39. India Malayala Manorama Connecting Youth - WAN-IFRA

YUVA – Connecting Youth
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Name of the Programme: YUVA – Connecting Youth ,
Malayala Manorama’s platform to connect with the
youth and increase youth readership.
Category of the Entry - Special Categories for 2010 –
Connecting with Mobile
Sponsoring Newspaper - Malayala Manorama
Complete Address – Malayala Manorama , P.B.No.26 ,
K.K.Road , Kottayam , Kerala , India – 686 001
Project Director - Mathews Varghese ,
[email protected] , Associate Editor,
Malayala Manorama. Ph.+919846061302
Contact person preparing the Entry – Mathews
Varghese , [email protected] ,
Associate Editor, Malayala Manorama. Ph.
+919846061302
Circulation and Frequency of the Newspaper – 1.8
Million ; Daily.
One Sentence Description of the Project – YUVA
(which means ‘the youth’ in Malayalam language ) for
the past 2 years , has been effectively using Mobile
Phone based innovative , interesting and interactive
activities to woo the young generation towards
newspaper reading
Target Group of the Project - Age Category 18 - 25
1. ‘Haiku’ Film
Contest for Youth
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A Contest for the Best Micro Film of duration
below 5 minutes, shot on Mobile Phone
Camera on any socially relevant theme of
their choice was conducted during 2009.
The goal was to provide an opportunity for the
youth to express their creativity in visual
communication without the usual budget
constraints.
A total of 483 entries were made out of which
10 best short films were short listed by a
panel of eminent personalities. Multiple
platforms were used as these 10 short listed
films were posted on Malayala Manorama
Online and the viewers were asked to vote
the best which elicited wide response.
The timeline was for a total of 2 months.
The best 10 can be viewed at :
http://www.manoramaonline.com/advt/
Specials/Yuva_Fest/index.htm
2. 'ParayuPranayam‘
(Express your Love) Contest
- Valentine's day Special
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In 2009 and 2010 , on 14th of February , the
youth of Kerala was given a golden
opportunity to express their love over mobile
phones whereby their voices were recorded
and the Best Love Message was rewarded.
The Message can take any form , i.e., a
poem , a narration , a joke , a riddle etc not
exceeding a time limit of 2 minutes.
Such a Contest was the first of its kind in
Kerala.
While 18000 voice messages were recorded
in 2009 the number exceeded to 25000 in
2010.
Announcement of such an innovative contest
was made in the Daily and Online just a few
days before the Valentine’s Day and thus the
total timeline was for 2 weeks.
3. Select the ‘Stars’
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The young generation of Kerala was given a
chance to get an entry into the tinsel world
when YUVA gave an opportunity to send their
recent full size photographs through Mobile
Phones to appear in the upcoming movie of
the National Award winning Malayalam
Director Jayaraaj.
The photographs of the short listed 10 were
exhibited in the Newspaper and an SMS Poll
was conducted to make the final Choice.
The goal was to give an opportunity to all
those talented youth who have nurtured their
dreams to become actors and actresses.
Around 5000 entries were received .
The Movie was released in July 2008.
4. Guess the Name of the
State School Youth
Festival Special Section
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The State School Youth Festival , hosted by the
Government of Kerala is considered to be Asia’s largest
School level Arts Competition.
Manorama came out with Special section entirely
dedicated to the Youth Festival Events ,for a period of
one week.
Leading actor of Malayalam Movies , Mr.Mammootty was
asked to give a suitable name for the Section. A Contest
was held to guess and SMS the name given by the
popular actor.
The goal was to enhance creativity and visibility of the
page and give an ownership feeling.’
10000 entries were received.
The Contest was announced on 9th of January 2010 and
the result was published on 10th of January 2010.
Wish them Good Luck
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Wish them Good Luck – Send wishes
to the Youth festival participants
The young readers were given an
opportunity to send their wishes to the
participants of the youth festival through
Short Message Service (SMS).
All the wishes were displayed on
Manorama Online and the selected few
were exhibited in the Daily.
The goal was to boost the morale of the
Youth Festival Participants.
5000 entries were received.
5. Youth Pick –
Select the Song , Movie
and Actor of the year
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An expert panel of young , well known
personalities who have proved their mettle in
various art forms were asked to shortlist :
  Best 5 movie songs of the year
  Best 5 movies of the year
  Favourite 5 Actors of the year
An SMS Poll was conducted to select the best
movie song , best movie and best actor from
the short listed options.
This event was conducted in 2008 and 2009.
The goal was to understand the current tastes
and trends of youth.
28000 entries were made.
6.The name is Bond – An
opportunity to christen the
promising actors of
tomorrow
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In the South Indian movie world , it is a
common practice for the actors and the
actresses to adopt a ‘Name’ other than their
original name which in turn will be the name in
which they will be known as, thereafter.
A contest was organized to give a suitable
name for four new male actors of an
upcoming movie. An SMS Campaign was
organized for the same.
The goal was to initiate creative thinking
among youth.
32000 entries were made.
The Contest was announced on 31st of
January 2010 and the results were published
on 28th of February 2010.
7. Pen / Text a Love Poem
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The youth of Kerala was
overjoyed when YUVA announced
a Contest to SMS a Love Poem
on Valentine’s Day.
The selected poems were
displayed on the Daily and the
winners were given Mobile
Phones.
There were 1600 entries.
The goal was to give the youth the
freedom to express their love for
their dear ones.
Financing and Partners
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‘Haiku’ Film Contest for Youth , Select the
‘Stars’ , Guess the Name of the State
School Youth Festival Special Page,
Youth Pick – Select the Song , Movie and
Actor of the year, Pen / Text a Love Poem :
These activities were totally sponsored by
Malayala Manorama and the winners were
given mobile phones.
'Parayu Pranayam‘(Express your Love)
Contest - Valentine's day Special : The
activity was sponsored by Malayala
Manorama and Vodafone.
The name is Bond – An opportunity to
christen the promising actors of
tomorrow : The activity was sponsored by
the Producers of the movie and the winners
were given laptops and i- pods.
Marketing
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All the Contests were announced
through Malayala Manorama
Daily. Several reminders were
also posted.
Publicity was made through
Malayala Manorama Online too.
The Pictures attached with each
slide of this Power Point
Presentation within the ‘mobile
icon ‘ are scanned copies of the
announcements of respective
contests.
Evaluation and Results
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YUVA , the logo of which itself is that of a Mobile Screen
( displayed in the opening slide) , through its innovative ,
interesting and interactive contests , was able to bring back the
youth of Kerala towards newspaper reading.
In the current scenario , interest of youth towards newspaper is
receding whereas Mobile Phones are becoming their all time
favorite along with laptops , I pods , MP3 players and internet.
The last two years , ie , 2008 - 2009 and 2009 – 2010 , YUVA
was highly successful in cashing in on youth interest towards
mobile phones to newspaper reading through the above
mentioned activities.
Given below are the figures published by The Audit Bureau of
Circulation ( ABC) , the appellate and authorized body to publish
Circulation Figures:
  Jan – Jun 2008
1620849
copies
  Jan – Jun 2009
1705221
copies
  Jul – Dec 2009
1760167
copies
The rise in Circulation can be partly attributed to the rise in youth
readership.
  Jul – Dec 2008
1700192
copies
Moreover , much revenue was generated from SMS as a result
of the revenue sharing agreement with Malayala Manorama and
the local Telecom Service Providers.