Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
Firangi offers a solution for ultra-fatigued viewers
The marketing campaign for Firangi is based on the insight that viewers have become fatigued with watching the same story lines in the soap operas that abound on television
Firangi, the world television channel from Sahara One, has launched its full-fledged marketing campaign.
Talking about the objective of the marketing campaign, Manoj Nair, head of on-air promotions, Firangi, explains, “The marketing campaign for Firangi is based on the insight that viewers today have become fatigued with watching the same story line again and again. There is no selective viewing and most viewers keep watching soaps out of habit, expecting that they will end some day. Instead, even dead characters are made to come alive and the multiple episode format soaps never seem to end. The objective of the campaign is thus to address the fatigue problem among viewers and provide them with a solution in form of the Firangi channel.”
The first TVC, Baby to Buddhi, depicts the lifespan of Ba, an iconic character of Indian soaps. It starts by showing the life of a girl in the black and white era who is watching the saas-bahu soaps. The girl grows up, gets married, has children and turns 80, stuck all the while to the same serial, which has become a force of habit by then. The advertisement ends with the voiceover informing viewers that the best stories from around the world, with each story not longer than six to eight months, are available on Firangi. The tagline says ‘Firangi – World ki Best Kahaniyan’.
Nair says that the creative idea takes a humorous look at the saas-bahu soap genre and is not meant to show the viewers in a bad light. So far, the viewers have not had much choice in what they could watch; Firangi promises to give them fresh and energetic content.
The second TVC, Waiting, shows how people in India have to wait for everything, including entertainment.
The third and fourth TVCs highlight the effect that Firangi has on the audience. One of them shows a day in the life of a couple who experience a range of emotions on watching the channel’s fare, which varies from action to comedy to drama to romance. The fourth one depicts an excited man who seems to be getting ready for a Formula 1 race, but is later shown watching Firangi.
The channel is using a separate promotion line for static media such as print and outdoor, but with the same positioning line: ‘World ki Best Kahaniyan’. The line describes the channel as a ‘440 Volt ka TV Channel’.
The print and outdoor campaign displays visuals from the variety of shows that will be aired on Firangi, with the headline, 440 Volt ka Comedy (or action or drama, as per the programme genre). The colour palette of the channel – yellows, greens and reds – is splashed across the hoarding to attract more eyeballs.
Rajeev Chakrabarti, business head, Firangi, says, “The promotion line for the static medium has been designed to emphasise the bold, fresh, energetic and contemporary identity of the channel. The overall communication objective is to highlight the electrifying experience the channel has to offer and make television viewers aware of its differentiated attributes.”
Within a week’s time, Firangi will start programme specific advertising. Both Internet and mobile advertising will be utilised heavily in the coming days. The channel goes on air on February 25.