Sapna Nair
Media

Filmy: ‘Egging’ on viewership

Filmy, the movie channel from Sahara One Entertainment, placed an egg on the Mahim Causeway to get tune-ins for the premiere of the Hindi movie, ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’

Planting a 12 foot long, artificial egg on Mahim Causeway might seem a crazy idea, but that’s what Filmy, the Sahara film channel, did along with Rural Wheels Promotions, an out-of-home events company.

The occasion was the premiere of Bollywood movie ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ on Filmy on December 24, 2006. “It is a fresh young film and has good humour in it. This exercise was aimed at generating awareness about the movie as well as its premiere on Filmy,” says Shailesh Kapoor, head, marketing and content, Filmy.

The innovation was driven by the fact that awareness about ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ was limited to multiplex audiences and not the masses. This meant that the movie and the channel both had to be branded. So, the channel decided not to play around the star cast or storyline, but just arouse curiosity about the film.

Filmy: ‘Egging’ on viewership
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An acrylic egg was created and mounted on a nest-like creation with the movie posters on the board beneath it. The massive 25 foot structure was erected on the busy Mahim Causeway on December 19.

Talking about the execution of the idea, S Venkatesh, director, Rural Wheels Promotions, says, “There are legal issues in implementing these things. One has to seek permission from the BMC and the police. We ensured that the size of the structure did not exceed the 25 foot limit.”

Mahim Causeway was the obvious choice because of its busy traffic. “We were sure that this was the location where we could target both viewers and people from the trade,” explains Venkatesh.

Why wasn’t this innovation duplicated in other cities? Kapoor says that it was a strategic idea. “This place has high visibility. Moreover, we supported this with other on-ground activities.”

Kapoor says that the innovation got people talking and almost doubled their advertiser bookings for the movie.

The media mix comprised television, print, radio and outdoor activities. Branded mobile vans were introduced in residential areas, colleges, malls and high traffic junctions in parts of Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!

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