May 31, 2005 03:04 PM
9361 Views
(Updated May 31, 2005 03:06 PM)
After much speculation Mumbai Mirror a daily newspaper was launched in Mumbai on Sunday 29 May,2005 at Gateway of India. The paper was launched by Abhishek Bacchan, CM Vilasrao Deshmukh & Times MD Vineet Jain. The paper was initially scheduled to launch on May 15. For past one week we had seen extensive marketing of this paper in TOI & also on the roads with guys carrying hoardings about this new daily.
Mumbai Mirror is the first paper of a joint venture between Bennett, Coleman & Co, the publishers of The Times of India - and a group that has been known to break with convention. Mumbai Mirror is a paper that reflects the Mumbai spirit and addresses the youth. The paper is a crisp presentation of everything that is of importance to the Mumbai reader. The 48 page daily morninger, unlike the unweildy broad sheets, is compact and easy to handle. The newspaper is targeted for the youth of Mumbai for whom reading newspaper is not a habit. Hence compactness has been used here. Bennett decided to undertake a massive direct contact programme in which thousands of households were visited and asked to offer their opinion on a host of subjects, ranging from their general attitudes towards life, to their needs and expectations from newspapers. The final product is Mumbai Mirror.
The inaugural issue was divided into various sections
City(8 pages): Giving short news of latest happenings in our very own Mumbai.
Nation(4 pages): Compact news about our nation.
World(5 pages): To inform us about happenings in the World that we live.
Business(4 pages): Short stories about latest major happenings in National & International business.
You Connect(6 pages): Vaious classifieds for services recruitments..etc.
Sports(4 pages): Sports related news.
Other pages are filled with advertisements & sections on Health, Relationship, Entertainment, Chai Time, Views...et al.
Highlights of Inaugural Issue:
An inviting price of just Rs. 2.
Free movie tickets at Fame on first come first serve & many other offers.
The compact presently has three content pages in colour – cover page, one world page and one entertainment page.
Over 2 lakh copies sold on first day itself.
The main highlight of the paper is its compactness & its style of writing the news which is based on KISS theory(Keep It Short & Simple). This helps the ever busy population of Mumbai to have a quick glance at the latest news without wasting much time. The journalist names that you find here are some of the best from other dailies.
I think that The Times has done a good job for bringing a paper which identifies the growing needs of the Mumbai youth‘s spirit. I hope the paper finds its right place in the Mumbai market.
