Exclusive | Flying with Jet Set Go: Disney's Vijay Subramaniam

Disney channel that has gained immense popularity for its ability to provide wholesome family entertainment has once again managed to win a million hearts. In a bid to get closer to their young viewers and build an engagement platform, Disney has launched many initiatives. Jet Set Go is one such unique initiative from Disney’s latest bouquet.

 

“Jet Set Go” is a one of its kind initiative wherein Disney gave 33 lucky kids and their families across India the opportunity to win an all expenses paid trip to Hong Kong, Disneyland. Interestingly, the contest generated a record breaking 6 million entries and the winners were spread all across the country including states like Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and metros like Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

 

Talking about the campaign, Vijay Subramaniam, Business Head, Walt Disney Television International India said, “Disney Channel in association with Jet Airways is taking a plane full of families to the ‘happiest place on earth’ - Disneyland! The fact is anybody can buy a ticket and go to Hongkong and visit Disneyland, but what is truly unique in this case is we are bringing 33 families together who will witness the magical experience of Disney at the same time.”

 

As a part of the Jet Set Go celebrations, Disney will wrap a Jet Airways aircraft in Disney’s favourite characters Mickey and friends, which will be unveiled on the 9th of July in a special ceremony in Mumbai. The colorful plane adorning Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald will take to Indian skies on 9th July at a special unveiling ceremony, post which ; the families would embark on their trip to Disneyland. This has been done as a commemoration of the partnership and the flagoff of the Jet Set Go campaign.

 

Commenting on the success of the campaign, Vijay Subramaniam said, “Six million entries in a short span of 30 days is unprecedented. It just validates the power of the Disney brand in the country and the relationship that we have with our consumers who have over time become really strong fans of the Disney brand.”

 

Vijay believes that the results have been path-breaking and enabled them to set even higher standards for themselves in their future initiatives. Elaborating on the thought process which resulted in the campaign, Vijay said, “Disney has always provided rich experiences to both kids and families, which have in turn resulted in very fond memories. We wanted to deliver something that was truly unique, never been done before, and which would resonate very strongly with all the Disney values and qualities that our consumers have come to expect from us and therefore Jet Set Go.”

 

Vijay says that the approach that has driven the success of the campaign is to be locally relevant to consumers, to tell the stories in the best way possible, create very strong magical experiences and marketing engagements for consumers and all these aspects have resulted in people wanting to build memories with Disney.

 

Talking about the execution of the campaign he said, “The campaign was run exclusively on the Disney Kids Network. It was led by Disney channel and supported by Disney XD and Hungama in terms of promotion. We did not use any external means of promotion for the campaign. The contest mechanic was exclusively on the Disney channel and that has driven six million responses. This has been a pure straight forward on-air initiative led by the No 1 kids’ entertainment channel in the country which is Disney.”

 

The campaign has garnered huge success in the IPL season which is a competitive one. Talking about this, Vijay said, “Summer is the most important period of entertainment for kids. We took that thought forward and put the kid at the heart of the biggest engagement that we created and gave the child the opportunity to win his/her family a memorable experience. Seasonality aside and the competitive environment aside, it is really the power of a magical idea that drives the results.” 

 

“Our ability to reach across homes that are far and varied has been demonstrated by the success of Jet Set Go, considering that some of the winners are from places like Chandrapur and Ratnagiri. This only signifies the phenomenal reach that the Disney Kids Network has,” exclaims Vijay.

 

On their tie- up with Jet Airways, he said that the heart of all of Disney’s successes has been collaboration. Elaborating further, he explained, “We were looking for an airline partner who would not only fulfill the logistics at a base level but would also reflect the core values and ideals that form an integral part of Disney. Jet Airways has always catered to the family as a unit. Their level of service towards families that are travelling is very similar to the values that we carry. And thus we found a perfect partner in Jet Airways who has done a range of interesting activities with Jet Kids, their special programme for kids. It has been an extremely fruitful partnership and we hope to explore it even further.”

 

Vijay believes that there is a need for the kids genre today to drive family inclusion. He also explains how Disney has successfully catered to this objective. “We started two seasons ago with our original production Ishaan. Now we have The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir. These are all shows that are driving wholesome family viewing. The kid is at the centre of that universe but at the same time there is a need for families to come together and enjoy wholesome entertainment content in a locally relevant manner. Within the kids genre, there lies a huge opportunity to explore the pre-school age group. There is high quality entertaining content currently available on the Disney Junior block on Disney channel pertaining to this category.”

 

 Providing wholesome family entertainment, providing content that is family exclusive and has life skills for early schoolers and above all providing valuable content are the three critical aspects that the kids genre needs to works upon states Vijay adding that Disney has clearly delivered on all these frontiers.

 

Talking about the evolution of Disney as a brand, he said, “From being a widely crafted global brand to becoming a brand that most parents trust and kids enjoy in the country, the journey has been amazing. We have been a brand that resonates with Indian families and Indian consumers everywhere. ”

 

Pointing out some of the highlights of Disney’s journey, Vijay said, “There have been many highpoints, right from the launch when we had Mickey and the Fab 5 visit India for the very first time to as recent as Mickey at Vankhede stadium as a part of the Mumbai Indians and Mickey tie-up to Jet Set Go. All of them have been equally memorable for the team at Walt Disney and most importantly for our consumers.”

 

On a final note, Vijay says that building on the momentum of rich and memorable viewing experiences that Disney has managed to create in the Indian landscape, it will continue to provide rich and fulfilling experiences to consumers. | By Aditi Popat [aditi(at)adgully.com]