MUMBAI: Star, a pioneer in innovative programming in a co-publishing venture with Popular Prakashan, a leading publishing house for over 75 years, is launching activity books based on two popular shows - Shaka Laka Boom Boom (SLBB) and Sonpari.
These activity books have been cleverly adapted to encourage fun activities and drawing/crafts skills in children.
As a part of the launch, a children's colouring competition will be held at the Oxford Bookstore in Mumbai. The participants at the contest will meet the child stars of both the serials as a part of the event. Star India Pvt Ltd CEO Peter Mukerjea and Popular Prakashan Pvt Ltd director Harsha Bhatkal will announce the winners of the contest, which is being sponsored by Camlin Ltd.
Internationally, licensing forms a substantial revenue stream for many media companies. Some of the successfully merchandised international brands are Star Wars, The Simpsons, Ally McBeal, X-Men etc.
According to an official release, STAR is looking to duplicate this in India by leveraging the success of its television brands (soaps and serials) into licensed merchandise, aggressively creating the next generation of media connectivity by getting into licensing and syndication of its popular brands and content across various product and service categories.
Star has licensed products like drawing books and the magic pencil based on the SLBB serial which is very popular among children.
Star India Pvt. Ltd and Popular Prakashan have already launched Amitabh Bachchan's Soul Curry for You and Me and Amitabh Ka Khazana (Hindi) both adapted from Star Plus' hit game show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
There is another set of four storybooks based on episodes of SLBB, which will be launched shortly. SLBB has caught the attention and imagination of children across the country. Partnering with organisations such as Popular Prakashan for activity and storybooks, Sundaram for drawing books and Cats for pencils has given children the opportunity to participate in the brand. "We see this as a natural extension of our business and we will continue to work with organisations to launch licensed merchandise based on our popular content and successful brands," says Mukerjea.
"The high TRP ratings of the Star TV shows have helped us with instant recall in the minds of the customer and our experience in the print medium has helped us to intelligently modify content to suit the needs of the reader. We have leveraged our mutual strengths to make a good product. These books have made a good start and we hope to publish many more such innovative products in the future," says Bhatkal.