Zee Studio launches games around its shows

Zee Studio, the English movie channel from the Zee stable, has planned interesting promotions for its on-air properties, Battle Station and Sultans of Cinema. For Battle Station, which will show 35 movie titles, it has tied up with Zapak, and for Sultans of Cinema, it has tied up with Barista.

The promotion through gaming portal Zapak will begin this week and carry on through July, August and September. Battle Station is a festival of war films.

According to Neil Chakravarti, business head, Zee Studio, action and war movies have a big fan following in India. He says, "There are enough aficionados of World War II movies in the country, so we are sure that this property will work." The channel has already promoted Battle Station through the usual channels such as the Internet, mobile, outdoor and radio.

He adds, "Given Zapak's popularity with youngsters, we are assured of a good response." According to him, this is the ideal way to engage the urban male in the age group of 15-24 years. Trailers, wallpapers and schedules of films are available on Zapak.com.

Sultans of Cinema will have movies by award winning directors from across the world. To promote the show, Zee Studio has tied up with Barista, the popular coffee shop chain.

"The Barista audience is upwardly mobile and has a favourable dispensation for cinema. So, we decided to run a contest at Barista," says Chakravarti. On buying food worth Rs 200 or more, customers stand a chance to win prizes from Zee Studio. Tent cards, standees and posters have been put up at Barista outlets.

Zee Studio has upgraded its website and made it interactive. The new website, www.zeedio.tv, will have communities for viewers to interact with each other, wallpapers and other downloads. It has also planned an animation festival with Disney movies, for which online contests, mobile promotion and on-ground activation will begin next month.