After the significant changeover, one question that haunts appraisers of the daily is: What was the urge to change when everything for Mint was working just fine? Mint quenches our curiosity stating that the world has changed dramatically since they first launched.
Popular daily Mint has made an interesting shift. To begin with, the paper has adopted the standard broadsheet format dumping its popular Berliner format. The fonts have been tweaked and although the masthead is the same (lower cased), it is a bit heavier. Another change is setting aside the last page exclusively for political coverage, which means they intend to put serious news end to end for political newsreaders. By stating that “it’s time to set a new trend in newspaper design,” Mint has termed its innovation as ‘Backless’ with two front pages. The all-new broadsheet and backless Mint also signifies that no news is back page news. According to industry experts, these changes are expected to allow the daily more space for its editorial content and a friendlier size for its advertisers. The business daily has even changed its brand positioning.
After the significant changeover, one question that haunts appraisers of the daily is: What was the urge to change when everything for Mint was working just fi ne? Mint quenches our curiosity by stating that the world has changed dramatically since they first launched.
Sharing his views on the changes, Rajan Bhalla, group chief marketing officer, HT Media Ltd. said that Mint in its new form will provide readers a compelling read through its high quality, superior and credible journalism, innovative packaging and user-friendly design. The physical transformation will effectively mean that the daily is wider, broader and deeper. Also, with the back page treated as an extended front page that covers politics, it will literally have two front pages. Bhalla, while sticking to the slogan ‘Mint or Nothing,’ claimed that the daily’s refreshed positioning will offers its readers the most incredible experience.
By stating that “it’s time to set a new trend in newspaper design,” Mint has termed its innovation as ‘Backless’ with two front pages. The all-new broadsheet and backless Mint also signifies that no news is back page news. Readers can expect to discover more innovations and new changes in days to come as Mint is “all tailored to help our readers stay informed in a rapidly changing world”.
To make the daily more palatable to its readers, a fundamental rethink of the product was needed. The changes in design and size, as well as content, are a result of these concerns, according to the daily. Back in 2007, Mint bucked the prevailing trend of business papers, which carried less of ‘more–many’ unrelated stories but with limited analysis. Instead, Mint’s strategy was to do more of ‘less–fewer’ stories, accompanied by in-depth analytical writing. Also, along with cutting down on the number of stories, it started focusing on major events. Fast forward to 2016, and readers are demanding more of ‘more’, or in other words, more in-depth analytical pieces. The increase in demand stems from the fact that the number of issues that matter to readers has increased manifold, and they want to get in-depth information from a reliable source like Mint. The changes that Mint has incorporated are made keeping in view these evolving dynamics. The Berliner format, which was restrictive, has been replaced with the broadsheet, making the daily more in tune with the digital age. Additionally, Mint and its digital platform, Livemint.com, are expected to complement each other. Readers, therefore, can expect to discover more innovations and new changes in days to come as Mint is “all tailored to help our readers stay informed in a rapidly changing world”.
