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From Zero to Hero, Nick charts out a roadmap ahead
It has been eight years since Nick, the television channel for kids, was launched in India. But since then, the channel has been struggling to make its presence felt in the market
Nick India, ever since it launched in India in 1999, has been struggling to establish itself in the kids’ channels space. In fact it was only in late 2005 that a separate management team was formed for Nick; until then it was handled by MTV India. It’s been a long journey since, but Nick even then, stands at number five in the kids’ channel genre.
Nina Elavia Jaipuria, vice-president and general manager, Nick India, is undeterred and instead filled with optimism while talking about the gradual growth the channel has witnessed over the year. The channel has, reportedly, grown by 138 per cent and its market share has doubled from 6 per cent to 12 per cent in the kids’ genre.
For 2007, Jaipuria says, “The key focus will be to drive eyeballs and increase reach.” According to her, great content, good promotions and strong distribution along with strong brand connect will elevate Nick to a higher pedestal.
2007, Jaipuria says, will see implementation of various marketing and brand communication initiatives leading to a 360 degree approach, which will include events at malls, multiplexes and contact programmes in schools. The channel will be abundantly seen promoting itself on various television channels, with an effort to reaching out to its target.
A major promotional activity that Nick will kick start is the ‘SpongeBob Pakda Pakdi contest’ which will commence on February 5 and run for 4 weeks. For this, the channel is targeting 350 schools across the country and has sponsors such as LIC, Big Babool, Tata Sky and Maggi on board.
Locally produced content and merchandising will be looked in to much later after Nick consolidates and gets a firm ground in the market. “We have to first get some sampling before diverting the focus on these areas. Moreover, we have huge internationally successful, untapped content base which is packaged to suit the Indian audience,” clarifies Jaipuria.
The channel has added a few advertisers such as Britannia, Zapak, Liberty Shoes, Nestle Mainland China, apart from those mentioned above, to its clientele. Nick aims to be among the top three channels, and a strong contender in the kids’ space. But, Jaipuria says the ultimate goal is to emerge as the only destination for comedy and fun for kids.
© 2007 agencyfaqs!