ABRAHAM THOMAS: GETTING KANPUR TO GROOVE WITH RADIO CITY 104.8 FM
Radio City has just kick-started its Phase III journey with the launch of Radio City Kanpur 104.8FM. Abraham Thomas, CEO, Radio City tells us more about it.
ON THE Kanpur launch: Uttar Pradesh (UP) is a heritage market for us and we have been the leaders in Lucknow for the past 15 years. With this launch, we’ve become the strongest player in UP reaching 1.2 crore listeners across the Northern region (AZ Research) with a presence across six cities - Lucknow, Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Varanasi (one Radio City and four Radio Mantra stations). Launch of our sixth station in UP with a strong Jagran group foothold will only amplify our reach and strengthen our leadership position.
ON Advertiser response: Advertisers, both national and local, are investing in radio as a primary medium to advertise because of its localized approach, reach and impact. Advertisers’ response to Radio City has always been overwhelming and with our launch in Kanpur, we only expect it to increase as no other radio network understands and covers UP better than us.
ON Content: The content of the station is designed and customized keeping in mind the ‘Rag Rag Mein Daude City’ ideology with Babbar Sher, Love Guru and music being key drivers that would appeal to all Kanpuriyas.
ON Marketing Plans: We have designed an integrated and a localized 360? marketing campaign across the launch and post-launch phases. The campaign comprises on-air promos, on-ground activation, outdoor hoardings across the city, Print ads and a full-fledged digital campaign across social media platforms.
On the digital medium, we will be going ahead with Facebook Live and Live updates on Twitter. We will also have Webisodes and are using the hashtag #RagRagMeinKanpurCity to create a buzz.
Future Phase III launches: The next launches would be Udaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Bikaner, Jamshedpur and Patiala, Patna, Madurai, Nasik, Kolhapur. All our 11 stations would be launched by early next year.
PIYUSH SHARMA: LIVING FOODZ ENJOYS AN ABSOLUTELY UNASSAILABLE LEADERSHIP POSITION
Living Foodz, the premium food and lifestyle channel, part of the Living entertainment brand of channels owned by Essel Group, completed a year of operations recently. Piyush Sharma, CEO, Zee Living India & APAC talks to us about the year gone by for Living Foodz.
The first year: The journey has been wonderful. Week after week, we’ve had absolutely unassailable leadership position with regard to viewership ratings. In terms of advertiser response, we cater to the largest set of advertisers in the category that we are in, and have been able to entice not only the hygiene food brands but also other brands from the automobile sector, the white goods sector, the telecommunication sector and so on. We also created live franchises such as the Living Foodz Powerlist Awards, which honour influencers and thought leaders.
ON Market-share: We have a nearly 50% market-share. The rest of the category combined has nearly as much market-share as us.
ON Ad rates: We command a rate which is the leadership rate aligned with, and in absolute synergy with, the kind of stature that we enjoy in this space. The rate is almost three to 3.5 times that of our nearest competitors.
ON TARGET OF REACHING Rs 1,000 crore in four years: I wouldn’t put any figures to it, but I would say that we are very close to realizing this dream. The channel will be profitable by the end of the year.
The Target Group: Currently, it is the young urban, Indian male and female audiences with high disposable income and high appetite for consumption. Going forward, we will invest in our distribution and reach and in the overall infrastructure to reach out to more and more consumers across not only the metros but also the non-urban areas.
ON Future Plans: Digital will be a big thing in the coming year and there are several investments in digital. There is a whole new set of programming content mix. We continue to raise the bar with regard to creating more on-ground live franchises.
ON Expansion of the Living brand: We are committed to it. There is a definitive plan to launch other channels, but I wouldn’t be in a position to share as to when that is happening.
