In the last few years, a lot has happened in the media arena. Number of newspapers and TV channels have multiplied, radio has emerged as the up and coming media, advertising spending has gone up to 10 times in the last 10 years.
While the quantity has surely increased, did all these channels found out a place in customers heart?
The answer, with all justification, is no. And that comes down to one big, glaring problem of media. While the media channels have done a lot to position other consumer brands through mass media advertising, the media itself has done little to position themselves in the mind of the viewer.
There are more than 10 daily newspapers in the country. Apart from the all-encompassing nature of Prothom Alo, does any of the other newspapers stand out? Why should people choose Samakal in place of Jugantor? Why should people listen to Radio Amar in place of Radio Foorty? Why should people watch Channel 1 instead of Channel I?
Unfortunately, there is no answer for any of these. But all the channels and papers can effectively position themselves in a unique space. Daily Star can position themselves as the “Business paper for executives”. Radio Amar can position themselves as a more entertaining alternative to Bangladesh Betar by catering to small town people.
Right now all newspapers are trying to position themselves as “neutral, pro-people” daily. All TV channles are trying to be patriotic and all Radio channels are trying to be youth–focused. As all are vying to for the same position, only some will win. The rest will fall, unless they can find a unique position for themselves based on concrete positioning and solid differentiation.
One comment
BR
April 1, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Another excellent post and an accurate depiction of the lack of differentiation in the Bangladesh media market. Although positioning and forming a clear brand identity is likely to form part of the corporate strategy for some of the media players, the long-term strategy to achieve (and maintain) this is often compromised. This happens more often than not due to management chasing a quick buck or adopting reactive measures at the expense of the brand’s core values.
This all means that the opportunity to enter the market in either of the mediums still exists for anyone looking to come in with a truly unique and differentiated proposition – good news to us all I guess! To add, I think the media where uniqueness does exist to some degree is radio – I haven’t heard Amar yet, but there seems to be clear differentiated offerings between Foorti (more youth targeted) and Today (older audience, more mass market).