Indiantelevision.com Team

(24 March 2007 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television's prime time revival is being led by 'star bahu' Smriti Irani's magnum opus 'Viruddh' starting March 26, Monday to Thursday at 9:30 pm.

SET's programming mix now concentrates on fiction and it is in the process of beefing up its weekly shows.'Viruddh' is touted to be the channel's big ticket to higher ratings.

The channel has therefore stepped up its marketing initiatives for the launch of the show. Says Sony Senior Vice-President Marketing and Communications Aseem Kapoor " While we have looked at innovative and big scale marketing initiatives for our shows like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi and Kkusum, we are certainly looking at a 360 degree marketing plan for Viruddh as well. The show has a great backdrop of relationships and conflict and has a stellar star cast in Smriti Irani, Sushant Singh and Vikram Gokhale."

The channel has looked at transit advertising by painting the Volvo buses that ply between Mumbai-Pune on the Expressway from end to end. " The Volvo buses will reach ten to twelve touch points across Mumbai city and in Pune suburbs as well. These buses will start plying from 25 March itself. The aim is to provide a moving coding which will help the show to stay top of the mind as far as viewers are concerned, " says Kapoor.

Additionally, there will be a 'Viruddh' Chariot that will roll across various hotspots and traffic points in Mumbai.There are plans to extend this to Delhi as well.

"Given that the backdrop of the show is a 'Kurukshetra' of emotions and conflicts, the visual appeal of this inititaive should go down well with the viewers."

The channel has tied up with Big FM and the stations' RJs would travel atop the chariot interacting with listeners on relations and conflicts. The soap itself deals with the power relations and how they affect personal equations amongst family members.

Viruddh spans two generations involved in a power play of relationships set against the backdrop of a powerful media house.

As part of the marketing initiative, mock newspapers called 'Dainik Darpan' will be prominently displayed and distributed at various news stands. The articles in this page mock newspaper will contain behind the scenes stories, actor profiles and a synopsis of the show itself.

There will be an English language newspaper distributed in Mumbai and Kolkatta , while Hindi versions of the same will be distributed in Delhi, Lucknow and Ahemadabad.

"These mock tabloids will be available at various newstands, railway stations and will also be distributed by our delivery boys at various touch points.The idea is to create a buzz around the show.Ideally, you would read all the channel gossip in other newspapers but here's a paper that will give you all the inside news on the show, says Kapoor.

Viruddh is jointly produced by Irani led Ugraya Entertainment and Aditya Birla group's media arm Applause Entertainment for Sony.

The marketing initiatives for the show will continue for a fortnight.