Chandamama : The fairy tale of Brand Revitalization

Most of us have grown up appreciating the element of bravery in the image of the sword-brandishing king Vikram passing through a cremation ground with a corpse on his shoulder in the popular “Tales of king Vikram and Vetala” series from Chandamama. Chandamama is a month older than Independent India. The idea behind Chandamama was to introduce post-independence child to Indian culture and tradition.

The first editions came out in July 1947- in Telugu and Tamil. First edition priced at six annas sold six thousand copies. It became a household name and was published in 12 languages. The English edition began in 1955. Chandamama reached its peak in early 1980s; when its combined circulation touched 900,000.During this period, the office was at Chandamama buildings, Vadapalani, Madras. In the mid-1990s publication started having problems; labour problems began to ferment in the press at Vadapalani. A tussle between workers and an administrator went so much out of control that publication had to be stopped in May 1998. Plus there were dissimilarities in opinion among the family members of the owner. The publication remained hung up for more than 12 months till 2 investment bankers who were emotionally attached to Chandamama stepped in to revive it. Hence from a modest office in Guindy, Chandamama started from scratch. By November 1999 they were able to print in all 12 languages. When the publication was suspended, Chandamama’s circulation was 600,000 but after its rescue it could barely sell 200,000 copies.

In early 2010, Chandamama was acquired by Geodesic, a software firm based out of Mumbai. This time, the offices shifted to Neelankarai on the ECR. Geodesic wanted to take this challenge because they strongly believed that Chandamama is not only a strong brand but it also has a strong brand recall. Geodesic is responsible for revitalizing the brand, the brand that most of the people in their late 20’s to early 70’s identify with. The fundamental strategic changes that Geodesic brought are:

i.             Establishing a process oriented business model

ii.            Giving the rein to an experienced and profit oriented management

iii.           Making Chandamama more contemporary and interactive

iv.          Complementing satellite TV and Internet rather than competing with them

v.            Leveraging effectively and efficiently on the rich archive of more than 60 years of story telling

vi.           Aggressive branding through Social media and Digital Marketing

vii.         Choosing brand elements that are attractive for the targeted market segment

viii.        Launching animated short stories on iPhone and iPad

ix.          Opening a representative office in Canada

Today Chandamama comes out in 13 languages including Santhali. Its combined circulation is around 250,000 copies; approximately 20% of its peak time sales. But from an optimist point of view, the very fact that the hybrid of comics and magazine sells so many copies, even in the era of internet, demonstrates how deeply rooted it is in the minds of Indian readers. A brand no less than a Coca-Cola or a Marlboro; and for sure not less addictive than either of them.