Campaign India: Choosing to change ahead of the curve

Campaign India recently presented a feature based on an interaction with the founder of a new age independent, Brave New World. The opening line of the story went like this. He said, “It is not that I have changed, the world has.”

The ‘then’ and ‘now’ reference was to the interviewee’s first Cannes Lion-winning poster in 2004, and the integrated work with digital at its core his new outfit has now set out to do. When you interview people like him then and interact with them now, you realise that the world is at the cusp of a fundamental, irreversible and inevitable transformation.

Campaign India started off eight years ago as a print magazine. The website was added on a few years later. In a space where there were just a couple of print mags and several more web-only offerings, it made imminent sense to enter with a world-class print product. That was then.

The media landscape, as we know, looks very different to 2008. Indeed it’s fairly unrecognisable. Software has disrupted all our lives, and those of our stakeholders. It has revolutionised our relationship with readers. We have a digital audience now that we could never have imagined four years ago, let alone eight. And this is an audience we intend to grow, and grow with. Information, insight or inspiration, this audience needs to be served the content it needs when it needs it.

Campaign India’s publishers have therefore chosen to focus their investment on a digital—rather than print—platform. Our new digital identity has now been revealed at CampaignIndia.in, on a smart-screen near you.

So the 13 May 2016 issue was the last regular print issue of Campaign India. By that, we mean that your go-to title for the best work and thought leadership in advertising and marketing will continue to bring out special print editions.

Form, not substance

While form changes, substance doesn’t. Campaign India remains committed to bringing you the very best of work and views alongside the biggest news developments from all across. Aligned with the global worldview and changes at our mothership, Campaign UK, Campaign India will also see a few changes in its content mix.

The brand and its play with consumers will remain at the core of the content we produce, with the work and people behind them being celebrated. But the oft-used, ‘An idea can come from anywhere’ is perhaps truer today than ever before. Brands are source-agnostic about ideas or execution of marketing solutions, and we recognise the need to be inclusive of marketing partners. Goafest embraced the publisher and broadcaster Abbys a couple of years ago. Cannes Lions has done so this year with publishers.

Those, along with an expanded universe that represents the realms of emerging technologies and AI, data and analytics, and more, from across the world, are what Campaign’s path will be—with creativity and consumer insight remaining the unwavering guiding lights.

Expect a sharper, yet more expansive Campaign India, with latest stories and insights not just from India, but across the world. Our coverage of Asia has expanded to include Japan, where we launched on 11 May. Our sister title in the UK has just been re-designed and expanded, and we continue to grow in the US. Campaign Asia-Pacific's website too will soon debut in a new and streamlined form.

All those who share a love for the printed word on paper, remember that it hasn’t gone away. It’s just that it gets a little more rare, and a tad more special therefore.

The opportunity cost of not focusing on digital today is too huge. And if we do not let go of the past, we may never truly embrace the future.

Gokul Krishnamoorthy is managing editor of Campaign Indi. Adrian Barrick is global brand director of Campaign.