Every year on the occasion of Friendship Day, millions of friends all over the world exchange greetings, gifts and sentiments with the utmost warmth, care, gifts and love. In India, friendship day is observed on the first Sunday in the month of August; the spirits of the day remain the same throughout the globe in heralding the value of friendship in human lives, celebrating genuine friendships and conveying gratitude to our true friends.
This Friendship Day, Kerala’s formidable media conglomerate Mathrubhumi wished Malaya Manorama a very happy friendship day on its front page. The daily creative says, “It’s time we set a new benchmark to our friendship goals, for we work towards the same goal, Happy friendship Day”. This first of its kind initiative, an unusual bonhomie by Mathrubhumi, celebrates a healthy competition which both Kerala’s most prominent media conglomerates compete for.
Commenting on the initiative, M V Shreyams Kumar, Managing Director, Mathrubhumi Group, said “Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel:” – as always Shakespeare, as in almost everything else, might have the last word on friendship too. What the bard meant was those old friends, whose fidelity has stood the test of time, make the best of allies. Being an adversary in the marketplace of ideas does not make us enemies. Instead, it goads us on to strive to be better in the true spirit of competitive companionship.
I can say this with confidence since our two families of Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi have faced our share of institutional and personal tragedies, mutual lending support in times of crisis. It is this human legacy of our forebearers that propelled us to extend our arms in a warm embrace to our worthy friend in the world of media”, A Happy Friendship Day to Us”.
Illustrating on the creative, Francis Thomas, Creative Director, Maitri Advertising Works, said, “One of Kerala’s oldest rivalries has been between Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi, the state’s two largest Malayalam Dailies. Over the years, both have expanded in parallel, starting radio stations, magazines for all demographics and interest groups, online portals and much more. Malayalees are likely to encounter a Mathrubhumi Group medium in some way every single day. So, it only made sense that on Friendship Day, we share a message of friendship to a brand that’s constantly pushing us to grow and innovate.”
