MUMBAI: Ronnie Screwvala, B Saikumar and Ajay Chacko founded digital media venture UDigital has announced a new brand named- Arré. The venture plans to go live with it later this calendar year.
Arré portrays a range of emotions; from the ‘surprised and the questioning’ to the ‘friendly thumbs up affirmative’ to ‘disagreement and protest’ to ‘Arré yaar!’ It crosses boundaries of language, audience groups and geographies. Arré will be an original content destination which will be a unique storytelling platform across genres and formats.
Arré will express itself across mediums, from text to graphic art to podcasts and video in multiple genres such as reality and fiction, factual and opinionated as well as pure entertainment. It is working with collaborators across the spectrum in developing original content; from writers, artists, journalists and storytellers to independent filmmakers, established production houses as well as upcoming talent in fiction, reality and non-fiction genres.
UDigital, managing director B Saikumar said, “Arré was born out of the need to create a truly disruptive digital product. Our philosophy is to continuously challenge the ‘moulds’ of format, media and structure to create content that is reflective of good storytelling in a digital environment. Much like the name, we hope to make Arré, the brand, a part of daily conversation in India and globally!”
The word Arré is one of the most commonly spoken Indian colloquial term which signifies ‘Hey’. While its origins are in Hindi, it is an expression that’s not only understood throughout the length and breadth of the country but has also been included in the Oxford dictionary of the English language, as an ‘all purpose Indian-English interjection’.
The accent on the é in Arré is reflective of the varied expressions and emotions that the brand will straddle, as well as its international outlook.
The logo and visual identity of Arré is being designed and developed by AREA 17, an interactive agency based in Paris and New York. AREA 17 has an acclaimed body of work on international brands in media such as Vice, Quartz, The Atlantic, Style.com, Facebook, Pinterest and more.
