What is your endeavour?

Ford, in association with National Geographic Channel has announced the launch of a new show titled as 'My Endeavour alterrain'. It features five celebrities on five different drives.

Ford India, the Indian arm of the American car maker, has joined hands with National Geographic Channel and announced the launch of a new show, 'My Endeavour alterrain'. The announcement was made at a press conference yesterday.

The show will feature the travel experiences of five Indian celebrities: Bollywood actor Gul Panag, director Nagesh Kuknoor, actor Rajeev Khandelwal, writer Chetan Bhagat and Olympic Boxer Vijender Singh.

The five will each travel to a different place of their choice in a Ford Endeavour. The channel will feature their experiences such as exploring new cultures, landscapes, food, art and people.

Serial road tripper Panag will drive from Goa to Hampi; Kuknoor plans a trip somewhere in Hyderabad; Bhagat will drive in Gujarat; Singh will head to the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan and Khandelwal will test the roads in Arunachal and Assam.

This will be a five-part series of one hour shows that will be aired on the television from the middle of May.

Speaking to afaqs!, on the launch of the show, Debarpita Banerjee, vice president, marketing, National Geographic and Fox International Channels, India says, "The whole idea behind launching such a show is to re-establish what NGC stands for. We aim to showcase the real travel stories, journeys and cultures through this."

And talking on what the auto company thinks about their venture with NGC, Vinay Piparsania, executive director, marketing sales and service, Ford India says, "This collaboration will help us in brand building. It will help us in better marketing of our product and generate more awareness about the new edition of our flagship product Ford Endeavour - the all terrain edition."

A camera team will accompany each celebrity while they take their vehicle to these places for a period of 4-6 days.

Piparsania confirms that a full-fledged marketing campaign would be done around the property on digital, out of home and print but refuses to divulge any details of which agency they plan to rope in and what the spend will be.

National Geographic Channel will air this programme in its prime time slot and plans to gather maximum impact in the metros and mini metro cities.

Banerjee says, "We are not just trying to increase our viewership numbers but also create a right kind of perception by which I mean creating the right kind of content for the right kind of audience."

National Geographic Channel also plans to launch a full-fledged marketing campaign around this show. It plans to use the digital platform to create buzz about it and will be coming up with the promos for the show which will be promoted through the Star network.

Ford India launched Endeavour in the year 2003. It offers several other car brands such as Figo, Fiesta and others. The car maker launched its India operations in the year 1995 and has manufacturing facility at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai.

The National Geographic Channel was launched in India in 1998 in association with the Star Network. It produces programming content involving nature, science, culture and history, among other things.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com