Colors – Entertainment Innovation & Exclusive Marketing

Colors- have always been a major aspect in brands & branding strategy. Here, I am not talking about the significance of colors in branding but instead I am going to discuss here the brand – Colors (a Viacom 18 initiative), which has not only emerged but is also ruling the entire media & entertainment industry via our own idiot box. Yes, the Indian television industry has recently witnessed and still going through lot of innovation.

Current Channel Leader – Colors is only 1 year & few months old and is a hot favorite of Indian audience of almost all age groups. They did it with a strategy of differentiation & innovation, of course at the right time. When the audience was bored of daily soaps with all family dramas, the high society tantrums etc, colors came with different shades of entertainment. Important as well as critical nodes were touched upon and here they are, ruling the television industry.

Brand Innovation:

Innovation has been a major strategy of Colors to attain maximum audience control. The shift from family dramas to reality shows was still in the introduction phase and colors played the trick. They came with an assorted offering of all; colors gave the audience a break from typical daily soaps and offered critical shows of lot more social importance. The kept the masala instinct alive through various realities shows and they also touched the religious nerves of a particular segment through mythological shows. All in all, Colors came with a complete family package. To list few of the shows:

Daily Soaps & Serials –

Balika Vadhu – Doesn’t need any introduction. Is been the most popular show since one year. With all the good actors & dramatically script, the show is still more of a social awareness campaign with constant innovation in episodes depicting critical social issues.
Shri Krishna – Entertained the audience and kept the religious audience served. The strategy was to pull the audience at prime time for this kind of a show.
Bhagyavidhata – The show is pulling audience because of a new concept. Bihar and its systems were never a put across to the national audience by any production house. Audience love changes.
Utaran / Na Aana Is Des Lado – These are again few serials which have touched purely new & different subjects. It keeps the audience intrigued.

Reality Shows – Serving the same dish on a different platter.

There has been lot of innovation on Colors, in terms of reality shows. The concepts and strategy of each serial is well thought of & very much planned. To list a few:

Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena: One of the initial Dance based show of Colors, which pulled in popular cricket stars to be the partners with television beauties.
100 %: An HUL sponsored show of Indian desi wrestlers with those from the world wrestling federaton. The show is must to spark some sensation with Sharat Saxena & Dara Singh as the team representatives.
Khatron ke Khiladi: A show of its kind. Well establishes, very popular and have ruled TRPS last year. Commencing in just 4 days.
Chote Miyan: With the immense success of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, almost all the channels came with some kind of laughter shows, the colors strategy clicked because they initiated with a kids centric show.

To add to the spark of these reality shows, colors always pulled in cult celebrity brands to be the judge on their reality shows. Colors enjoy the TRP of the fan following of the celebrity stars. Few of the popular judges are: Sushmita Sen & Imran Khan, Hema Malini & Jeetendra, Sachin & Raveena Tandon etc.

Colors Marketing (Clever & Fresh)

Colors (Viacom 18 initiative), youngest on the block and the latest channel leader is been into great marketing campaign all over. Last, I remember I was stumped to see the IPL Marketing Campaigns – a complete one. Surely, Colors marketing too is all set for, exceeding the expectations.

Almost all the available media vehicles have been pulled in & utilized to the best of their capabilities. To name a few, channel is into Outdoor Media, BTL promotions - Road shows, corporate tie-ups, and rural media – street plays as well. The audience is reached almost at every aspect of their life, right from the hoarding while traveling to the mobile they carry. If its Mumbai, promotions are there on the local trains and otherwise colors is on the radio taxis, buses and where not. To read more about the kind of media Colors has pulled in read here.