MUMBAI: Life OK is launching one-of-its-kind series to promote the soon-to-release Bollywood thriller film ?Ek Thi Dayan?.

Titled ?Ek Thhi Naayka?, the series boasts of industry-first marketing initiative that has been exclusively created to promote a feature film.

Starting 9 March, the show will air every Saturday and Sunday at 11 pm.

The show experiments with the concept of film and TV integration through an eight-week marketing campaign to promote the upcoming movie, ?Ek Thi Dayan.? The show is a folklore which will bring together some of the biggest television actors together -- Smriti Irani, Sakshi Tanwar, Aamna Shariff, Shweta Tiwari, Mouli Ganguly, Ankita Lokhande, Kritika Kamra and Pooja Gor will be seen in their regional avatar, with a different story every week. Each episode promises to deliver content and showcases each ?Naayka?s? struggle against evils.

The series will be produced by Ekta Kapoor?s Balaji Telefilms. Balaji is also co-producing the Emraan Hashmi movie along with Vishal Bhardwaj?s VB Pictures. The movie is set to release on 18 April.

Life OK GM Ajit Thakur feels that it?s a happy marriage between Indian television and Bollywood. "The concept is a big leap forward on television. It is a collaboration of content between Bollywood and TV and a win-win deal for both of us. While the movie is getting a good promotion through this series, we are getting good content and we know there is relevant audience for the show. Ekta had many stories in her mind, while she is presenting one on the silver screen; she gave us the opportunity to telecast other eight. The show is a thriller, folklore and the very title has a message that good always wins."

While the episodes are expensive to produce, the channel and Balaji Telefilms are sharing the cost since it?s a promotional series for the Balaji movie.

Meanwhile, the channel will leave no stones unturned in promoting the show. The main activity is PR that the channel is doing around the show in various parts of the country. The channel will also be promoting the show aggressively on the social media, wherein it will be interaction with its audiences.

Kapoor said, "This is creative marketing at its best: A first-of-its-kind promotion for an upcoming movie, resulting in a win-win situation for both the movie and the channel. Also, none of the horror is same as the film so there will be something new to watch every week."

MUMBAI: Life OK is in the midst of widening its entertainment menu as it seeks to strengthen its position in the Hindi general entertainment channel space. One such format it is actively pursuing is the comedy genre, a space dominated by rival channel Sab.

After failing in the reality comedy genre, Life OK is planning to launch a comedy-based fiction show. The channel is examining scripts but has not finalised on anything yet. "Comedy is a great thing to have as part of the diet. But we have not found the right script yet. A "me too" property on television can?t work in today?s world and the audience needs to be offered fresh content," Life OK content head Sanjog Gupta said.

Life OK had earlier aired a reality comedy show titled ?Laugh India Laugh? but it did not do well.

The channel is also launching two new shows aimed primarily at male audiences. While one is a fantasy horror, the other show is an action thriller. The details of these shows were not disclosed.

Life OK has experimented with various genres. It has introduced shows based on social issues like domestic violence (Saubhagyavati Bhava) and crime show (Savdhaan India- India fights back). It has also revived the mythology genre with ?Mahadev? and ?Ram Leela?.

New daily show ?2612? at 9 pm from 26 November

Life OK Wednesday announced it would be launching on 26 November a thriller-based show on terrorism titled ?2612?. The channel has rolled out a public service campaign to promote the new show that will air every Monday to Friday at 9 pm.

According to Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur, the USP of the marketing campaign is that it is a public service campaign. "We are doing a mega marketing of the show. We are promoting it on different mediums. But we are not saying ?come and watch the show and explosion?; what we are saying is that come and watch the show because we all can fight terror. We are not trying to do a sensational marketing for the show but making it sensitive. We are asking people to be more aware and alert," he said.

2612 is being promoted aggressively on the Star TV network and 17 other channels. The print ads will run on 19 publications across the country.

The channel will also use Social Media. The Digital Media Public service messaging campaign will have a clue based Facebook game, Youtube Masthead and Public service Messaging banners.

O&M has worked on the ads while Mudra and Bates India have executed it.

"With 2612, we are continuing with the journey of dealing with big social issues and also finding a solution to them. Through our new show, 2612, we are trying to bring people closer together, as one nation to fight the bigger evil. We want people to be more vigilant and most importantly, more united," said Thakur.

2612 is a story of ordinary people entrapped in a situation. It is the tale of a young, resilient Kindergarten teacher Rashmi Bhargav who finds herself at the centre of a terror plot more satanic than 26/11.