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Sony
Entertainment Television's (SET) movies and special events channel
- Max is keeping true to its name by providing maximum entertainment
to its viewers since it launched in 1999. By constantly evolving
and reinventing through the years Max has now truly emerged as Challenger
Brand and has carved a niche for itself by treading into territory
that others are apprehensive to penetrate into.
One
thing that has been constant at the channel is the use of unconventional
and innovative strategies that have been undertaken for optimum
brand recall. What with the likes of Kapil Dev and the oh-so-vivacious
Mandira Bedi being roped in by the channel, Max has sure come a
long way from the time when it was launched.
Beating
the likes of ESPN Star Sports and Zee Cinema who were the big players
in the sports and movies arena respectively, Max maximised its efforts
to be at par with the top in the league. The channel has been challenging
and changing the very rule of the game and is redefining the entertainment
paradigm in India. With a clear focus of 'doing things differently'
and its tagline of 'Deewana Bana De', Max has turned its underdog
status into a winning combination.
The
when, where and who of Max
Though Max made its debut in the Indian sky in 1999 with a promise
of combining two potent genres of Hindi movies and events, yet,
the promise of the channel remained largely unfulfilled for quite
some time. What with the increasing fragmentation in C&S viewership
and introduction of subscription revenues, having a strong bouquet
of channels became imperative for any network and that was when
Sony started planning a big thrust for Max. Rajat Jain, who was
in charge of business development, was entrusted with the responsibility
to revamp the channel and develop it as a spearhead channel for
the Sony's future bouquet. Jain had a small but competent team under
him - Tushar Shah as the marketing head, PS Parasuram the programming
head and Sneha Rajani was at the helm of acquisition. Once a core
team was established, each team leader was given the manifesto to
build their team in shortest possible time and roll.
A
passionate proposition
Under the guidance of Jain, a business idea was developed that could
take this channel to a high and fast growth track both in terms
of rating, perception and revenue. With a view to quickly move from
the introductory phase to a growth phase, Max capitalised on its
acquisition of all ICC Cricket one day internationals (ODI) up till
2007. The strategy adopted by the channel was - 'Expand with cricket
and consolidate with films.'
This
done; the challenge was to develop content and proposition for the
channel that would navigate the channel profitable with a mix of
two different non-complementary genres of programming - cricket
and movies and identify a platform for the channel on which - both
cricket and Hindi movies programming could fuse without creating
conflict.
'Passion'
was zeroed in on as a core platform that bound the two genres and
Euro RSCG helped Max build on that premise after which 'Deewana
Bana De' became the core proposition and positioning statement of
the channel.
Ad
guru Prahalad Kakkar was instrumental in giving a face to the Gully
Cricket ad for Max with brand ambassador Kapil Dev. The objective
of the ad campaign was to create an expectation from the channel.
Moreover, the campaign has won accolades at a whole lot of award
functions at the national and international levels.
The
Big Gamble
With the acquisition of the ICC cricket ODIs will 2007 which included
two World Cups, three Champions trophies and three Under 19 World
Cups, Max had set the ball rolling for itself. After paying an unheard
amount for the rights' acquisitions, the next step was to device
ways to generate ROI (return on investment) for the channel. One
key promise that Sony made to ICC was that it would expand the viewership
base of cricket in India by broadening its appeal.
Since
ESPN Star Sports had already carved a niche for itself as far as
cricket telecast in India was concerned, it was particularly difficult
for Max to come at par with them. Out of the box thinking to deliver
a differential experience for the viewers and advertisers was what
set the channel apart form the rest.
So
the challenge Max faced was multiple fold:
- To
enhance the appeal of cricket amongst existing as well as the
uninitiated and the fence sitters (read women and families), thus
expanding the audience base for cricket on Max which would in
turn lead to increased ad revenues.
- To
use the increased viewership base as a platform to introduce brand
promise.
- To
reinforce the dual offering of the challenge: movies and events.
- To
funnel cricket viewership into movies and events viewership.
- To
increase subscription revenues with increased distribution.
To
achieve this end goal, the Max team injected an element of passion
in every sphere of its activity, product development, marketing,
promo designing and the core value of passion became its guiding
light in all its endeavors. Also instrumental in ideating for Max
to redefine the hitherto standard telecast were biggies like Kapil
Dev, O&M chairman and national creative director Piyush Pandey,
ad man Prahalad Kakkar, Femina editor Satya Saran and Bombay
Times editor Ayaz Memon. These luminaries gave Extraaa Innings
its final shape that was meant to break the convention and tap new
market opportunities.
That
extraaa bit of promise
 With
an aim to give people a flavour of the new Max even before the tournament
started, the Max team sprung the idea of Gully Cricket with Kapil
Dev. Max's brand ambassador went from city to city and played cricket
with the people in the lanes of the cities. With this Max literally
took the brand and its promise of passion to the streets and gullies
of various Indian cities. And it doesn't need telling that this
activity of creating a brand experience was a super duper success.
 The
latest on the Gully Cricket front is that now Mandira has been promoting
the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy due to be held in England later
this year. The 'Himalaya Protein Shampoo Gully Cricket' with Mandira
has been undertaken with the sole purpose of involving women in
cricket.
In
this promotion, Max and Mandira will visit eight cities and get
women out into their gullies to play cricket.
Cricket
telecast with a difference
On 12 September 2002, when the ICC Champions Trophy was aired on
Max; the channel not only delivered on its promise by redefining
the way cricket was telecast but also provided viewers with an all
new experience - pre, post match and during the lunch break with
Extraaa Innings.
With
a right mix of elements for the purist as well as the novice and
the fence sitters, Extraaa Innings combined academic cricket
with mainstream entertainment like never before. A whopping 50 per
cent increase in average rating of Indian matches and 37 per cent
increase in the rating of non-India matches, reaching out to a record
78 per cent of the Indian audiences in C&S homes. More importantly
the female gross reach grew by an unprecedented 261 per cent. Those
were the astounding statistics that Max delivered.
And
the saga continued…
 After
the ICC Champions Trophy, came the biggie - the ICC Cricket World
Cup. The target was to achieve revenue targets for the World Cup
and also to create new levels of experience in watching movies at
home. And true to its credo, Max delivered on both occasions as
the ICC Cricket World Cup brought record revenues and ratings for
the channel and movies got Max reached the top of the ladder in
the Hindi movie space. After the huge success of Extraaa Innings,
Max incorporated the same formula to movies with Extraaa Shots
presented by Mandira Bedi.
Facts
Max's demographic target is all individuals in the age group of
15- 34 years in the Sec A, B and C homes across India.
 Says
Jain, "This attitude is all pervasive in today's society and
is ably captured by the boy who is not overtly in awe of a celebrity
even of Kapil's stature and stands tall in his conduct. He is respectful,
yet has tremendous self respect too.
While
the last as of Gully Cricket portrays the attitude of a confident
young winner waiting for magic to happen, the present film is a
sequel of the same and shows how fast magic can happen. "These
two films capture this journey, which is relevant to each of our
viewers passing through various stages in finding their magical
moment in life," says Jain.
He
goes on to explain, "The underlying thought is simple: passion
makes life magical, just as passion on our channel makes entertainment
magical. Further, from the channel point of view, the second ad
cleverly brings in an element of movies and cricket together, showcasing
the twin passions that are the pillars of our programming - i.e.,
Movies and special events like cricket."
With
the new ad campaign for the channel, Max has taken its deewanapan
to the next level. The channel rolled out a national multimedia
campaign comprising a TVC, outdoor, print and Internet campaign.
"Although Max's quality content has cemented the channel's
position in the market, as a company, we firmly believe that brands
have to be invested in, developed and nurtured, because in a cluttered
marketplace, your brand can be a unique differentiator," says
Jain.
Going
on to explain the need for the new ad campaign even though the channel
has been on a high ever since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, Jain
said, "Although MAX's quality content has cemented the channel's
position in the market, as a company, we firmly believe that brands
have to be invested in, developed and nurtured, because in a cluttered
marketplace, your brand can be a unique differentiator."
Also
read:
Max
into top 100 with 'Hollywood Hungama'
After
gully cricket... it's the time to disco
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