Uttam Pal Singh, Head of Discovery Kids talks about Discovery Kids’ new animation series, Little Singham. Madhu S Dutta, Head Marketing, Raymond talks about the brand’s first campaign for its Khadi collection
DISCOVERY KIDS HAS ACHIEVED ALMOST 200% GROWTH IN RATINGS SINCE FEBRUARY 2018: UTTAM PAL SINGH
Discovery Kids, in collaboration with Rohit Shetty Picturez and Reliance Animation, a Reliance Entertainment company, will soon be launching a new animation series, Little Singham. The show will consist of 156 episodic series with five tele features, to be aired in three languages - Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Dabur Red Paste has come on-board as the title sponsor. Uttam Pal Singh, Head of Discovery Kids tells us more…
ON THE NETWORK, DISCOVERY KIDS: Discovery Kids was recently re-branded with new positioning and content, with a focus on entertainment and an aim to be a little more competitive. In February, we launched ‘Bandbudh aur Budbak’ which gave a substantial boost to our ratings, to the tune of almost 200% in the last two months. The kid’s genre in India has been largely devoid of ground-up super heroes. Little Singham is a very bold attempt to fill this gap. We have worked with a world-class animation partner - Reliance Animation, to produce this exciting series which is rooted in action, adventure and comedy, to attract kids across the country.
ON THE ASSOCIATION WITH RELIANCE ANIMATION: Reliance Animation and Discovery Kids are co- producers; which means we are copartners for everything including content, merchandising, gaming, as well as digital.
ON ENTERING THE OTT SPACE: Discovery Kids is also planning to launch an OTT platform to bring about a stronger presence for the channel. We are planning to launch an OTT app for Discovery Kids, which will have a lot of content, along with ‘Little Singham’ which will also be available on the app. We have partnered with Netflix for the digital distribution of the series.
ON THE TIE-UP WITH INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CHILD WELFARE NATIONAL BRAVERY AWARDS (ICCW NBA): Discovery India has tiedup with the Indian Council for Child Welfare National Bravery Awards to inspire young children across the country. As a part of this tie-up, Discovery Kids will run a special Little Singham episode based on the reallife stories of ICCW National Bravery Award (ICCW NBA) winners.
(As told to Sonam Saini)
WE WANT TO MAKE KHADI RELEVANT: MADHU S DUTTA
Raymond has launched its first TVC for its Khadi collection entitled ‘The Story Re-spun’. Madhu S Dutta, Head Marketing, Raymond talks about their Khadi story and how they plan to take the campaign ahead…
ON MAKING KHADI RELEVANT: Khadi is an integral part of our lives, bringing in a sense of pride and happiness. While the fabric has a lot of potential, there are also a lot of preconceived notions about it; that only a particular group of people wear khadi, or it can only be used to make traditional clothing like kurtas or bundis. With this campaign, we wanted to bring about a certain relevance to the fabric. We know khadi is a part of our culture, our history and it’s very Indian and traditional. But we wanted to bring in a fashion element and broaden the way in which it can be used. And khadi is all about spinning, which is why we call the film ‘The Story Re-spun’.
ON WORKING CLOSELY WITH ARTISANS: For our entire khadi range, our design teams worked closely with clusters of different artisans who were part of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Khadi is a woven fabric and no part of it is machine-made. The artisans have the skill-set, in terms of weaving the fabric. However, for the design aspect, we added the Raymond expertise to it.
ON TAKING THE CAMPAIGN FORWARD: This is a complete 360-degree campaign. We launched two TVCS, one in English and the other in Hindi. The Hindi TVC’s script has been composed by Gulzar and narrated by Shabana Azmi. The campaign, which will stay on air for about a month and a half, is getting promoted on Digital, on our various social media platforms. So we will be going big on TV, Digital and Outdoor. Moreover, we will be telling the khadi story at all the 750 Raymond outlets across the country.
