Sach Ka Saamna rides heavily on OOH and BTL

Last month saw the launch of Sach Ka Saamna, the latest reality show on STAR Plus. Apart from using the traditional ATL media such as television and print, the channel relied heavily on outdoor and BTL activities for the show's promotion.

As part of the on-ground initiative, Sach Ka Saamna Experiential Zones were set up in malls across Delhi and Mumbai, where the MC asked shoppers to answer a few questions with their hands placed on a mini lie detector. The machine could detect any changes in the heartbeat to determine whether a person was speaking the truth or lying.

A similar activity was carried out in 13 corporate offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The participants were given freebies.

Interestingly, on July 15, the launch day of the show, an on-ground initiative called 'Sach ki Toli' ran in Infiniti Mall, Mumbai. Just as Sach Ka Saamna puts participants through a round of 21 questions, 21 men, clad in black robes, walked through the mall with confessions written on their backs. Also, visitors in the mall were asked to write one confession and put it in a drop box. More than 500 confessions were received.

A few hours before the show went on-air, host Rajeev Khandelwal appeared in the mall and awarded the best confession with freebies. Khandelwal also informed the audiences about the show.

Besides, road shows were conducted in Delhi, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. The BTL campaign was conceptualised by STAR Plus and executed by Jagran Solutions. All the activities saw participants from all age groups.

An interactive OOH campaign was created by Ogilvy Advertising in the form of questions, which were displayed at different outdoor locations. One side of a pole kiosk on a traffic signal read, "Kya aap traffic police ko dekhte hi seat belt pehen lete hain?" The other side of the kiosk read, "Kya aap traffic police ko dekhte hi helmet pehen lete hain?" Another pole kiosk with the picture of Khandelwal read, "Kya aap drive karte samay mobile par baat karte hain?"

Mall displays in Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop and other retail outlets carried customised questions, such as "Kya aapne international brands ke kapdon ki nakal pehen kar unhen asli bataya hai?" Or, "Kya aapne kabhi kam paise dene ke liye kapdon ka price tag change kiya hai?"

Deric D' Souza, vice-president, Ogilvy Advertising, tells afaqs!, "The outdoor campaign is a reflection of the show, which is a mixture of light-hearted and hard-hitting questions. The objective here is to tap into the reality, which is both funny and embarrassing at times."

According to Anupam Vasudev, executive vice-president, marketing, STAR India, "The main objective behind using OOH and BTL is to link these with the main format of the show -- Sach ki Agnipariksha. The core concept of the show is to be true to yourself. Also, in order to grow the viewer base, it is very important to catch the on-the-go viewer. So, both OOH and BTL make significant contribution."

Though Vasudev refused to share the spends on OOH and BTL, he maintained that in a 360 degree campaign like this, each media has its own importance.