Colors says Shukriya India via interactive campaign

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
It started out as the tenth Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) but after a year in that space, Colors has ended up at the top, first upstaging Sony, then Zee TV and ultimately Star Plus.

Colors, the GEC from Viacom18, will celebrate its successful first anniversary (July 21), by thanking the viewers through an interactive campaign, called Shukriya India (Thank you, India). The campaign will be carried out through July.

Rameet Arora, marketing head, Colors, says, "Shukriya India campaign is a gesture to thank millions of our viewers. We want to thank to the millions of loyal fans, as Colors was able to cross a lot of milestones in its first year of operations itself."

Colors has partnered with various print media publications, radio stations and outdoor companies to implement the campaign across 36 cities, which also includes metro cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Some of the publications partnering the effort are the Times Group, Hindustan Times, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, Hindustan, Lokmat, Sandesh, Hari Bhoomi, Baartman, Raj Express and Assomiya Pratidin.

The first phase is in the form of a contest, which will give the fans an opportunity to meet and interact with the popular stars of the programmes. The channel will have some of the viewers appearing on TV shows in the form of vignettes and sharing their thoughts.

Colors has also partnered with iDiscoveri, a social enterprise with a mission to renew education in India, which works towards improving the quality of education across the nation. "We will take care of 10,000 students from such schools. This is a truly grass root campaign that allows us to touch the lives of over ten thousand children because every child deserves the best." Arora adds.

Colors' strategy has been near-perfect launch with a blockbuster show and follow it up with what Indian viewers love most - soaps. Colors also innovated with films, screening them without breaks. And importantly, it made sure the channel was seen paying whatever it cost in carriage fees.

Recently, the channel has launched four new shows - reality show India's Got Talent, kids stand-up comedy series Chhote Miyan Season 2, mythological series Mahavir Hanuman and a daily soap, Swarg. Besides, the subsequent seasons of two blockbuster reality shows, Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi and Bigg Boss, are on the cards.