MAM
Aakash Education pushes ANTHE with a new spot
MUMBAI: Aakash Educational Services has launched a new TV commercial on its flagship national scholarship exam, Aakash National Talent Hunt Exam (ANTHE 2020), on all major channels across languages in the country.
With the launch of this campaign, Aakash aims at inviting students to enroll themselves in ANTHE, which gives deserving students an opportunity to earn up to 100 per cent scholarship and helps them take the first step in their endeavour to become doctors and engineers. Students studying in class 7 to 12 can enroll for the exam.
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The objective of the TVC is to build brand awareness, besides supporting retail marketing to drive consumer traffic. The TVC will be supported with a pan-India print campaign as well.
Made in 40 and 20 second edits, the ad highlights that ANTHE this year will be conducted online as well, addressing the challenges and issues posed due to the ongoing pandemic. By taking the examination online, it will help stellar students from smaller towns and cities be a part of it.
The TVC shows a young boy encouraging others to understand the significance of appearing for the nationwide scholarship exam. The campaign focuses on how, despite the ongoing uncertainties, one should not deter from striving for success and Aakash is taking every possible step to make the examination smooth and hassle-free for the aspirants.
AESL MD Aakash Chaudhry said, “The campaign will be aired on TV as well on digital m channels, which will not only give it a mass outreach but will also help in engaging with students on the online platform.”
The brand has been regularly advertising with its call to action ads as well as brand campaigns across the mediums. It has also worked with celebrities such as Yuvraj Singh to cut across the audiences and send the message. The brand operates in a very competitive market which has several players like it who are offering similar services.
MAM
Talking heads: TV9’s chief takes the host’s chair with style — but could do with a laugh
Barun Das has swapped the boardroom for the studio and is pulling off a polished interview show — mostly
MUMBAI: There is something quietly audacious about a media chief who decides that running a television empire is not quite enough and plants himself in front of the camera for a good chinwag with the great and the good. Barun Das, chief executive of TV9 Network, has done precisely that, and for the most part, he carries it off with considerable aplomb.
Duologue with Barun Das, now in its fourth season on JioHotstar, is exactly what it says on the tin: two people, two chairs, no frills. In the earlier seasons, Das has sat across from a rather stellar roster, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Aparna Sen, Viswanathan Anand, Kiran Rao, among many other renowned names. And in the fourth instalment he has had guests of the likes of Aamir Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Bianca Balti (Italian super model and cancer survivor), Lothar Matthäus (German football World Cup-winning captain). Throughout, he has coaxed from them nuggets that their publicists would probably rather keep under wraps. Cricket, relationships, spirituality, acting, health, behind-the-scenes machinations that plague politics, intellect, nepotism, nothing is entirely off the table.
Das’s greatest asset is his manner. Unhurried, well-dressed and disarmingly calm, he has the rare gift of making his guests feel so thoroughly at ease that they occasionally forget they are being filmed for television. The questions arrive softly, like a spinner tossing up a googly rather than a fast bowler hurling bouncers, and more often than not, they draw out a telling answer. He has no cue cards or teleprompter to help him along, which is probably a rarity for a host. Some credit must go to the research team operating quietly in the wings, who evidently do their homework so that Das does not have to fumble for his.
Where Duologue stumbles, however, is in its almost determined refusal to lighten up. Each 45-minute episode carries the solemn weight of a budget speech. A dash of wit, a moment of mischief, the odd belly laugh, none of it makes an appearance. Serious conversation has its place, but even the most earnest of interviewers, think David Frost at his best, knew when to let the air out of the room.
Das has built something worth watching. He simply needs to remind himself, and his guests, that a smile never hurt anyone.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5.
Available on JioHotstar.
