Network18 & Schbang’s creative partnership delivers a big bang launch of Palki Sharma’s new show ‘Vantage’

Mumbai: Firstpost brings much-celebrated journalist Palki Sharma back to launch Vantage. This digital-first, multi-platform show aims to give viewers an Indian lens on world affairs. Palki Sharma uses facts, figures, logic and research to connect the dots on global stories and how they affect the average Indian.

Vantage aims to arm the inquisitive, metropolitan Indian with enough knowledge and insight on global stories to #TakeOnTheWorld. The show will air on weeknights at 9 p.m. on Firstpost’s YouTube channel and social media handles like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The show was launched through the omnichannel marketing campaign crafted by the creative and technology transformation company, Schbang. In a phased launch, the teaser films on air and online created hype around Sharma’s return to the world of journalism. Clever creatives like ‘Know how Putin’s mood swings India’s stocks’ unfolded how global stories affected India, highlighting what the show promises to deliver. The campaign was very well received with warmth and excitement, with the promos garnering more than six million views and high engagement through thousands of retweets and comments on various social handles.

The first teaser features an Indian anchor reporting and then increasingly hysterically repeating, "a man on a scooter went into a pothole and died!”. It was launched on FirstPost’s social media handles, followed by CNN-News18, CNBC TV18, News18 India, News18 Kannada, News18 Kerala & News18 Tamil Nadu.

The second one spoofs a Western media house that severely criticises India’s management of the covid crisis. Both set up the need for better stories.

The launch on Republic Day saw prominent outdoor sites and full-page ads in leading daily newspapers across Delhi NCR and the rest of the country. CNN-News 18 broadcasted the first launch film ahead of the premier of the first episode.

The film questions Indians celebrating Rishi Sunak as UK’s prime minister. It depicts a young corporate employee sharing her cogent take with senior management on the real impact of the appointment on India. She does this by connecting the dots like Palki Sharma would on Vantage.

The second launch film has a young Indian talking to an American and an Englishman in their late middle age at a global conference. He simply corrects their incorrect perceptions of India, as he launches into a monologue on the relative manufacturing strengths of China vs India post-covid.

Speaking on the campaign, Network18 VP – marketing & product, English cluster Suma Nair said, “With Vantage, we at Network18 wanted to establish a pioneering news show that brings global stories through an Indian perspective.

The most challenging part was to launch the show in a cluttered news environment where we have almost 400 news channels in the country, hence the positioning of the show and that of the anchor of the show Palki Sharma, one of the most credible journalists was paramount. Therefore we came up with the tagline 'take on the world' essentially it was Palki Sharma’s take on the news/issues and subjects and how it impacts the consumers was what was conceived and delivered through a multi-media campaign.

The teaser for the campaign created a lot of buzz, with comments and video views crossing two million organically on social platforms. The launch films created a lot of excitement as well. An extensive marketing campaign comprising mediums such as print, television, outdoor, digital & social media promotions led to a strong brand building for Vantage, providing a perfect platform for the show launch on 26th January. While this is just the beginning, we are looking to keep up the momentum and help in building a strong brand affinity for Vantage and Firstpost.com.”

Schbang chief creative officer and chief integration officer Rayomand J. Patell said, ‘It is an honour to work with someone as respected as Palki and the opportunity to do a 360 degree launch to amplify her unique voice that is always a cheerleader for India, backed by the might of the Network 18 group was unprecedented. Our respective teams on both client and agency side worked seamlessly to ideate on what the brand should stand for and then conceptualised and produced communication assets across the board in record-breaking time. We at Team Schbang look forward to a long and continued association in making the show a much-respected one. In the process, aside from returning gravitas and elegance to the world of informed, evocative stories, we also hope to provide a voice and perspective that India and Indians anywhere, can turn to and be very proud of.”