STAR India unveils new corporate logo

STAR is launching a fresh multimedia campaign on April 18 to promote its latest offering - the HD versions of its key channels in India.

It's 'bye bye blue' for STAR India. The network has decided to dress up with a new logo - the Hot STAR, while doing away with its age-old blue identity.

The network decided to take on the new logo to symbolise its "zeal to continuously innovate, create and invent for the 21st century India". The logo has been designed by the London-based brand solutions company Venture 3 - the creator of the current StarPlus logo.

Uday Shankar, CEO, STAR India, says, "As a television network, we're reaching out to more than 400 million people every week in India. Our new corporate logo reflects the vigour and vitality of a new India that STAR has been privileged to grow with. We see this as a source of energy for the entire company, to be fired up for the opportunities and challenges in serving and inspiring our viewers." The logo will be promoted internally.

Meanwhile, STAR will launch a fresh multimedia campaign on April 18 to promote its newest offering - the HD versions of its key channels in India. These include StarPlus, STAR Movies, STAR Gold and STAR World. Nat Geo is already part of the HD league.

The network will use The Times of India extensively to reach out to viewers nationally, while Mint will be used to educate the audiences about its new HD channels in Mumbai and Delhi.

As part of the retail branding strategy, the channels will find a presence in Croma, Next, Vijay Sales and Kohinoor. The retail campaign will be on for one month. The network has also constructed an aggressive two-week television campaign on STAR News, Aaj Tak, NDTV and kids' channels - Cartoon Network and Hungama.

Positioned as Asli HD, the channels will be available to viewers who have an HD television set, and who have subscribed the channels on DTH platforms. The content for the format will be shot in HD, recorded and edited in HD, and mixed for 5.1 Dolby surround sound. The channels will also bear the mark of HD on their respective logos.

"Tata Sky has already signed up with us for the HD channels. We are in negotiations with the other platforms," Shankar says.

He also noted that there are not many HDTV screens in India - about 5 million of various denominations. "But, the multiplication rate of these screens is very high and there is a huge market to be tapped."

When quizzed on the pricing of the HD channels, Shankar said, "We intend to turn HD into a mass consumption item and therefore, will price it attractively." He was not willing to divulge any further details.

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