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Living Foodz to have videos on new website; HD feed to come in early ’17
MUMBAI: Its taking food and lifestyle to the next level. Since its launch in September 2015, lifestyle channel Living Foodz has spelled a whole new space of foodtainment on Indian television.
In keeping with its positioning of Where Food Is Fun, the channel has redefined the way people learn about food, travel and culture through innovative shows, like Ganga, The Soul of India, Food Tripping, Taste Down Under, Ranveer’s Café, etc. As it enters its second year of operations, the channel continues to maintain the brand promise and take food and fun to the next level.
Living Foodz will soon roll out a website which will be a premium destination in the lifestyle genre. It will also have video content. The channel’s HD feed will also be rolled out by early next year.
“We are in the process of rolling out our website which will be a major push from our end in the digital space. The website will be a premium destination for all things in the lifestyle space. It will allow audiences to view both video and flat content. We are also present on DittoTV, our SVOD native app and have seen a lot of traction on the platform,” asserted Living Foodz business head Amit Nair.
Putting the limelight on food lovers, the channel has now launched an integrated campaign which includes three television commercials, digital outreach, social media engagement, radio and a comprehensive public relations programme.
“As we move into our second year, we wanted to take our positioning ‘Where Food is Fun’ to the next level. We focused on the tangible elements of fun and entertainment associated with food, which are brought to life through our campaign ‘Obsessed with Food’, wherein fun is the core ingredient. We wanted to celebrate the one year milestone with our audiences through a relevant and relatable campaign. This was the brief shared with our agency,” added Nair.
The campaign has been conceptualized by Scarecrow Communications and is produced by Puppet Pictures. Naren Multani has directed the TVC. The catchy upbeat music catalyses the soul of the campaign to a next level and is provided by the duo Rohan-Vinayak.
“We wanted the TVC campaign to accentuate and take forward the brand’s promise of making food fun. Hence we consciously moved away from conventional kitchens and cooking and chose to focus on kindling emotions that food evokes, thereby bringing a smile on people’s faces,” said Scarecrow Communications founder director Arunava Sengupta.
With this campaign, the channel plans to reach out to food lovers of age 15+, sec. The three TVCs comprise of situations that one faces everyday and showcases scenarios that are extremely relevant and relatable. Each one of us might have a friend, relative or an acquaintance who forgets everything else when it comes to food and talks about it all the time.
The actors in the three TVCs include Anurita Jha, Errol Marks, Sudhendra Sharma, Ashish Bhatia, Anjali Barot and Chandan Anand.
“The campaign will reach out to our audiences via TV as the driver medium with surround of digital, radio and social media. We expect a great response from across markets as the films are humorous and have been executed very well and hope to strengthen the connect with our viewers,” added Nair.
The campaign has started off in the form of TVCs, radio, and is being promoted extensively on social/digital platforms. The campaign duration is approximately for 3 weeks.
Living Foodz has also invited food enthusiasts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share pictures that capture their obsession with food using #FoodObsessed. Additionally, participants can share creative and funny images of their family and friends which capture a food obsessed expression. Lucky winners will get the opportunity to have their pictures featured on the channel. The channel is using radio as as an additional surround medium in Mumbai and Delhi, where the contest will be amplified through strategic radio partnerships.
“The reality is that people spend a lot of time thinking of food. This campaign is a not a mere depiction but a dramatisation of this reality. Entertainment is a key ingredient of the Living Foodz programming recipe and therefore, the campaign uses light-hearted humor to tell stories based on obsession with food,” added Scarecrow Communications founder director Raghu Bhat.
Going forward, the channel has two major properties coming up this quarter and the next quarter. On 19 November, it will launch a new show titled Spices & Secrets with Zarine Khan, where Zarine Khan will be seen bonding with various celeb, as well as the celebrated Khan family over some great food. Guests on the show will include old family friends to the close family members like Riteish Deshmukh, Jackie Shroff, Farah Khan, Sajid Khan, Abhay Deol, etc. Nair was resistant to share details of the other show.
As far as Living Entertainment’s two other channels Living Zen and Living Travelz which were supposed to roll-out this year are concerned, are waiting for some regulatory approvals.
TVC Links:
TVC 1: The TVC features a detective who calls a wife with information on her unfaithful husband. On being told that her husband is at an Italian restaurant sharing a pizza with another woman, the wife starts quizzing the detective on specific details about the pizza, instead of being concerned about her husband!
TVC 2: This TVC features a patient who has cut his finger and visits the doctor. When he tells the doctor about how he cut the finger while cutting some vegetables, the doctor starts bombarding him with questions on what vegetable was he cutting and the dishes he can make with those!
TVC 3: This TVC features a wife who has accidentally dented her husband’s car while eating shawarma. The husband, instead of getting worried about the car, starts enquiring about the kind of shawarma and it’s toppings!
NEW DELHI: Hamdard Laboratories gathered a cross-section of India’s achievers in New Delhi on Friday, handing out the Hakeem Abdul Hameed Excellence Awards to figures who have left their mark across healthcare, education, sport, public service and the arts.
The ceremony, attended by minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth and senior officials from the ministry of Ayush, celebrated individuals whose work blends professional success with a sense of public purpose. It was as much a roll call of achievement as it was a reminder that influence is not measured only in profits or podiums, but in people reached and lives improved.
Among the headline awardees was Alakh Pandey, founder and chief executive of PhysicsWallah, recognised for turning affordable digital learning into a mass movement. On the sporting front, Arjuna Awardee and kabaddi player Sakshi Puniya was honoured for her contribution to the game and for pushing women’s participation onto bigger stages.
The cultural spotlight fell on veteran lyricist and poet Santosh Anand, whose songs have echoed across generations of Hindi cinema. At 97, Anand accepted the honour with characteristic humility, reflecting on a life shaped by perseverance and hope.
Healthcare honours spanned both modern and traditional systems. Manoj N. Nesari was recognised for strengthening Ayurveda’s place in national and global health frameworks. Padma shri Mohammed Abdul Waheed was honoured for his research-backed work in Unani medicine, while padma shri Mohsin Wali received recognition for his long-standing contribution to patient-centred care.
Education and social development also featured prominently. Padma shri Zahir Ishaq Kazi was honoured for decades of work in education, while former Meghalaya superintendent of Police T. C. Chacko was recognised for public service. Goonj founder Anshu Gupta received an award for his dignity-centred rural development initiatives, and the Hunar Shakti Foundation was honoured for empowering women and young girls through skill development.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to former IAS officer Shailaja Chandra for her long career in public healthcare and governance, particularly in the traditional systems under Ayush.
Speaking at the event, Hamdard chairman Abdul Majeed said the awards were a tribute to those who combine excellence with empathy. “These awardees reflect Hakeem Sahib’s belief that healthcare, education and public service must ultimately serve humanity,” he said.
Minister Seth struck a forward-looking note, saying India’s young population gives the country a unique opportunity to become a global destination for learning, health and wellness by 2047.
The ceremony also featured the trailer launch of Unani Ki Kahaani, an upcoming documentary starring actor Jim Sarbh, set to premiere on Discovery on 11 February.
Instituted in memory of Unani scholar and educationist Hakeem Abdul Hameed, the awards have grown into a national platform that celebrates those building a more inclusive and resilient India. For one evening at least, the spotlight was not just on success, but on service with substance.
