“We hit the bull’s eye with auto-branding”

Where do you see OOH in your overall media strategy?

Since the launch of ALTBalaji in April 2017 till now we never used OOH medium as a part of our media platform strategy because we have a firm belief that since it is a physical platform is not meant for the digital consumers. Therefore, the digital medium has been our mainstay for marketing strategy. However, since we began to work on our content, we also initiated steps to evaluate various other formats for promotions.

What was the idea behind the auto-branding that you did for Ragini MMS?

Usually people use outdoor as a layered strategy but we used outdoor as a primary strategy and nailed it with digital which has never happened earlier. There are two peculiar things about this show such as it is the first time ever that any movie has been turned into a web show and secondly it is a sort of a show which is across barriers i.e. horror-sex; it cuts across the social-strata, language, region, geography & gender. Interestingly we conducted a research to identify that content like this only appeals to men but then we stumbled upon a report that in India adult content is more liked by women audience than men. Hence we thought if this is the case then this particular show has to reach masses.

However, I was sure that I never wanted to use a static medium in print or other to promote this show. We thought if we have to go to hinterland or to localities then what are the vehicles that can create the maximum ROI as well as build the recall for the show. That’s when we closed on auto-rickshaw branding. We also evaluated OLA & Uber but then again they have a very niche reach and strict marketing guidelines so we decided to go ahead with auto-rickshaws.

How has been the response?

I am very happy to share that in two weeks saw 30% increase in our organic traffic and witnessed a 20% rise in subscription and the show has already garnered about 2 million views on youtube on an aggregate of 3 shows. Considering this we can say that our strategy has hit the bull’s eye.

What challenges did you come across while auto branding?

It was a big challenge to communicate multiple things in one creative such as the details of the show, second that it is not a movie but a web show and finally that it is available on ALTBalaji. Therefore we packed all three things smartly in our creative for the limited branding area.

What are your future plans with regard to incorporating outdoor in your strategy?

I come from a school of a thought that a media format doesn’t dictate the strategy but it is the show which dictates the media vehicle to use. Now, we are working on a show which is about Subhash Chandra Bose therefore the strategy will be different. The content and TG decide the media vehicle to be used. For our next mass show where we will have to tap tier II cities, I would want to use a format which is very local in nature. For instance we are very closely evaluating what we can do with RWA societies because you ultimately go back to home so two times at your encounter this format.