Bates' 141 Worldwide wins STAR News account

With a tiny mindspace to fight for and many brands to jostle with, innovative and result-oriented communications are the need of the hour. Bearing in mind a similar expectation, STAR News has partnered with 141 Worldwide, the marketing services company of Bates. For the record, O&M continues to be creative agency for STAR News.

While it may sound repetitive and something all brands desire, STAR News wishes to explore a “whole new approach of delivering news and information”. But the challenge lies in the fulfillment of that objective. And that's what makes the whole difference.

So is 141 ready to take the challenge head-on? Charulata Ravi Kumar, country head, 141 Worldwide and branch head, Bates, Delhi, assures. “As strategy partners in providing a 360 degree approach to marketing, our course of action will be to redefine STAR News in the category of news and, more importantly, in its delivery to the viewers.”

Redefining the channel, according to Uday Shankar, CEO and editor, STAR News, would be done with a view to inducing a greater involvement with news. “We would like to raise the questions that come to people's minds, when they watch news. That itself can change the way news is done.”

One change that STAR News intends to bring about is abolishing the concept of prime-time viewing, and make news an “anytime viewing” affair. “We want to be a channel that parents would recommend to their children because we project the right values, we help inculcate a sense of good values, and we make a difference to the people's quality of life,” Shankar says.

Kumar feels, these finer aspects of news are “conveniently” ignored by the majority of news channels. “News channels often don’t take a very long-term view of themselves. Just getting a catchy slogan is not the end of it. News as a product is complex, ever dynamic, unpredictable and yet, highly involving – if you want it to be! It's only the delivery that is 24x7 but viewers do not connect to that delivery in that manner. What then becomes important is not how many people watched you, but rather how long they watched you and how they carry you with them even after they have finished watching you.”

Now, 141 will decide whether to take an above-the-line, or below-the-line communication strategy, or both to raise news from the level of being a living room 'time-pass' show to being a 'way of life'. “We have to work out the best possible way to achieve our objectives. Now, if that can be done within the purview of 141, so be it. But if it requires that we work in conjunction with the creative agency, we will work towards that.” Kumar concludes.

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