English Entertainment
Stay Amazed with the New Sony Pix
MUMBAI: Brand Sony is getting a makeover. Days after Sony Entertainment Television Network announced its fresh new look, Sony Pix is following suit, starting with a repositioning from ‘Hollywood is here’ to ‘Stay Amazed’.
The new brand identity will be unveiled along with the world television premiere of Skyfall on 27 October at 1:00 pm and 9:00 pm on the channel.
As opposed to the earlier tagline ‘Hollywood is here’, ‘Stay Amazed’ defines what it is about Hollywood that people like, breaking the clutter and making the channel stand out from the crowd. Significantly, it’s a brand promise that viewers of the rebooted Sony Pix will never have a dull moment, whether they’re watching it on television, social media or on-ground.
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The channel rifled through pitches from some 24 companies across five continents before zeroing on Argentina-based Medialuna (MDL) for designing the new look
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Says Sony Pix executive VP and business head Saurabh Yagnik: “The whole idea is to break the clutter and give the audience what they truly want to see and experience. The revamped look propagates the brand philosophy of being fresh, innovative and progressive. Our content and branding will establish Sony Pix as the most exciting, fun and entertaining English movie channel.”
The repositioning has been a gruelling exercise with Team Sony Pix burning some serious midnight oil to brainstorm and understand what Indian audiences really want from in particular English movie channels and in general Hollywood. The channel has rifled through pitches from some 24 companies across five continents before zeroing on Argentina-based Medialuna (MDL) for designing the new look.
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Our content and branding will establish Sony Pix as the most exciting, fun and entertaining English movie channel says Saurabh Yagnik
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And the result is for all to see – an all new packaging in eye-catching ‘neon green’, which is part of Sony Pix’s revamped strategy to stay-in-sync with an increasing number of young viewers. What’s more, synergies have been worked out between the upcoming instalment of the Krrish franchise and Sony’s rebranding campaign.
“The whole revamped look took nearly six months to execute, and we narrowed down on Medialuna after taking a close look at their body of work. We are really glad with the final outcome,” exults Yagnik.
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The new look will unravel along with the premiere of ‘Skyfall’ on 27 October
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Coming to the Skyfall premiere, a 360-degree promotional campaign is on the anvil, which promises to engage viewers like never before. The channel is gearing up for the ‘Biggest secret mission ever’ on Facebook – designed to give viewers a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a trip to the ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition in London. (Bond in Motion is the largest official collection of original James Bond vehicles over the past 50 years).
Says Sony Pix vice president – marketing Neville Bastawalla: “This is something that is really going to get our viewers engaged and get more involved with the channel. The mission will be played over three phases: one to crack a maze of obstacles using clues, second being a first of its kind game where your mobile phone becomes a remote to chase clues, and the third being simply type in the codes that are flashed on the screen during the premiere to win a chance to visit the ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition in London.”
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It’s all about getting our viewers engaged and getting them more involved with the channel believes Neville Bastawalla
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While the in-house team has designed, conceptualised and executed the on-air promos, the outdoor Skyfall campaign, to be carried out in Mumbai and Delhi, will be handled by Leo Burnett India. Tonic Media will look after the digital front. Approximately 80-85 per cent of the marketing budget has been kept aside exclusively for the repositioning, and the channel is confident of a great response from the trade and audiences alike.
Snapdeal.com is the presenting sponsor for the Skyfall campaign while Dell and Engage Deos are the powered by sponsors. Other sponsors include Toyota, Lombard suiting, Whirlpool, We Chat and many more.
In charge of the digital component of the entire rebranding exercise is Tonic Media. With nearly 33,300 followers on Twitter and a little over 3,275 likes on Facebook at the time of penning this article, Sony Pix is looking to intensify its engagement with viewers on social media.
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Notty Pixy will get the inside dope of all the gossip from behind the scenes in Hollywood
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On the cards is an interactive initiative with NottyPixy, who is touted as this Hollywood insider, who works hard and parties harder, is quirky, has loads of attitude and resonates with the youth. The #NottyPixy hashtag has been launched to promote the Notty Pixy character, with Notty Pixy taking over the @SonyPix handle every Thursday. Further, Notty Pixy will get onto the channel from end-November, every Friday, at 7:00 pm, to run a movie of her choice and interact with viewers through social media as well as on-air with ‘Wow trivia with a Notty Pixy twist’.
While the repositioning is aimed at taking the channel to greater heights, even presently, Sony Pix appears to be in a good space.
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A 360 degree campaign will be carried out for the repositioning
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Movies-wise, the channel has nearly 250 – 300 active film titles, which include the Rocky series, Spider Man franchise, Mission Impossible series, Terminator franchise, animation films like Madagascar, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda plus a recent acquisition – the complete Bond franchise along with the latest flick, Skyfall.
Pix also boasts some big-ticket releases of 2013 including: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Captain Phillips, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Hotel Transylvania, Smurfs 2, White House Down, Django Unchained, Grown Ups 2 and After Earth among others. Moreover, the channel is associated with five of Hollywood’s leading studios such as Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, MGM and Universal.
So does Pix plan to restructure its FPC (Fixed Point Chart) with the implementation of the 10+2 ad cap rule? “Firstly, I really don’t believe that the ruling will make a very big difference to English movie channels, but if it does get implemented, then we are ready for it as we at Pix believe we can deliver engaging content to keep our viewers hooked on,” replies Yagnik.
Currently airing (14+2) 16 minutes of advertisements per hour of programming and second only to Star Movies in the English movie channel space, Pix has seen a 35 per cent growth in terms of its reach pre-DAS and post-DAS, and a 36 per cent growth in terms of TSV (Time Spent per Viewer), so while the channel is well placed, it is also making all the right noises to pip competitors at the post.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
