Bindass plans to get aggressive with its first brand campaign

On September 2007 a channel came into existence. It positioned itself as a Youth Entertainment Channel and named itself accordingly, Bindass. The channel from UTV group completely synced itself with the young mood and its programming complimented the channel's name.

Since then, slowly and steadily the channel grew in terms of ratings, reach and time spent and the process is still on. Currently successfully running shows like - Dadagiri, Big Switch, Emotional Atyachaar, Beg Borrow Steal, Ponds Destination Love proves the point.

The channel has now evolved as a brand, given the success of the brand and the hit shows which have been aired across recent months, the channel is all set to launch a focused brand campaign. The campaign is based on the communication idea "What I Am", and it is all set to launch on February 15 2010, across India. The campaign will launch via various media, focused on a 2-3 week burst and sustained throughout the year as an ongoing communication process. Reportedly the media spends for the campaign are in the tune of Rs 3 Cr.

If we see the general trend most of the time brand campaigns are part of the launch of any product but team Bindass played to do it differently. In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Heather Gupta, Channel Head, UTV Bindass explains the thought behind the step and says, "Well, it was done intentionally, as first the content or say matter needs to work upon completely. The brand campaign idea was in my mind from very beginning but we kept it calm and waited for the right time."

Explaining the whole idea of "What I am" campaign, Gupta says, "Through our understanding of the pulse of youth and our extensive research we know that young people are often judged (wrongly) according to their appearance. As we should not judge a book by its cover, we should not judge people by their appearances. Our creative campaign focuses on the insight that young people are very often judged, and challenges that. The campaign is a fresh and very Bindass expression of this core consumer insight, and features real consumers who we have selected from all over India."

The brand is very aggressive with its approach and has planned a 360 degree promotion. On this, Gupta elaborates, "We will be doing this very well. The promotion will be done through all the broadcasters like ' Television, radio, newspaper, digital, billboards. In fact, we will also be doing the outdoor campaign in the cities like - Mumabi, Delhi and the other few smaller cities."

The channel has done tie up with - Fun cinemas and Baskin Robbins and will be visible in Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Ahmedabad for both, while with Fun Cinemas it will also be in Bangalore and with Baskin Robbins in Pune. In BTL activities they will be distributing - branded notebooks to college students, bike tagging in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune.

So will the channel be aiming at youngster from metro and mini metros? Gupta answers, "We will be aiming everyone, not specifically from the top metros. The country has a huge youth population, wherein mostly people speak Hindi."

Explaining the differentiating factor of the channel from other player in the youth entertainment space, Gupta sums up saying, "We are very different from any other channel, as all our content is Indian whatever happens or whatever is happening on the channel is Indian, the concept is Indian."