MUMBAI: Zee is pulling all the plugs to make sure that 'India's Best -Cinestars Ki Khoj makes it to the super big league. Besides pumping in big moolah (Rs 1 billion), the Subhash Chandra promoted channel has lined up a slew of promotional activities to make sure that the contest has fantastic brand recall.
"Never before has an event of such a magnitude been held anywhere in the world. Mumbai is the capital of entertainment and youngsters from all over the country come in hordes to try their luck but we are taking the film industry to them," asserts Essel Group's corporate communications head Ashish Kaul.
And it's not mere bombast. The logistics for the ground event and the back-end work is expected to cost up to Rs 300 million.
Held in 20 cities across the country, the event is divided across five phases. Accompanying the three day 'mela' in each city are a series of action packed promotional activities.
"The biggest promotional push that we have given to our event is the series of five TVC's, which is being aired across the Zee platform. Specifically designed catering to 16-28 age group, these TVC's have doubled up as an excellent communication device. The TVC is top priority on all our channels and we air about 400-500 spots every day. Roughly, on each C&S channel in our bouquet, we have a TVC aired every half hour," informs Zee network vice-president marketing Ajay Trigunayat.
"In tandem with that we have a site dedicated to India's Best www.indiasbest.com. I believe that it also has caught on to the fancy of our TG. We have almost a million hits everyday. That apart we have taken up toll free number, where the interested contestants can call," says Trigunayat.
The company has deliberately gone slow on other mass media advertisement. "After the kind of promotional blitz that we have flooded across the channels, we realise that the ads on other mass media avenues would only help us marginally. So, apart from single ads in the local dailies, a day before the event, we don't go out of our way. Instead we have adopted what we term as 'shock' promotions," informs Trigunayat.
What constitutes 'shock' promotion is a series of on ground promotions planned by the broadcaster. The organisers have hired about 200 floats, which will go around promoting the event in 42 cities at key youth high traffic locations. "We have also hired jeeps with the floats to promote our hunt in the hilly and difficult terrain," offers Trigyunat.
They have bought a few radio spots and organisers have also - as an experimental option - created special ads for cinema halls. The promos are aired in select multiplexes and cinema halls across the country. The broadcaster has also hired a biker group that goes around promoting the hunt, along with few walkers on stills.
