Kishore Biyani, CEO of country's largest retail firm Future Group, wants to be a storyteller now-he plans to take Amar Chitra Katha comics to the digital space as animations, short films or e-books.
"We want to take storytelling to digital space and other new-age forms which will connect with target audience," says the retail baron whose Future Ventures bought a majority stake in Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) Media earlier this year. "Amar Chitra Katha as a brand doesn't perish and it can be extended in many segments to take it to the next level," he says.
Amar Chitra Katha, a comic book series of stories mostly from Indian mythology and history, has been immensely popular among children ever since it was created and launched by Anant Pai in 1967. Today, it sells 90 million copies a year in about 20 languages.
As part of its transition from a publishing brand to a savvier storyteller, the company plans to release short films for tablets and other digital mediums as well. These products will be sold not just at Big Bazaar stores but also at other retail outlets both offline and online.
Future Group also plans to print comic strips or pictures of popular characters on bedsheets, pillow-covers, T-shirts and even packs of chyawanprash, honey and incense sticks to increase its popularity as well as to cash in on it.
In digital forms, Amar Chitra Katha stories can be consumed across different platforms from mobile phones and tablets to movie theatres and televisions. In fact, Biyani is re-entering film business by producing animation movies through ACK Media. The first film ' Sons of Ram-Heroes Will Rise', which is being co-produced with kids television channel Cartoon Network, will be released next month.
ACK Media plans to release 3-4 films over the next two years.
Movie business isn't alien to Biyani. Nearly a decade ago, Pantaloon had a short fling with the movie business when it invested in films such as 'Na Tum Jaano Na Hum' and 'Chura Liya Hai Tumne'. "This time, the trigger is not commercial but to leverage on ACK's brand equity," says Biyani.
Besides Amar Chitra Katha, ACK Media owns other iconic Indian comic content such as children's magazine Tinkle and children's audio and picture books publisher Karadi Tales.
While ACK's colourful comics have reached out to multiple generations of Indians offering lessons in morality and human wisdom, experts feel that brand extensions in the consumer space can get a bit tricky. "Extensions are easy to introduce but difficult to monetise," Shripad Nadkarni, founder of brand consulting firm MarketGate Consulting, says.
"Films are a close adjacency to the original print concept and hence, may be a relevant extension. However, you need to study the drivers of each category where the concept is planned to be extended to. Success will depend on whether the drivers converge with the core concept or not," he says.
Nadkarni says Amar Chitra Katha's brand appeal to the younger lot could also be an issue.
He says the company sells around 4-5 lakh ACK books and over 2.5 lakh copies of Tinkle every month.
"We want to take storytelling to digital space and other new-age forms which will connect with target audience," says the retail baron whose Future Ventures bought a majority stake in Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) Media earlier this year. "Amar Chitra Katha as a brand doesn't perish and it can be extended in many segments to take it to the next level," he says.
Amar Chitra Katha, a comic book series of stories mostly from Indian mythology and history, has been immensely popular among children ever since it was created and launched by Anant Pai in 1967. Today, it sells 90 million copies a year in about 20 languages.
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Future Group also plans to print comic strips or pictures of popular characters on bedsheets, pillow-covers, T-shirts and even packs of chyawanprash, honey and incense sticks to increase its popularity as well as to cash in on it.
In digital forms, Amar Chitra Katha stories can be consumed across different platforms from mobile phones and tablets to movie theatres and televisions. In fact, Biyani is re-entering film business by producing animation movies through ACK Media. The first film ' Sons of Ram-Heroes Will Rise', which is being co-produced with kids television channel Cartoon Network, will be released next month.
ACK Media plans to release 3-4 films over the next two years.
Movie business isn't alien to Biyani. Nearly a decade ago, Pantaloon had a short fling with the movie business when it invested in films such as 'Na Tum Jaano Na Hum' and 'Chura Liya Hai Tumne'. "This time, the trigger is not commercial but to leverage on ACK's brand equity," says Biyani.
Besides Amar Chitra Katha, ACK Media owns other iconic Indian comic content such as children's magazine Tinkle and children's audio and picture books publisher Karadi Tales.
While ACK's colourful comics have reached out to multiple generations of Indians offering lessons in morality and human wisdom, experts feel that brand extensions in the consumer space can get a bit tricky. "Extensions are easy to introduce but difficult to monetise," Shripad Nadkarni, founder of brand consulting firm MarketGate Consulting, says.
"Films are a close adjacency to the original print concept and hence, may be a relevant extension. However, you need to study the drivers of each category where the concept is planned to be extended to. Success will depend on whether the drivers converge with the core concept or not," he says.
Nadkarni says Amar Chitra Katha's brand appeal to the younger lot could also be an issue.
ACK Media, however, says Amar Chitra Katha characters still have huge brand equity among old and young generations. Vijay Sampath, CEO of ACK Media, says, "ACK felt that the brand should move from legacy format to Gen-X mediums as our sales for our comics are better than ever before. So, it's just the perception that an old brand isn't relevant for newer generation."
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