Mumbai: Life OK’s new show ‘Har Mard Ka Dard’ has underwent a 360 degree marketing and promotional initiatives to give a ray of hope to men, as it gives a break from the regular saas-bahu serials. The channel has left no stone unturned in reaching out to their male audiences. Life OK has innovatively activated radio networks, print media, on ground activations and social media to promote the show.
Starring Faisal Rashid (Vinod Khanna) and Jhinal Belani (Sonu) in lead roles the sitcom is produced by Tony and Deeya Singh of DJ’s Creative Unit. Directed by Parmeet Sethi, the show premiered on 14th February and being aired on every Monday to Friday at 8:00pm.
Fullest use of TV:
TV as a medium was utilized to the fullest to promote the show. Three very distinct promos were used. The first promo is set across 3 decades citing instances of a typical husband-wife nok-jhok. The second promo showcases the various meaning in woman’s dictionary of the sentence ‘Ok fine go’ and the third promo gives a glimpse of Vinod going to a temple and pleading to a goddess with his prayers being answered. The promos were an instant hit amongst the male audiences as it was a very honest and relatable communication.
Exclusive Partnership with Red FM:
For the first time in the history of Indian radio, Life OK and Red FM got 50 male RJs from across cities to talk about Har Mard Ka Dard. Unlike every year where the radio channel celebrates Valentine’s Day with its ardent listeners, Red FM this year gave love a skip and dedicated the V’day to men to share their ‘Man’ Ki Baat’. The RJs spoke their heart out about personal experiences of understanding women. They were seeking Vinod Khanna, the protagonist’s help in decoding women. The RJs efforts in promoting the activity and the feedbac have been phenomenal. An interesting video with RJ Malishka, RJ Rishi Kapoor and RJ Nasar has been created and is doing its rounds across social media platforms. The video gives an insight into how women think and how men react to what they have to say.
Dard-E-Rap video – Tribute to all men:
Taking the marketing innovations a notch higher, Life OK launched a rap song titled Dard-E-Rap video which is a tribute to all men on the occasion of Valentine’s Day. The song gives an insight into various ways in which men struggle tounderstand women. The video provides a humorous take on how a woman’s mind works. Every man was able to connect and nod in agreement to the video. The lyrics of the rap narrated Vinod Khanna’s life with the words, ‘No means no, yes means no and maybe kamatlab is also no’. Vinod raps on the fact that ‘there are 99 shades for the wordfine, whereas ok has 100 different meanings’. For the first time ever the focus of Valentine’s Day towards men and their plight in relationships.
https://youtu.be/wBHc8W2le7Y
Connect with men in Barber shops:
With Life OK tilting towards male audiences, the channel was on the look out to promote the show at touch points that are conversation starters for men, where men connect. A research carried out by the channel came out with the inference that Barber shops is one of the places where men spend their time. Taking this outcome forward, the channel has put up stickers on the mirrors across barber shops in Delhi, Gujarat and Punjab with a tagline that reads ‘Bina blade ke shave karnamumkinhain, par Aurtonkosamajhnamushkil hi nahinnamumkinhai’ and ‘Sarkesaarebaalginanamumkinhai, par Aurtonkosamajhnamushkil hi nahinnamumkinhai’. The whole idea of having stickers on the mirror is to catch the men’s attention and draw them to a conversation with other men on the concept of the show.
Life size book launch with author Chetan Bhagat:
To top it all Chetan Bhagat who has interviewed over 100 women as a research for his book ‘One Indian girl’ which he wrote from a women’s perspective was roped in to launch a life size book with lead protagonist Faisal Rashid titled ‘A Guide to Understanding Women’. Chetan Bhagat, was the first man to write on the book followed by Faisal Rashid. While men were documenting their experiences of failing to understanding women, their counterparts are also encouraged to come forth and share their views on what men must do in order to understand them better. The 4ft book travelled across the lengths and breadths of the country to reach as many people as possible.
With such innovative marketing initiatives, the show has set a new standard of pre launch promotion standards to grab the right eyeballs and it is likely to help the channel in making a new benchmark for all the upcoming shows on Life OK and other Hindi GECs.
