Don the detective's hat with Fox
A husband, a wife, a young man and a murder. It has all the makings of a classic crime story. Or shall we say, a media campaign in this case. Fox Crime, an English general entertainment channel specialising in crime shows is launching its first ever mass media campaign in the country, starting Wednesday through a series of 30-second films.
The films will be jumbled up, hinting at the possibility of each of the three protagonists being the killer, victim or accomplice, aired across Star India’s other English channels like Star World, Star Movies, Fox History and Traveller and so on. After all the three films have been aired, viewers can log on to the online platform, being specially created by Star India for the campaign, to solve the mystery. The reveal will happen through a 60-second film, about two weeks later. A mix of radio, outdoor and print will also be used to generate awareness about the campaign.
According to Jyotsana Viriyala, VP, Fox International Channels, Star India, it is a never-tried-before concept. “The campaign is as involving as the genre (crime) itself. It is based on the idea that viewers tend to solve a crime mentally even as they watch it, giving them a chance to put on the detective’s hat,” says Viriyala.
Given that the channel was launched in India in 2009, the timing of the campaign may be questioned. The channel attributes it to having built a “substantial subscriber base” (over 900,000 across direct-to-home players like Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon, Reliance, Sun Direct and Dish TV) and hence felt the need to launch a campaign to build awareness about the channel.
The channel is tight lipped about the campaign’s budget but admits to have “heavily invested” considering that the campaign, conceptualised and executed by ad agency O&M specially for the Indian market, was shot entirely in Prague.
Fox Crime India currently receives the feed from Hong Kong (Asia). Hence the campaign will be aired across the continent, but only Indian viewers will get a chance to participate in the campaign. The content lineup is a mix of fiction and reality-based shows including popular crime series like CSI, Law & Order and Dexter. The feed could be localised going ahead to attract advertisers.
That’s something the channel is looking forward to post the campaign. “We expect to have advertisers on board within a quarter or so after the campaign breaks,” says Saurabh
Yagnik, GM & VP, English Channels for Star India. As for the profile of the advertisers it would attract, Yagnik feels that there is no difference between the target group of a Star World and Fox Crime (SEC A, 15-35 age group). Hence he does not see any difference in the type of advertisers attracted by an English GEC vis-a-vis Fox Crime. Except that the brands being advertised may be male-skewed for the latter.
Jasmin Sohrabji, MD, OMD agrees. She feels a number of technology brands, financial services, corporate campaigns (like Mahindra Rise) and automobile companies which are typically male-focused can utilise the platform to reach out to their target group through the channel.
“A channel like Fox Crime cannot be termed as a niche channel as it mostly airs the same shows as other English entertainment channels,” feels Sohrabji.
As per TAM Media Research, the channel’s average share in the English entertainment space over the January - June 2011 period was marginal.
However, media buyers do not think this is a deterrent as often advertising on English GECs is primarily to establish a premium perception of the brand rather than reach driven
Source: Business Standards
