The Campaign

STAR Movies, a leading English movie channel in India, wanted to recreate the hype around a James Bond series that would be aired every night at 11pm. It was an old series that had been aired earlier on several channels, so promotions were a challenge. Furthermore, Bond is a UK spy thriller with little relevance to the Indian audience. Our target group was the urban Indian youth and we had to bridge the generational and cultural gap. Our strategy was to capitalise on the aspirational qualities of young India – adventure, style, wealth – and create experiences and content that made Bond an extension of their desires. Through flash-mobs at Hard Rock Cafés, content on recreating Bond’s lifestyle, storytelling on Bond’s influence on Bollywood, ‘action’ billboards and stunts that invited participation as well as raised awareness, our campaign brought to life an old franchise to a new audience. The result: the highest ratings for the channel in July and a 16 % increase in the viewership lead from its closest competitor, Movies Now.

The Brief

Our objectives were to create a clear leadership position for the channel in the English movie category in India and reinvent excitement around Bond to generate a high recall of the franchise on STAR Movies. Our research told us that we had to reach out to urban Indian youth, aged between 15 and 35 years, who are modern, aspirational and follow international trends. Our insight on the potential emotional connection for this audience was the high life that Bond, the character, enjoyed – not to forget the adventure, style, wealth and attitude that his persona oozes.

Results

STAR Movies not only saw a 9% increase in overall market share, but the campaign also widened the gap with its closest competitor, Movies Now, to 16% in July from 7% in June. With over 6.5 million viewers tuning in, the channel saw its highest ratings in July, with the audience share rising to 1.6% from 1.1% in June for the 11 pm slot. The campaign increased the channel’s reach to 4,20,000 households per day in July from 2,50,000 households per day in May for the 11 pm movie, a 68% increase. Our PR campaign reached over 9 million readers across India, equalling roughly $1 million worth of advertising. The results showed on social media too. The Forever Bond Facebook page generated 4.9 million views during the campaign, and 180,000 active users.

Execution

There was a strong focus on creating experiences to engage audiences. We enrolled Hard Rock Cafés across India to hold Bond moments every evening in July. A Bond martini menu was introduced and bartenders staged a ‘Bond flash mob’ set to the films’ theme. This created a word-of mouth effect, both online and offline. We enlisted fashion designer Sabah Khan as an influencer to create content on Bond’s style for social media and lifestyle publications, on how to replicate Bond’s classy image. To reinforce a cultural link, we approached filmmaker Sriram Raghavan to speak about the Bond influence in his upcoming spy flick. We also used the channel’s on-air contest, an interactive voice response line where you had to speak like Bond, to engage influencers. Meanwhile, billboards at popular locations invited passersby to complete the advert, and we also recreated Bond scenes in public spaces to drive excitement and awareness.

The Situation

STAR Movies operates in a niche yet fast growing television entertainment category in which six major channels battle for leadership. Overlapping tie-ups with international studios mean that all channels have similar content, leaving no room for a USP. This made the promotion of a month-long ‘Forever Bond’ movie festival tricky. Lack of relevance and repetitive airing magnified the challenges. What made the success of the campaign critical was that STAR Movies faced a real prospect of losing its leadership position to Movies Now.

The Strategy

Our strategy was to refresh perceptions about Bond and create relevance in the context of our target audience. Talking about Bond would not be enough; we wanted to engage consumers and the media, and make them experience and live Bond. We did this by capitalising on urbane lifestyles, holding experiential events and eye-catching stunts at locations that this audience would frequent. We created content around replicating Bond’s lifestyle, reminding the audience that Bond has inspired several Bollywood spy thrillers. The consistency of our content through the diverse mediums we used gave credence to the fact that Bond’s impact on today’s pop culture can be ‘forever’ felt. We worked towards driving an emotional connection that would prompt increased viewership.