| Marketing reality TV in your neighbourhood |
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Television channels use innovative and interactive ways to promote their new reality shows
Baiting the audience with teasers of programmes is pass. For the first time ever, local stores are joining the fray of promoting contestants of a show in an innovative manner. Suburban Mumbai grocery stores have done up their shopfronts to promote the Nach Baliye 2 couples living in their respective neighbourhoods. For instance, with every purchase made at Modern Society Store in Malad, Mumbai, customers take home a postcard of celebrity television couple Gauri and Hiten Tejwani, who are two of the contestants in Nach Baliye 2. "They are our customers and so we decided to support them," informs Ghanshyam Patel, owner of the store.
"The idea of including local outlets for programme promotions came from our experience last year when we saw various communities helping the couples on Nach Baliye," explains Sathya Raghavan, VP (Marketing), Star India. "This time around, we decided to create communities around the areas where the celebrity participants stay," he adds. The channel claims the response has exceeded its expectations.
Malls are yet another hotspot for channels. Just before the launch of Jhalak Dikhla Ja, Sony TV visited malls in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad to make people aware of the concept of the show. "The show has unique contests and we decided to repeat the same concept in the malls. So we gave a chance to people from different walks of life to try their hand at dancing," says Nina Jaipuria, VP (Marketing), Sony. Sony also tied up with few colleges in Mumbai during college festivals and took celebrities to these colleges. Mona Singh went to one of the colleges and was pleased with her experience there. "Audience interaction helps in forging a relationship and it is definitely helpful when the concept of the show is related to the youth," says Jaipuria. SET is also taking celebrities in the show to Lucknow, Amritsar and Pune.
Channels are using every possible lifeline with a mass appeal to woo the audience. Websites and mobile phones are usually used. Sony has tied up with MSN for Jhalak Dikhla Ja while Star One has developed content exclusively for mobile phones called Nach diaries. It includes behind-the-scenes footage of the couples and interviews besides regular features like ringtones and wallpapers for those who want to catch the fun on their mobiles. Says Viren Popli, senior VP (Interactive Services), Star India, "The idea was to extend the experience to our viewers. This is being done for the first time. The content was developed exclusively for mobiles, which will be never seen on air." Celebrities are more than happy with the marketing techniques channels are using to further their cause. Says Manav Gohil, a contestant in Nach Baliye 2, "These techniques provide the audience an impetus to vote for us. Of course, local audience alone cannot turn the tunes in our favour but every vote counts." Hussain Kuwajerwala feels that all the hype created around shows will help. "The more one sees it, the more one will remember about the show. It will definitely help. Every vote will count," says Hussain. Festival time is also channel promotion time now. Says Jaipuria, "We are trying to catch audience attention during Navratri, for which we have tied up with a few mandals. We had done the same during the Ganesh Utsav. The basic idea is to create visibility for our show."Promotional shows don't help established shows like Sa Re Ga Ma, though. According to Ashish Kaul, senior VP, Zee, "Our show is an established one. New shows need promotional activities. When it comes to Sa Re Ga Ma we get requests from cities to use them as platforms. So Sa Re Ga Ma travels to national and global destinations."
Jhanak
Shiv Shakti
