Sony MAX will complete 20 years of existence in October this year and they have kicked off their celebration with the campaign, Yeh Hai Desh Ki Deewangi which is already on air.
Sony Max is not only known for Bollywood films but also a lot of cricketing action starting from the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Champions trophy way back in 2003 and the IPL which was on the channel for 10 long years from 2008.
The channel claims to be the unbeaten leader in the genre for a straight 148 weeks, across the HSMs in the country.
On the brand’s journey, Vaishali Sharma, Head, Marketing & Communications, Sony SAB, PAL and Sony MAX movie cluster told us, “It is very rare that you find a brand that’s been consistently growing in the last 20 years, we may have had a few dips here are there, but the journey has always looked very forward oriented.In one sense, the spirit of the brand is really pioneering.”
“The 2 Ps that I’d like the brand to be associated with would be passionate and pioneering. We have done many firsts for so many years, and really kind of set the stage. So whether it was about putting events with movies with events such as cricket as early as 2003 with the ICC Cricket World Cup or the Champions Trophy or getting women to host cricket shows or create Extraa Innings or for that matter even the IPL when it launched in 2008. Creating that extra shotstrivia which we did with every movie premiere, we have always been taking the lead and been doing things differently.”
“The journey has been very robust, filled with many firsts, many forward looking trends and from a pioneering perspective, and it’s been fantastic. Last three years we have been number One for 148 weeks, which is not something that many brands get to enjoy.”
On the dissection of markets and any slicing and dicing of the leadership numbers, Sharma said, “In the Hindi Speaking Markets we’ve captured pretty much most of the market. We are number one in the 70% of the HSMs. In markets of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi, whether you talk about you know,sort of the other regions like Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan so pretty much have even number one everywhere correct. “
On the ratio of viewership from urban VS rural Sharma said, “We do get viewership out of rural areas but we monitor and we look at urban data because we are a pay TV channel.”
Speaking on the celebration plans Sharma said, “I think what is really special is our celebration party campaign and it goes on till October. The kind of engagement activities we are doing are creating 20 special logos to commemorate this occasion from 20 different iconic films that run on the channel.These logos are on the channel, and across digital. We will see them on digital release every day with one trivia or you have hunt for Deewanas or the 20 Year Deewangi challenge so many activities are being planned as we go along to engage with audiences.”
About the campaign, Sharma said, “What do you do when the brand has been a success for 20 years, and which has been in its pinnacle of success in the last year. We were not changing the positioning we were only strengthening it. So I think we were very clear that we needed to celebrate our success and the journey of 20 years. And I think the second aspect was, how do we celebrate the relationship with viewers? Because that was important and how do we kind of bring the 20 years to life? And what better way to bring these 20 years to life would be, but to sort of personify the brand, and personify the brand through a protagonist to represent not just the brand, but the viewers as well.”
On whether the OTT explosion is a challenge for movie channels, Sharma said, “I can’t feel the pinch of OTT encroaching in our space. And if that happens, it will be another day and another story I’ll be telling. But as I don’t think that OTT is encroaching the TV space.OTT is a very individualistic way of watching while TV is a family viewing habit. Each household has one TV and entire families sit together to watch movies. From a futuristic perspective? A couple of years down the line? I don’t know, of course, OTT will grow. But I still believe that there will be a place for Television and it’s not going away so easily.”
On NTO impact, “The journey has been a good one. There were a few hiccups when everybody went off, but we are picking up because like I said,given the fact that we have been number one and consumer lingo about us is not the number one but ‘yahan par sabseachiaurnayipictureinaatihai’.This entire NTO is going to keep unfolding and settling down. So as of now our pick up has been good and we are absolutely fine with where we are.”
