O&M tunes into WorldSpace

WorldSpace, the satellite radio company, has awarded its creative duties to Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore. The account was won in a multi-agency pitch. The names of the agencies, however, could not be ascertained.

Company executives were tight-lipped on the size of the business as well. However, informal conversations reveal that the billings are expected to be substantial.

Enumerating on the task at hand for O&M, Sanjay Ramakrishnan, head consumer audio business, WorldSpace India, says, “O&M will help create the WorldSpace brand and aggressively promote it in the seven markets that we have zeroed on in for expanding our reach.”

Currently, WorldSpace is available in Bangalore and Chennai, and the seven new markets that the satellite radio station is targeting include Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Pune.

For O&M, the task, says Prateek Srivastava, president, O&M, Bangalore, is interesting and challenging. “WorldSpace has some big expansion plans, and our job is to partner them in the creative and strategic execution of those plans.”

Though at this stage the media mix is undecided, but Srivastava did mention that below-the-line will be an integral part of the communication.

WorldSpace, through its two satellites AfriStar and AsiaStar, beams music and news. The current offering includes 35 radio stations. The Indian channels include Farishta (classic Hindi film music), Gandharv (Hindustani classical music), Shruti (Carnatic classical music), Jhankaar (contemporary Hindi music) and Sahara S7, Sahara S9, Sahara S1, Sahara S3 (Bollywood hits from classics to current hits & Instrumental).

In addition to this, the radio station offers a bouquet of regional language: Sparsha (Kannada), RM Radio (Malayalam), KL Radio (Tamil) and Tara (Bengali). In fact, the broadcasters is planning to introduce a few more dedicated channels in other regional languages.

Among the news and information channels, the list includes CNN, Bloomberg, BBC Asia West, WRN, Asia Development, NDTV (English & Hindi) and AIR (Hindi). As for the international channels, WorldSpace provides all the genres.

The WorldSpace service is subscription based. An annual subscription to the WorldSpace network of channels costs Rs 1,200. The service can be accessed through the purchase of a radio set that ranges from Rs 4,990 to Rs 11,990.

Apart from an extensive dealer network, WorldSpace has unique experience zones called the ‘WorldSpace Lounge’, which enable customers to experience its full range of channels in a comfortable ambience. At present, there are two WorldSpace Lounges in Bangalore (The Forum and Brigade Road) and one in Chennai (Spencer’s Plaza). WorldSpace will open its lounges in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi shortly.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!