Don?t fiddle too much with a formula that works. Star India and UTV keep these parameters top of the mind in the making of Bhabhi, a daily afternoon soap set to launch on Monday, 18 March.
Bhabhi (brother?s wife), a half hour family drama, replaces Sanskruti, which has completed it?s year-long run, in the 1:30 pm slot and continues in the tradition of the the great Indian soap. The USP of this particular serial appears to be that there are no scheming in-laws plotting each other?s downfall. The twists and turns in the plot are provided by happenstance.

Bhabhi lead actress Neha Mehta

With the launch of Bhabhi, both the main afternoon soaps on Star Plus are UTV productions. And if the serial brings in anywhere close to the kind of ratings that UTV?s other offering Shagun delivers, then all concerned with the project will have more than enough reason to smile.

The serial, which has been mainly shot on sets in Mumbai?s Gemini Studios as well as some outdoor locations, is sceduled to run for a year, UTV creative director Neeraj Naik says.

Consolidate distribution, increase reach and brand visibility through aggressive marketing. That is the target that general entertainment English channel Hallmark has set for itself in India this calendar year.?We will increase brand awareness in the key cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Calcutta through mass media campaigns,? says Laxmi Hariharan, marketing director, Hallmark Asia. A media mix of outdoors, cinema, websites, radio, and print are the off-television promotional activities that are involved.

The channel‘s initiatives are already having an impact and this can be seen in the fact that the cumulative reach of the channel has increased by 60 per cent since January, says Hariharan.

Hariharan says the channel is adopting a two-tier strategy by promoting the mother brand and creating event-specific programmes. Towards this end, Hallmark has earmarked $1.2 million this year for advertising and promotions.
The channel‘s initiatives are already having an impact and this can be seen in the fact that the cumulative reach of the channel has increased by 60 per cent since January, says Hariharan.

Hariharan says the channel is adopting a two-tier strategy by promoting the mother brand and creating event-specific programmes. Towards this end, Hallmark has earmarked $1.2 million this year for advertising and promotions.

On the programming front, the channel has a three point plan that it is confident will deliver the desired results - original series, television movies and Hollywood blockbuster titles.

One unique feature that Hallmark can offer to advertisers thanks to its ownership of 80 per cent of the content that appears on the channel is "virtual product placement", says Maloo. This means that after a particular movie or series has already been shot, the advertiser is offered an option where he can digitally insert his product during relevant scenes. He cited examples of Samsung in Latin America, Visa card in the US and Coke in the Asia Pacific.