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V&S breathes in ‘Oxygen’, other elements in tow
V&S has roped in Oxygen as its creative agency for a part of the business. Since the pitch process is not over, another agency will soon be brought on board
It’s been known that V&S Broadcasting, a subsidiary of UTV Global Broadcasting, has been scouting for both a creative and a media agency for quite some time now. The pitches have been going on in Delhi all of last month. Though the process is not complete, a source related to the development says that V&S intends to bring on board two creative agencies.
Quite a few agencies are known to have taken part in the pitch, including Grey Worldwide and Contract. Interestingly, Grey Worldwide has already been appointed creative agency for Bindass, which is also part of the same group.
V&S Broadcasting is expected to kick off with four channels in the coming months. The channels will be launched under the Variety & Specialty (V&S) portfolio. It is known that UTV has been planning to enter the broadcasting space aggressively.
Recently, UTV Broadcasting, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV, launched its youth channel called Bindass. Now, V&S will start rolling out channels from its kitty, beginning with the world cinema channel, which is scheduled to be launched later in 2007. Also in line are a Hindi movie channel and two Hindi speciality channels dedicated to crime and the supernatural. Sources reveal that the entire bouquet will be launched in phases and should be up completely by February 2008.
The sources say that the race to choose a second agency is on. Within the next 10 days, V&S will be in a position to decide upon the second agency, which will handle the launch of the other two channels. The decision on the media agency will take some time. The collective advertising and media spends could not be ascertained.
Earlier this year, V&S Broadcasting had made a few senior level appointments. These included the appointment of SaharaOne’s Shantonu Aditya as chief executive officer, National Geographic’s Dilshad Master as chief operating officer, and Leo Burnett’s Ali Imran as vice-president, marketing and communications.