Zee Cafe's marketing blitz for House of Cards

The American political drama “House of Cards” premiered on Indian television on 20th, February, at 11.00 pm exclusively on Zee Café. The most anticipated show stars Academy award winner Kevin Spacey as the protagonist along with Golden Globe winner Robin Wright. Helmed by noted American playwright and screenwriter, Beau Willimon, the show also has onboard David Fincher of “Fight Club” and “The Social Network” fame as one of the executive producers.

Anurag Bedi, Executive VP and Business Head, Zee Café commenting on the Indian television premiere of the show said, “House Of Cards is a ground breaking show and there is a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding it. A strong marketing plan gives the required push to create awareness about its launch on the channel. The 

content has a universal appeal and the viewers here are definitely going to enjoy watching the show.”

Zee Café taking an aggressive turn to market the most awaited show of 2014 put in place an innovative digital marketing campaign to generate buzz across all social media platforms. An exclusive website which has been created for House of Cards India (www.houseofcards.in) went live on 3rd February 2014 and has already received 70,000+ hits.

This site enables visitors can get exclusive snippets, download original wallpapers, engage in personality tests and read and share articles from the HOC website. In another innovative approach, episodes will be available on the website for online viewing, post the original airing on the channel. 

In an effort to reach out to a relevant audience, Zee Café has leveraged social media in a creative manner which also includes a combination of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter ads along with banners across partner portals. Daily buzz is created with smart and sharable content on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Use of hashtags as a conversation driver, weekly articles on the website and interactive posts on Facebook has received an overwhelming response from the audience with as much as 50,000+ views on just the articles (https://houseofcards.in/read.php). In many of their firsts Zee Café has also placed ads on the professional networking platform LinkedIn, thus making it the first Indian TV channel to target marketers and media planners via Linkedin.

The channel’s Facebook page with over 1.1 million fans and its Twitter page having 53.6K followers have been creating buzz since the beginning of February. Links and videos from the website have been shared with engaging snippets from the show. A contest on Twitter required users to give witty answers.
Zee Café’s exhaustive digital campaign also involves the channel’s tie up with Comic Con Delhi  where besides the branding at the venue, the attendees were given an exclusive sneak preview of the show followed an interactive session post the screening. The channel also sponsored Unmaad, the annual fest of IIM Bangalore where the attendees were exposed to the show’s promos, branding and interactive sessions.

The channel tied up with Bright Outdoor media for an outdoor campaign in Mumbai. The promos of the show are currently running across Multiplex chains (INOX and Fun Cinemas) in the Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Zee Café also partnered with Cocoberry to launch an exclusive House of Cards yogurt flavour; “Devious Delights” and has taken branding across the Cocoberry stores in Mumbai and Delhi. Their tie-up with Radio Cabs sees around 200 cabs branded with House of Cards doing the rounds in Mumbai and Delhi. Zee Café has also partnered with Airtel DTH for promotions.

A blend of offline and online promotions set the stage for the TV premiere of House Of Cards. Zee Café created a connect with students and working professionals and moreover content created is not only interesting and shareable, but also has relevance to the political drama series. It spreads the message for the show’s audience that other than being a source of entertainment it will help them enhance their political moves in life.

With their unique and innovative marketing promotions for House Of Cards it is evident that this has undoubtedly been one of Zee Café’s most impressive campaign.