Exclusive | Sony PIX all set with Spidey's biggest battle, says Yagnik

Every channel in its quest to grab as many eye balls as possible, has been experimenting with unique proposition of properties and cutting edge initiatives.  With an endeavor to cater to ever changing need and demand of its viewers and that too with a pinch of innovation, Sony PIX has been actively engaging its audience in India through several innovative and interactive touch points. Sony Pix once again is all set to woo its audience with another big ticket premiere, ‘The Amazing Spider Man 2’.

With a dozen or more players in the English movie genre, off-late the space seems to have become quite a cluttered one and there seems hardly any differentiation among the existing players. While there is similarity in the aired movies, the need to somehow stand different is the objective of every channel in the English Movie Genre space.

Interestingly, the first of the sequel of The Amazing Spiderman series, ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ in 2013 became the biggest television premiere of the genre and helped the channel in acquiring quite high ratings. Taking ahead the philosophy of adding a punch to every property, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has an innovative campaign planned. It comprises of a 360 degree marketing approach spanning across print, television, digital and on ground activation. Also in a never done before initiative wherein the channel will be sending people to an elite superhero academy in New York to get trained like Spider-Man on participating in a contest.

With an aim to know more, Adgully caught up with Saurabh Yagnik, EVP & Business Head, Sony PIX & AXN who spoke about what has been planned for the premiere and much more.
Speaking about the premiere, he said, “The Amazing Spiderman 2 was of the most talked about movie last year hence it is certainly the movie of the year. This movie is expected to perform positively for us as we intend to give our viewers another experience of thrill and adventure."

As mentioned by Yagnik, the channel will be leaving no stone unturned to take this property closer to its audience. Yagnik said, “A robust 360 degree initiative is planned with the core thought being, ‘Spiderman’s Biggest Battle ever’. All medium including Television, Digital and Print will be utilised in a unique way.”

The promos that are designed by Sony Pix’s in-house creative team would be aired on channels from their own bouquet and also few other channels with a heavy push on Print media which will include mainline dailies. Apart from that the channel has already started creating the necessary buzz on the digital medium, on which they have already started receiving an encouraging response.

Not just that but there is a personalised message too by Emma Stone, the actress of the movie and  Marc Webb, the director of the movie, urging all the viewers of India to watch the premiere of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ 2 on Sony PIX.  Adding further, Yagnik said, “Such initiatives prove the fact that we always try our level best to give our properties the necessary push. All this not only helps us to grab attention but also takes Hollywood more closer to the viewers.”

The channel has always extensively used social media to as to take their properties closer to their audience. When asked Yagnik to elaborate on the same; he said, “Social media has been our core focus area as it gives us an opportunity to create the desired engagement viz-a-viz other mediums. We try and make our viewers engage deeply with our properties.”

Also with an aim to create more excitement, the channel will be giving an adventurous trip to Spidey’s hometown. The viewers can simply participate in Live the ‘Amazing’ Spidey Experience contest and get a chance to head to a superhero training academy In New York. “We are also looking forward to enticing the audience by giving them a golden opportunity to experience the superhero tactics of Spiderman with an amazing on air contest where the lucky winner will get a chance to win a trip to New York,” he added.

And this clutter breaking initiative is one of its big ones after the Pix School Of BONDing initiative that the channel undertook, while celebrating Bond festival. When asked about the response received, he said, “We received a very good response during that time and Sania Mirza has added the desired value to our initiative thus building the desired buzz.”

When asked how the channel has performed in the smaller markets and if they have been able to garner numbers from those parts of the country too, he said, “Yes, we have been receiving good amount of traction from those markets too which indeed motivates us.”  

The channel also managed to get some of the well-known brands to sponsor the premiere. While Engage Cologne Spray is the Presenting Sponsor; Ford,Cartrade.com and BMW are the Powered by sponsors and Associate Sponsors include Diu Tourism, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Raymonds Made to Measure, Meru Cabs, Hungama.com and many more…

The channel that has some of the successful properties like PIX Doubles which includes 2 movies back to back from the same Franchise on every Thursday 9 and 11 pm; HandPIX wherein they showcase 1 movie every Sunday at 7 pm; PIXathon wherein movies of the same franchise are played back to back and Super PIX in which the channel every Sunday airs the Movie of the month will seen strengthening their properties going forward and they will surely be taking a lot more steps towards enticing the viewers.

As mentioned above, few months back, Sony Pix had created a strong buzz with its Pix School Of BONDing initiative along with Sania Mirza, wherein the channel was allowing the viewers to learn the BONDitude, a cult that everybody dies for. And now with ‘The Amazing Spiderman 2’ too the channel will surely touch newer heights.