THE LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN PRESENTS AN ENGAGING GROWTH STORY

News18 India recently released a campaign called, Desh Ka No.1 News Channel, showcasing a humorous take on its leadership, growth and status in the Hindi news segment. Rahul Kansal, Group Brand Advisor, Network18 tells us more about the campaign and the channel’s planned election coverage…

ON THE CAMPAIGN CONCEPTUALIZATION: Over the past couple of years, there has been a surfeit of messages from media brands, claiming leadership. The format of the communication tends to be quite similar: screaming headlines, graphs showing research data, etc. We decided to present News18 India’s leadership story in an engaging way, using humour and entertainment value, instead of brute hard-sell, with a campaign conceptualized by RK Swamy BBDO and directed by Rajesh Saathi of Keroscene Films.

ON AMPLIFYING THE CAMPAIGN: In the first phase, we released a teaser campaign across all the major metros asking the audience questions. The second phase of the campaign was released on TV and cinema screens across the country.

ON THE UPCOMING POLL COVERAGE: While we have put together a B2B package for our advertisers, we will start releasing campaigns around our election coverage in February-March. This time, we will focus more on field reporting across the hinterland, apart from the studio panel discussions. Viewers will also see much more real-time data being innovatively used and analysed during our election programming. Some of our special programmes for the elections include Bhaiyaji Kahin, a travelogue-cum-chaupal capturing the common man’s perceptions and expectations; Lapete Mein Netaji, Desh ko Jawaab Do, a weekend debate show featuring two newsmakers.