felt good about being associated with, after having put in 15-20 years in IT journalism. In the first 100 days that I have been here, I have stumbled across far more information and insight than I had expected to find. From the marketing perspective we had a great brand called Chandamama and here I get an opportunity to build the brand all over again and make it relevant for 21st century India. At both levels - in serving the market and children, it holds huge potential value.
You mentioned a difference in the kind of message that is transmitted in the other children magazines. Can you elaborate on that?
Chandamama messaging during the last 60 years largely focused on the fact that there are a certain set of values that you live with and characters you draw inspiration from. Today, children are growing up in a climate of exigency, always worried over getting a certain work done. If you ask them, who are the superheroes they associate themselves with, normally you would hear Superman or Batman. I would dare say they are more comfortable with western classics than Indian classics. That I think is a shame, not that I have anything against western classics.
Part - I: Complete interview