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Sony’s blog blitz pays off for its reality show

By Tarana Khan, agencyfaqs!, New Delhi, February 06, 2008
Section: News Category: Digital

Sony Entertainment worked with Phonethics to create a blitz of content on social media sites for its show, Champion Chaalbaaz No. 1.

TV channels are increasingly leveraging the viral power of the Internet to promote their shows. Social media such as social networking sites and blogs, in particular, are being used to spread the buzz. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India took this route when it launched its comedy reality show, Champion Chaalbaaz No. 1.

Working with Phonethics Mobile Media, which specialises in mobile and social media campaigns, Sony created a blitz of talking points for Champion Chaalbaaz. Mediacom Interaction, Group M’s digital agency, executed the display advertising campaign to promote the properties created online.

Mian Fekoo blog
The concept of the show, launched in December 2007, was to get 33 contestants to play the best practical jokes on people. Cyrus Broacha and Saajid Khan hosted the show. On a micro site (http://www.setindia.com/chaalbaaz/) it developed in-house, Sony invited people to upload videos of pranks that they had played on their friends. Some prank videos were uploaded on YouTube and featured on the site. Other content on the site included a pranks discussion forum and viral presentations with jokes and pranks.

Albert Almeida, executive vice-president and business head, SET India, says, “The idea was to cash in on UGC (user-generated content) that refers to various kinds of media content, which is publicly available and which is produced by end users... The response to this site has been tremendous in terms of page views and reach.” Almeida did not disclose specifics of the responses.

Albert Almeida
Sony also licensed an animated character developed by Phonethics, called Mian Fekoo, to create a presence on social media sites. Mian Fekoo created an identity on popular social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook and uploaded animated videos on over 20 video sharing sites such as YouTube and Metacafe. Mian Fekoo was developed by the agency more than six months ago and was finally taken up by Sony because it fitted perfectly with the show.

A blog, www.mianfekoo.com, was created and linked to the Champion Chaalbaaz micro site. On the blog, Mian Fekoo wrote about prank ideas and related videos. This was the first time Sony used a blog to promote a show. Almeida says, “The character’s look and feel matched the characteristics of the show very well... The medium’s ability to reach the target group (the younger generation) effectively drove us to be present on the blog.”

Saurabh Gupta
According to Saurabh Gupta, chief executive officer of Phonethics, Mian Fekoo has already posted about two lakh entries on social media sites in the last six months, so people were familiar with it. “The character acted as a brand ambassador in endorsing the show. On Facebook, Mian Fekoo has 130 friends, and we received about one lakh visits to the blog during the campaign.”

Though the campaign ended in January, Mian Fekoo is still alive and kicking and continues to add postings on the blog. The character will continue creating content on various sites, says Gupta, and may be licensed to other advertisers in the future.

© 2010 afaqs!

Comments (1)

  • From praneeth, Thu 07 Feb 2008 11:53:48 AM where is Mr.Mian Fekoo on facebook..i could not find any such char.

    Anywayz cool concpet

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