Amar Chitra Katha: Changing the Brand with Changing Times

This case concerns the branding and marketing of a comic book series that started in the 1960s as an educational tool to make Indian children aware of Indian mythology, history and culture. By 2010, Amar Chitra Katha had around 500 titles covering a vast range of topics, but it was facing competition not only from international and indigenous comic book companies but from electronic media such as children’s games and shows on cable TV and the Internet. In November 2007, all the Amar Chitra Katha titles and Tinkle magazine were bought by Mumbai-based entrepreneur Samir Patil, who created ACK Media as an umbrella brand. The company tried to reach its audience through the launch of an online portal, the creation of DVDs/VCDs, sponsoring movies based on Amar Chitra Katha and placing comics on mobile phone platforms, etc. However, such actions were shifting the focus of the brand from books to electronic media. The shift was inevitable to maintain a stable position in the marketplace and to achieve growth, but the management wondered how it could and whether it should maintain its print presence in the marketplace.

The case discusses various issues of brand management such as customer-based brand equity, brand communication, managing brands over time and how digitalization is affecting brands. It also looks at the role of a flagship brand in a portfolio of related brands and brand and form extension. A second aspect of the case is integrated marketing communication, which involves understanding the role of non-traditional media in advertisements, the application of communication models in practice, online advertising strategy and the importance of synchronized marketing communications. The case is useful for discussion in a post-graduate (MBA) program and also in executive education programs.

• Brand management
• communication
• strategy
• India