I am Kolkata, Amar Para

The Times of India

Kolkata, India

Category Readership and Engagement

Media associated with this campaign

Overview of this campaign

Howrah Bridge, Yellow Taxi, Victoria Memorial, Rosogolla. That’s how most outsiders see Kolkata.

But for those who have lived here, these are just cliches. For a true Kolkatan, this city lives in its Paras. Tiny neighbourhoods too small to map, yet large enough to shape its social and cultural fabric.

To show the real Kolkata that’s beyond such stereotypes, India’s No.1 newspaper, The Times of India, launched a campaign bringing alive this iconic city through its timeless paras.

I am Kolkata, Amar Para series by The Times of India celebrated Kolkata and its paras, which give the city much of the flavour that sets it apart from many other Indian cities. Launched on Bengali New Year, 15 April, TOI paid tribute to the city’s spirit and its unique para culture

The campaign was a celebration of the city and its way of life; I Am Kolkata – with a deeper dive into the city's old and new neighbourhoods.

The initiative invited readers to give their para a unique name born from its most distinctive trait.

While some names were inherited from history, others were imagined anew. Each one, giving it an identity of its own. College Street became Boi Para, Dalhousie became Office Para, and the youngest para, Sector V, became Tech Para.

Through editorial articles, visual print ads, descriptive reels, on-ground activities, and social media content, people were invited to share their names for their paras, and guess the various paras in the city.

Thousands of names poured in. Many memories came alive. Each location became an emotion. And a newspaper helped break stereotypes and made the world rediscover a city, one para at a time.

I am Kolkata, Amar Para.

Results for this campaign

As a form of engagement, readers were asked to share their names for the paras. Select readers’ para names and quotes were carried in each editorial article as vox-pop.
To further strengthen reader engagement, 11 para images were carried in the newspaper as ‘Guess the para’ contest.
Visual print ads depicted a moving story for each para. These showcased the various para names that TOI had given, inspiring people to share their own para names on the campaign website.
Through TOI Kolkata social accounts, campaign amplification was done with posts revolving around editorial articles, print ad adapts, name your paras, and guess the para contests. 25.7Mn impressions, 1.9Mn engagements, and 0.4Mn clicks were achieved.
TOI partnered with young content creators from Kolkata on Instagram to create reels featuring Paras. These reels also showcased various people sharing names for their paras. The reels garnered 6.8Mn video views and 0.14Mn engagements.
The contests received a total of 39K+ entries in the span of 5 months, double the benchmark of 20k entries.

On occasions such as Bengali New Year and International Yoga Day, TOI hosted amar para activities in RWAs.
TOI launched Amar Parar Pujo during Durga Puja. Through edit articles and reels, TOI highlighted 14 pujas. People were also asked to share photos of their locality pandals on social media. 390 people shared their pandal photos, in stories, posts, and reels. Digital Performance: Reach- 1.3Mn, Video Views: 3.5Mn.
Under Amar Para branding, various events have been organised around the year, including Notun Para Marathon, Stall at International Kolkata Book Fair, and Heritage walk in Medical College.