Suppandi and Shikari Shambu are all set to meet you at your favourite retail store and your mobile phone.
As part of a bigger strategy to be present across all active media, ACK Media, owners of Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha have zeroed in on organised retail as an effective platform to strengthen their brand. The company will be setting up 15 to 20 shop-in-shops called ACK Lounge over the next six months.
The first such shop spread across 200 sq feet has opened in Hyderabad in an association with Odyssey bookstore. The
stores will give readers a chance to sit and read the comics available or choose from audio CDs and VCDs from the ACK Media stable.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Samir Patil, CEO of ACK Media said: “The strategic plan is to have a comic corner other than typical bookstores. We are willing to invest in retail as kids these days frequently visit malls and other formats of modern retail. We are also looking optimistically at television, internet and mobile media.”
The top eight to ten cities will have such shop-in-shops soon.
Aware of the high penetration of mobile phones, the company would be announcing plans to sell its popular content in the
form of jokes, games, wallpapers and ringtones. “We have been in talks with top operators for about two months now,” said Patil. It is also in talks with television channels to showcase its properties as well as look for commissioned projects. ACK Media, at the time of acquiring Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha had announced that it would be spending about $15-20 million over a period of two to three years to strengthen the brands.
As television and new media ventures gain scale, the company expects the composition of its revenue streams to also change. Currently, 90 per cent of revenues come from retail sales while the rest come from other streams. However, in three years, Patil expects revenues from television content and retail sales to contribute to 40 per cent each and the rest from others. “If you don’t exist on television, you don’t exist for kids,” said Patil, justifying the focus on television.
{{/usCountry}}As television and new media ventures gain scale, the company expects the composition of its revenue streams to also change. Currently, 90 per cent of revenues come from retail sales while the rest come from other streams. However, in three years, Patil expects revenues from television content and retail sales to contribute to 40 per cent each and the rest from others. “If you don’t exist on television, you don’t exist for kids,” said Patil, justifying the focus on television.
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