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  • #hoyejak: We used all SVF properties to promote Hoichoi, says Vishnu Mohta

    #hoyejak: We used all SVF properties to promote Hoichoi, says Vishnu Mohta

    Imagine, what will pop up in your mind when you hear ‘Let’s do it’ or ‘Ho jaye’, something naughty or kinky? But, these are words regularly used by Bongs in their day-to-day lives.  Hoichoi however made it into a happening and impactful campaign.

    The recently-launched OTT platform Hoichoi buzzed with a creative campaign called #hoyejak. Designed by Rediffusion Y&R, it created a hype across social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

    Hoichoi was launched on 20 September by Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), an Indian media and entertainment company headquartered in Kolkata. #hoyejak by Hoichoi, an ad-free platform with a collection of seven original web series till date and three more to launch by the end of October, was preceded by some funny one-liners which created a lot of curiosity amongst the Bengalis during Durga Puja.

    The faces of the campaign were none other than the Hoichoi and SVF team members themselves. #hoyejak hoardings dotted the skylines of Kolkata and were strategically placed at various locations to grab maximum eyeballs. Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta, interacting with Indiantelevision.com‘s Kirti Chauhan, said, “Hoichoi means happening of positive activities around you. Excerpts from an interview where Mohta shared insights about campaign:

    Tell us about your marketing strategy to promote Hoichoi?

    In the first six months, it is all about creating brand awareness. We are not looking to the brands and advertisers in the initial phase because we are offering Hoichoi in an advertising-free form to provide uninterrupted viewing. So, we have used all our considerable SVF properties across cinemas and screens, digital and social properties to promote hoichoi.

    We believe advertising must be disruptive and highly engaging, just like the original content on Hoichoi. We launched an innovative #hoyejak teaser campaign to promote Hoichoi. It was an outdoor campaign and became the most talked about campaign of the city this Durga Puja. We had Hoichoi hoardings across the high-traffic parts of the Kolkata skyline, and those drew a lot of attention and generated conversations across mediums.

    What does ‘hoyejak’ mean and how was the response to the campaign?

    See, both, Hoichoi and Hoyejak are two very common, everyday terms used by Bengalis in their day to day conversations, and obviously were chosen because they establish an automatic connect. #hoyejak translates to “let’s do it” in English, and “ho jaye!” in Hindi. Not only the words, but also the faces we used were really pleasant, everyday faces to reflect the average Bengali on the streets of Kolkata. In fact, we used Hoichoi and SVF team members themselves in the campaign, and together, the creatives and the entire approach sustained the buzz and brought a smile to the faces of the public.

    Tell us about the timing of Hoichoi launch, and the campaign rollout

    Well, some very funny one-liners preceded the #hoyejak campaign, which created curiosity amongst Bengalis. Designed by Rediffusion Y&R, we had strategically decided to launch Hoichoi in the Durga Puja festive season, because it is obviously the best time of year to roll out anything for Bengalis, not just in India, but worldwide.  The Puja holidays not only see Bengalis turn out in their festive best with their families, but also see most Bengalis travelling back from outside Bengal to their homes or loved ones in Kolkata and across the entire state.

    Our choice of OOH locations which included the airport and Howrah station along with other high-traffic areas, gave our campaign in Kolkata a very high OTS and helped it make a big impact. It also had a lot to do with the creative content of course – not only were the ‘tease and reveal’ creatives very entertaining, but the fact that nine out of 14 creatives talked about Durga Puja, helped the campaign receive great word of mouth publicity.

    How many locations did you cover across Kolkata?

    Many. Right off, I can recall Howrah Station, Ultadanga, Science City, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Rashbehari Metro, Harish Mukherjee Road, Ruby crossing, Gariahat Flyover, Garia, B. T. Road, AJC Bose Road, Gurusaday Road and the airport.

    How much did you invest for the promotions?

    I regret I would be unable to share the cost, but suffice to say that it was an extensive campaign that was put up across numerous prime OOH spots in Kolkata, and we did not hold back on it in any way.

    How was it received by the viewers?

    Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were buzzing. On the day of the Hoichoi launch event (20 September), #hoichoi trended pan-India at the no.1 position, with #hoyejak at no. 2. Prominent Tollywood stars took to social media to congratulate SVF on the grand launch of hoichoi. Both our hashtags, #hoyejak and #hoichoi,  together generated over 3000 conversations and 47.9 million impressions, reaching approximately 6.8 million people within four hours of the launch.

    Here are the video links:

    ALSO READ :

    Hoichoi launches ‘Paranoia’ thriller series

    Niche regional OTT player Hoichoi offers Bengali content on iOS, Android and Chromecast

    Hoichoi original adult-comedy Dupur Thakurpo campaign launched

  • Hoichoi launches ‘Paranoia’ thriller series

    Hoichoi launches ‘Paranoia’ thriller series

    MUMBAI: Paranoia, a compilation of short-format thrillers, is now live on Hoichoi, a digital Bengali entertainment content platform. At present, six original web series and shorts: – Hello, Cartoon, Dupur Thakurpo, Holy Faak, Lift and Shoshibhushon are streaming on Hoichoi.

    Paranoia is a collection of different short stories under Hoichoi Originals that deals with various psychological disorders and treats them accordingly.

    Hoichoi, recently launched by SVF, an entertainment company, has a large collection of content in Bengali, including 500 plus movies, 10 original web series and shorts. 1000+ songs to be added soon in the app.

    Even though each story in the series has a different tale to tell, Paranoia remains the connecting theme. Currently, two stories, Lift and Shoshibhushon, are live on Hoichoi in the Paranoia series.

    Lift: Lift is about a renowned journalist called Nandita, who has recently moved to her new apartment on the 25th floor of a city high-rise. Newly built and almost unoccupied, Nandita feels uneasy about staying there. Wracked by paranoia, Nandita feels unsafe, with the liftman Kartik staring at her, his gaze unblinking, every time she uses the Lift.

    Her dislike of him intensifies when the elevator gets stuck one night between two floors and the light goes out with Nandita and Kartik inside.

    Will Nandita’s paranoia about Kartik be justified?

    The second story Shoshibhushon revolves around a disciplined man Shoshi Babu. His life falls apart one day when everything goes out of control for him and things do not work according to his plan. Renowned director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee has donned the hat of an actor here playing the protagonist.

  • Niche regional OTT player Hoichoi offers Bengali content on iOS, Android and Chromecast

    Niche regional OTT player Hoichoi offers Bengali content on iOS, Android and Chromecast

    MUMBAI: As predicted by most observers, regionalisation as well as niche services are coming to the VOD or OTT ecosystem in India. It’s happening at a trickle now, but could gain momentum over the next few months. For with its large population of more than a billion mobile users, there is room for more — for sure. Kolkata-based Bengali entertainment major Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), is the latest to take the plunge with its OTT play called Hoichoi.

    Vishnu Mohta – one of the promoters – who has worked with KPMG Risk Advisory and Lloyds TSB corporate strategy in their London offices, is the driving force behind the new platform which is targeting 220 million Bengalis globally. With original web-series, short films, and documentaries exclusively for Hoichoi in the pipeline, the service will also offer over 500 Bengali Movies and 1000 songs for subscribers. Recently, in the run-up to the Hoichoi launch, SVF had rolled out an innovative social media campaign to promote its upcoming original web series, an adult-comedy, Dupur Thakurpo.

    Among the big players in the game figure global players such as Amazon Prime and Netflix, and homegrown startups such as Hotstar, dittoTV, Voot, ALT Balaji and SonyLiv, as well as independent platforms such as TVF Play and Spuul. The congested Indian OTT market has around 32 plus players – some with an overwhelming or exclusive content, some with niche content or pricing plans and others who want to be counted.

    SVF, on its part, had selected ViewLift, a global content distribution and monetisation platform, as its technology partner. The VOD service claims to provide the largest collection of the best in Bengali entertainment content on Web, iOS, Android, and Chromecast. ViewLift CTO Manik Bambha states, “Hoichoi is well positioned to capture significant opportunities in the space with a niche offering meant for Bengali consumers. Hoichoi will benefit from our extensive marketing, data and analytics tools that will help them enhance interaction with their audience.”

    “ViewLift is an expert in the OTT space,” says Vishn, who has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bond University Australia and MSc in International Business from Aston University Birmingham, UK. With enhanced service architecture, extensive data and analytics insights, and global client support, ViewLift delivers high quality video consumption experiences worldwide.

    SVF is helmed by Shrikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni and Vishnu. Shrikant is SVF’s creative muscle who produced the internationally acclaimed ‘Chokher Bali’ and five other national award-winning films — ‘Raincoat’, ‘Memories in March’, ‘Apur Panchali’, ‘Chotoder Chobi’, and ‘Chander Pahar’. President of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA), and an active member of Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), he initiated the shooting of Bengali films abroad.

    Under Soni’s leadership, SVF distributed almost 900 films including blockbusters like ‘Dangal’, ‘Sultan’, ‘Dabangg’, ‘Ghajini’, ‘’Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, ‘Kahaani 2’, ‘The Jungle Book’, ‘Kapoor & Sons’, ‘Neerja’, ‘Airlift’ and Drishyam.’ He also drives satellite and music syndication deals, along with film acquisitions.

    Mohta and Soni are pretty gung-ho about Hoichoi. The Indian consumer who has access to OTT entertainment — with internet penetration around 32-34 per cent today, and one-third owning smartphones — may well be spoilt for choice, now.

  • Hoichoi original adult-comedy Dupur Thakurpo campaign launched

    Hoichoi original adult-comedy Dupur Thakurpo campaign launched

    MUMBAI: In the run-up to Hoichoi’s launch, SVF has rolled out an innovative social media campaign to promote its upcoming original web series, an adult-comedy, Dupur Thakurpo.

    The campaign, which highlights the personalities of some major characters from the much anticipated show, has just gone live on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It asks users to choose one of the several interesting Thakurpos (Devars or brothers-in-law) that would be most deserving of the newly arrived Uma Boudi’s affection (‘Boudi’ is the Bengali name for sister-in-law).

    Not only will the campaign tickle the funny bones of Bengalis, it will also create intrigue and anticipation for each and every Thakurpo in the Hoichoi Original web series.

    There are the six Thakurpos seeking Uma Boudi’s attention:

    1.     CD – Chitrobhanu Dutta, who wants to be Quentin Tarantino, the popular American Director, but has only 2 or 3 B-grade music videos to show as accomplishments.

    2.     Choco – Kajol Chakraborty is a physiotherapist who utilises his profession to fulfil his dark fantasies.

    3.     Kinky – Kinkar Sanyal has a secret import business of women’s undergarments. His favourite pastime is fantasizing about women in lingerie.  

    4.     Shomes – Aniruddha Shome thinks of himself as every Bengali’s Byomkesh Bakshi and every Englishman’s Sherlock Holmes, and thus has an investigative eye towards everything (basically, he is suspicious all the time!)

    5.     Phantom – Ashrafi is a cricketer from Bihar, who orders lassi in a pub.

    6.     MTV – Moral Tanu Bhaduri is an ambitious singer who unfortunately gets no producer.

    Director Debaloy Bhattacharya says, “The word ‘Dupur Thakurpo’ has always been there in our culture…a forbidden word, it has never been explored. Now, we are indulging in the stories and characters that show how the Boudi and Thakurpo relation can be so vibrant. The Arabs had their nights and the Bengalis their ‘dupur’.

    Dupur Thakurpo revolves around Indralok, a house situated in North Kolkata which is infused with new life as Jibon babu brings home a beautiful, young and vivacious bride, Uma. However, he is blissfully oblivious of the trouble likely to brew when a love-smitten Jibon babu agrees to let out three rooms to six young men on Uma’s insistence. Some not-so-appropriate things start happening. Five of them are completely enamored by Uma Boudi’s charms, ready to lay down their lives for a smile or a glance from her, while she plays around with them like a fiddle.

    Amidst this sexual tension and cuckoldry, Indralok is full of life, adventure, fun, frolic and fantasy.

    This series is one of the several entertaining and unique original web series being created with the best concepts, cast and crew of Bengali entertainment, exclusively for Hoichoi. It will be available on the App and Website.

    Dupur Thakurpo stars Swastika Mukherjee as Uma Boudi, Abhijit Guha as Jibon Babu, Anindya Chatterjee as CD, Indrajit Mazumder as Choco, Soumendra Bhattacharya as MTV, Kartikeya Tripathi as Shomes, Apratim Chatterjee as Kinky and Taufeeq Ahmed as Phantom.