| MUMBAI:
The recession bug is beginning to bite the premier English movie channel HBO in
India. Having
posted a 12-15 per cent growth in revenues last year, HBO is cautious on its growth
targets and has started reviewing its marketing spends. "The
industry is seeing a slowdown and advertisers have started weighing their spends.
It is the right time to make corrections. We have started reviewing our marketing
spends on a quarter-to-quarter basis," says HBO South Asia country manager
Shruti Bajpai. The
big drive for the year, however, will be to hook on to the IPL fever with high
voltage movies placed just after the Twenty20 matches. HBO
has christened its new offering as Hollywood Premier League (HPL) to ride on the
buzz that the cash-rich IPL tourney has generated nationwide. The draw will include
the best box office performers every night after the 9 pm movie, starting 1 April.
"The second
season of IPL is going to be twice as exciting with HPL lined up just after the
matches. It will be our biggest and most extravagant offering," says Bajpai. HPL
will run all through April, May and June with titles such as American Gangster,
No Country For Old Men, Rush Hour 3, Spiderman 3, Transformers,
Gladiator, Blood Diamond, The Departed and Mission Impossible
2. The
package will also have critically acclaimed movies like Kite Runner and Mighty
Heart. HBO
has already lined up nine sponsors for the mega-viewing window. "We have
roped in nine co-presenters for the event. These include Airtel Digital TV, Appy
Fizz, Roca, Hitachi, Spark Chevrolet, British Airways, Karizma and Turkey Tourism,"
says Bajpai. HBO
will back up the content with a targeted marketing campaign. Conceptualised by
creative agency Mudra, the channel will kick off the muti-media HPL campaign across
various platforms including television, print, radio, internet and the mobile.
The
campaigns will be run as a phase-wise activity. Connex handles the media account
for the channel. "We
have already started airing HPL promos across the Turner Network and are looking
at freezing on five to six other channels to promote the event. The channel mix
will, of course, include news, entertainment and youth," Bajpai adds. For
print, HBO will kick-off its first HPL campaign on 20 March. "It will be
a multi-city campaign wherein we will build up new ads in every phase of activity
for the next three months. We will also be exploring innovative options on sports
pages during the IPL season," Bajpai elaborates.
HBO will use the internet and mobile platform to send mailers and sms reminders
to consumers respectively. FM
radio will be used extensively to promote the event. During the announcement phase,
the channel plans to run a 10-day extensive multi-city campaign across radio networks. "The
choice of the station will depend on the advertising costs and reach that the
station exhibits," says Bajpai. HBO
will, however, not use out-of-home (OOH) for the HPL campaign. "We are looking
at 'much targeted' marketing to reach out to the right set of audiences,"
Bajpai explains. Post
HPL, HBO will come up with non-movie programming formats. So
how does Bajpai view the launch of WB which will have access to the Warner movie
library? "Being
a sister channel, this will complement our offerings from Turner. Also, as per
our agreement with Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony Pictures and Universal Studios,
HBO holds the first rights to air the movies coming from their studios. So, I
don't see any threat coming from any end," she says. | 
