ITV

Tag: Neville Bastawalla

  • Sania Mirza gets set to ‘bond’ on Sony Pix

    Sania Mirza gets set to ‘bond’ on Sony Pix

    MUMBAI:  ‘The name is Bond, James Bond’ is one of Hollywood’s most iconic dialogues, and so has been the Bond franchise. Not surprisingly, it has collected $ 4.1 billion at the box office and still counting. And while the property has been showcased time and again on English movie channels, Sony Pix has taken a step ahead and roped in tennis player Sania Mirza, who launched the franchise as a trainer for the channel’s Pix School of BONDing.

     

    Explaining the initiative to showcase the 50 year old property, Sony Pix and AXN EVP and business head Saurabh Yagnik says that in order to sustain Bond’s relevance the channel wanted to create a disruptive and differentiated viewer proposition. “While Bond is synonymous with gadgets, gizmos and girls, these three are transient and keep changing throughout the movies. But the most consistent part is the evergreen Bond attitude. We, therefore, decided to come up with a campaign that would be able to grab attention,” he adds. The campaign is primarily targeted towards the younger audiences.

     

    The channel deliberated for three months before conceptualising the campaign and roped in Mirza for her iconic personality, her resonance with young audiences and the fact that she is a self confessed die-hard James Bond fan.

     

    It wanted to portray Bond’s attitude and desirability through the eyes of a woman. As a trainer at the Pix School, Mirza will be seen giving tips on how men should woo their way to a woman’s heart. Starting on 22 November, the 23 Bond titles will be shown for the next 12 weeks (three months) every Saturday at 7 pm and 9 pm. The tennis ace will be providing nine to 12 lessons, each of one to two minute duration. These capsules will be showcased during the telecast of the movies.

     

    To promote the campaign, three TV promos have been shot at the Filmistan Studio by an in-house team. These are being promoted on all channels of the MSM network. Short snippets like The 23 Bond Villains of All Time and 23 Best Bond Cars of all Time have also been created. Bond memes are being circulated on WhatsApp. A six-city print campaign has been launched where publications are running contests wherein winners will be able to meet Mirza in person. 

     

    Pix marketing vice president Neville Bastawalla talking about the marketing campaign says, “This is the biggest ever campaign done in the English category. We currently have a 12 per cent engagement rate on social media versus our nearest rival which has a five per cent engagement rate. We, therefore, through digital contests and the live chats wanted to leverage our fans with that of Mirza’s.”

     

    Pix has 47.9k followers on Twitter while Mirza has 2.13 million. On Facebook Mirza’s official page currently has 7,698,051 likes while Pix has 2,155,451.

     

    Micromax has come on board as the presenting sponsor. Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 is the powered by sponsor while the associate sponsors are Quikr, Titan Skinn, 99acres.com, Nutrilite by Amway and Crizal by Essilor.

     

    Yagnik says that with the campaign he expects a jump of 20 to 30 per cent in viewership for the channel, which has seen a growth of 25 per cent in the category for this year, so far.

     

    The 23 Bond films that will be showcased are Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun,The Spy who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, AView To A Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.

  • Sony Pix presents Pix Premiere Nights

    Sony Pix presents Pix Premiere Nights

    Sony PIX, India’s premium Hollywood movie channel is geared up for the biggest amazement yet again! The channel is all set to make you go ‘Wow’ with an exciting proposition for its viewers on February 13 – PIX PREMIERE NIGHTS with the latest movie –‘ROBOCOP’
     

    PIX PREMIERE NIGHTS, is a unique proposition for the viewers to exclusively watch the premiere of the latest Hollywood movies before its theatrical release in India. Sony PIX will present this exclusive opportunity to its viewers to experience the thrill of a Hollywood blockbuster movie a day before its release in Indian theatres. The lucky few who win this contest stand a chance to win couple invites to the exclusive premiere of the summer blockbuster movie ROBOCOP.

     

    Commenting on this initiative, Neville Bastawalla – Marketing Head, Sony PIX says, “As part of our brand promise ‘Stay Amazed’, we push ourselves to being true to this promise. PIX Premiere Nights is one such brand deliverable that delivers this promise and will be a key tent pole on the channel. PIX PREMIER NIGHTS GIVES VIEWERS A CHANCE TO WATCH MEGA BLOCKBUSTERS month on month before India does in theaters, a day before the release. This also addresses strong viewer needs, giving our viewers badge value and flaunt value amongst their peers. It’s actually like secret screening of movies for select elite before the masses can see the movie. Also the scale across 6 cities is truly one of a kind by any English movie channel in India.

     
    From January 24th, a TAB on Sony PIX Facebook page gave the fans a chance to enter the contest and win tickets to watch the action – packed movie on February 13th, a day before anyone in India does. Viewers can also enter the contest by giving a missed call on 1800 3000 1140. 1200 tickets will be up for grabs as the contest will be run in 6 cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad).

     

    PIX Premier Nights is presented by Fair and Lovely Max Fairness.  

     

    Get ready for the biggest amazement with PIX PREMIERE NIGHTS and watch ROBOCOP before anyone in India does only with SONY PIX

  • Stay Amazed with the New Sony Pix

    Stay Amazed with the New Sony Pix

    MUMBAI: Brand Sony is getting a makeover. Days after Sony Entertainment Television Network announced its fresh new look, Sony Pix is following suit, starting with a repositioning from ‘Hollywood is here’ to ‘Stay Amazed’.

    The new brand identity will be unveiled along with the world television premiere of Skyfall on 27 October at 1:00 pm and 9:00 pm on the channel.

    As opposed to the earlier tagline ‘Hollywood is here’, ‘Stay Amazed’ defines what it is about Hollywood that people like, breaking the clutter and making the channel stand out from the crowd. Significantly, it’s a brand promise that viewers of the rebooted Sony Pix will never have a dull moment, whether they’re watching it on television, social media or on-ground.

    Says Sony Pix executive VP and business head Saurabh Yagnik: “The whole idea is to break the clutter and give the audience what they truly want to see and experience. The revamped look propagates the brand philosophy of being fresh, innovative and progressive. Our content and branding will establish Sony Pix as the most exciting, fun and entertaining English movie channel.”

    The repositioning has been a gruelling exercise with Team Sony Pix burning some serious midnight oil to brainstorm and understand what Indian audiences really want from in particular English movie channels and in general Hollywood. The channel has rifled through pitches from some 24 companies across five continents before zeroing on Argentina-based Medialuna (MDL) for designing the new look.

    The channel rifled through pitches from some 24 companies across five continents before zeroing on Argentina-based Medialuna (MDL) for designing the new look

    And the result is for all to see – an all new packaging in eye-catching ‘neon green’, which is part of Sony Pix’s revamped strategy to stay-in-sync with an increasing number of young viewers. What’s more, synergies have been worked out between the upcoming instalment of the Krrish franchise and Sony’s rebranding campaign.

    “The whole revamped look took nearly six months to execute, and we narrowed down on Medialuna after taking a close look at their body of work. We are really glad with the final outcome,” exults Yagnik.

    Coming to the Skyfall premiere, a 360-degree promotional campaign is on the anvil, which promises to engage viewers like never before. The channel is gearing up for the ‘Biggest secret mission ever’ on Facebook – designed to give viewers a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a trip to the ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition in London. (Bond in Motion is the largest official collection of original James Bond vehicles over the past 50 years).

    Says Sony Pix vice president – marketing Neville Bastawalla: “This is something that is really going to get our viewers engaged and get more involved with the channel. The mission will be played over three phases: one to crack a maze of obstacles using clues, second being a first of its kind game where your mobile phone becomes a remote to chase clues, and the third being simply type in the codes that are flashed on the screen during the premiere to win a chance to visit the ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition in London.”

    While the in-house team has designed, conceptualised and executed the on-air promos, the outdoor Skyfall campaign, to be carried out in Mumbai and Delhi, will be handled by Leo Burnett India. Tonic Media will look after the digital front. Approximately 80-85 per cent of the marketing budget has been kept aside exclusively for the repositioning, and the channel is confident of a great response from the trade and audiences alike.

    Snapdeal.com is the presenting sponsor for the Skyfall campaign while Dell and Engage Deos are the powered by sponsors. Other sponsors include Toyota, Lombard suiting, Whirlpool, We Chat and many more.

     

    The new look will unravel along with the premiere of ‘Skyfall’ on 27 October

    In charge of the digital component of the entire rebranding exercise is Tonic Media. With nearly 33,300 followers on Twitter and a little over 3,275 likes on Facebook at the time of penning this article, Sony Pix is looking to intensify its engagement with viewers on social media.

    On the cards is an interactive initiative with NottyPixy, who is touted as this Hollywood insider, who works hard and parties harder, is quirky, has loads of attitude and resonates with the youth. The #NottyPixy hashtag has been launched to promote the Notty Pixy character, with Notty Pixy taking over the @SonyPix handle every Thursday. Further, Notty Pixy will get onto the channel from end-November, every Friday, at 7:00 pm, to run a movie of her choice and interact with viewers through social media as well as on-air with ‘Wow trivia with a Notty Pixy twist’.

    While the repositioning is aimed at taking the channel to greater heights, even presently, Sony Pix appears to be in a good space.

    Movies-wise, the channel has nearly 250 – 300 active film titles, which include the Rocky series, Spider Man franchise, Mission Impossible series, Terminator franchise, animation films like Madagascar, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda plus a recent acquisition – the complete Bond franchise along with the latest flick, Skyfall.
    Pix also boasts some big-ticket releases of 2013 including: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Captain Phillips, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Hotel Transylvania, Smurfs 2, White House Down, Django Unchained, Grown Ups 2 and After Earth among others. Moreover, the channel is associated with five of Hollywood’s leading studios such as Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, MGM and Universal.

    So does Pix plan to restructure its FPC (Fixed Point Chart) with the implementation of the 10+2 ad cap rule? “Firstly, I really don’t believe that the ruling will make a very big difference to English movie channels, but if it does get implemented, then we are ready for it as we at Pix believe we can deliver engaging content to keep our viewers hooked on,” replies Yagnik.

    A 360 degree campaign will be carried out for the repositioning

    Currently airing (14+2) 16 minutes of advertisements per hour of programming and second only to Star Movies in the English movie channel space, Pix has seen a 35 per cent growth in terms of its reach pre-DAS and post-DAS, and a 36 per cent growth in terms of TSV (Time Spent per Viewer), so while the channel is well placed, it is also making all the right noises to pip competitors at the post.