ACK began in 60s as the only brand giving Indian historical knowledge in an interesting way to children in an animated feature format; fulfilling a genuine need not provided for by any other medium. Children liked it for the easy, interesting and lighthearted way in which it made Indian history both interesting and fun. Indian parents normally frowning at the frivolous comics, approved of this comic reading habit as it had knowledge/cultural angle to it. ACK gave brilliant legitimacy to comics for the conservative, do-good mindset of the parents.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the environment begin to change and change faster. And things were happening (still happening!)
* Indian TV leaped and caught itself with the rest of the world, with more interesting hours of programming of all kinds. Reading declined.
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* More exciting games eg. video games also veered kids from the traditional means of amusement. Summer holidays meant not sitting at home, only reading heaps of comics but going to hill-stations and even abroad. The window to the world was becoming wider, and not only through books.
* Potential of capitalising on mythological, and therefore history (there is little distinction between history and mythology in the consumers mind ) was realised and a plethora of TV serials happened. This became the strongest indirect competition to comics, our ACK as well. The likes of TNT Cartoon Network gave severe competition to fun comics as well.
* More career orientation, kids going to various off-school classes e.g. tuition, sports, music etc. meant lesser spare time for children.
* With liberalisation, computers, Miss World, etc. the media created a far more heightened awareness in minds of both kids and parents about being globalised the need to know the world as well.
Hence, the need earlier fulfilled by ACK was now being fulfilled by other media as well, but more importantly the need itself was getting modified with the changing environment. From interesting way to know Indian history to interesting way to know the world. The importance to know Indian history and knowledge did not diminish but the scope of this need became wider. To know the world outside India as well.
So what happened to ACK?
ACK slowly became out of sync with its core segment of children (715 years) and the influencer segment of parents. ACK began to be out-of-mind of its core target segment. But it was still logged-in somewhere in the minds of parents and older children or the just grown-up teens. In consumer parlance, ACKs aided recall was high but it was not top-of-mind (TOM), however it managed to retain a high degree of trust in itself ie. high latent brand equity.
What is the key issue facing ACK?
Is it the need to quickly upgrade the image of ACK by climbing the TV bandwagon, Internet, CD ROMs, the heavy user/institutional segment and brand extensions like Amar Charitra Katha?
Or recruit new consumers for the brand and retain its unique identity?
I would think the latter for business reasons.
a. The portrayal of ACK on TV is likely to be perceived as a me-too offering with so many mythological, historical serials being aired on different channels. The live actor format will rob ACK of its uniqueness of the animated way of story telling.
b. The Internet, CD-ROM are bold and contemporary ideas but the big chunk of consumers are going to come from another segment of children not exposed to these vehicles. A segment of around 45 million 7-15 year old SEC A-D children are waiting to be tapped. Even if only 50 per cent of this number is reachable by ACK in distribution terms, there is still a potential segment of 22.5 million children. With just 5 per cent penetration by ACK, it can sell 11.25 lakh copies per month. The actual number is still dependent on other factors like availability, pricing whether it can be a penetration pricing (we will come to it later) but it illustrates the potential available to this brand.
Task for ACK then becomes:
Generating trials for ACK by increasing its awareness
So, what should ACK mean to both parents and children?
Interesting, fun way of knowing the world history/culture The brand signature being animation, whether in print or other media.
The uniqueness of ACK in the animated format must not be diluted for it allows children to run their imagination wild on the personality of characters eg. their voice, demeanour etc. It allows for more active interaction rather than just passive viewing. This is critical to retain long-term interest of successive generations of children in the brand. The expansion of brand benefit from just India to the world will appeal to more evolved parents of today as well as children and prevent ACK being branded as a comic for small-town or vernacular children.
The bold initiatives of Uncle Pai can be easily become a part of a mega revitalisation plan for ACK.
The plan then for ACK:
1. Expanded positioning for ACK
2. Penetration/ invitation price, benchmarked with other comics, perhaps Rs 10.
3. Increase awareness
4. Increase availability
IBH would need to invest substantial amounts of money in the first couple of years to achieve items 2 and 3. It would have to either arrange for the financing needs or find a strategic business partner for this project. Finding a business partner with distribution strength would be ideal.
The current tie-up with UTV should be used to advertise ACK as a brand on TV and a competent advertising agency hired to translate the expanded positioning of ACK into a memorable branding idea.
Serialising ACK in few prominent national and regional dailies, mainline as well Children supplements, would expose ACK to more children and parents as well. Attractive offers/pointers must be placed with these comic strips to call children to own and experience the whole thing and more.
Tie-ups with confectionery companies or other big children consumer companies would assist to increase the exposure of ACK to children.
The co-distribution tie-ups with Diamond Comics and Malayalam Manorama should be increased for increased availability of ACK; tie-ups with childrens product companies could help increase availability of ACK at shops where children are present. The institutional efforts, school drive must continue along with these.
Uncle Pais efforts, therefore, are in the right direction but must be more oriented towards making ACK a long-term brand. He has to revitalise ACK by reviving the need and not give it up to other media or focus only on the technology/format aspect of ACK. Uncle Pai must own what ACK has invented and created, not give it up. Amar Chitra Katha has to act like a leader and revive the genre of animated features it created. And the Amar Kathas will remain Amar for ever. n
Vivek Sharma is director - product management, confectionery products division, Warner-Lambert India Pvt Ltd.