Brand Curry cooks for Zee News in UP

The channel is slated for a month-end launch

Brand Curry, a communication specialist outfit based out of the Capital, has won the creative duties for Zee News Uttar Pradesh. The channel, which will be launched by the end of this month, will focus on the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Zee News was in talks with other agencies too, for this project, but after discussions with various agencies, Brand Curry was finalised. Barun Das, chief executive officer, Zee News, says, “We had received proposals from many ad agencies for handling the account of Zee News Uttar Pradesh. Brand Curry came closest to understanding our proposition.”

Talking about the win to afaqs!, Rajshekhar Malaviya, vice-president, Brand Curry, adds, “The channel is essentially about being the eyes and ears of the people of Uttar Pradesh, and about delivering news in a manner and style that the average UP citizen would connect with. We needed to communicate this. The agency’s experience in working on brands that relate to such contexts was what we drew upon, as well as my own instinctive understanding, since I belong to UP.”

Ratno Rudra, director, Brand Curry, led the creative for the pitch. He says, “The biggest challenge in creative terms was figuring out how to communicate the tone and style of presentation, and connect with UP and Uttarakhand, without losing the context of launching a news channel.”

Television and outdoor will be considered for advertising purposes, which will be supported by print, e-mailers and below-the-line activities.

Zee News has also launched regional news channels in the states of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

Uttar Pradesh is quite active on the political scene, and is also prominent in the history of India. “In spite of the state's potential, the people are not too confident about the state's abilities; this needs to be changed. The tagline for the channel -- Jad Se Jahaan Tak -- gets people to look forward by connecting with their roots,” reveals Malaviya. The tagline has been created by Brand Curry.

The channel intends to bring the diverse cultural entities of the state on a single platform, and focus on news from the state, which is of concern to the people of the state.

The current television news channels in Uttar Pradesh include Samay Uttar Pradesh (Sahara Samay's regional channel), ETV Uttar Pradesh, Jan Sandesh, VOI and TV 100.

Samay Uttar Pradesh and ETV Uttar Pradesh broadcast in both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Jan Sandesh and VOI are broadcast only in Uttar Pradesh, while TV 100 focusses on Uttarakhand and in some parts of Uttar Pradesh.

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