MUMBAI: Disney UTV’s youth brand, Bindass, has launched an umbrella project titled ‘Dream Start’ to take its engagement with its core audience a step further.
With this, the channel aims to fulfill the aspirations of the youth not only through shows like Yeh Hai Aashiqui but other initiatives tailor-made to build their confidence.
“The brand philosophy of Bindass is that it is the enabler of purposive action. We realise that young people are very insecure, which comes because of lack of experience. We have also, through several research programmes, realised that they need additional endeavour to ensure that they have an advantage over others,” explains Disney UTV director marketing media networks Bikram Duggal. “The youth’s aspirations, dreams, hopes, careers... Through Dream Start, we are taking the whole brand philosophy to the brand engagement space.”
Targeted at youngsters aged 18 to 25 years, ‘Dream Start’ has garnered a good response within the first 17 days of its launch. “In the last 17 days, we have already got some 80,000 responses,” informs Duggal.
And not without reason, for the channel has spent 20 per cent of its annual marketing budget on the project and is promoting it in a big way, with 800 promos running across UTV channels. “Marketing for this project is more audio-visual and so, we have created promos for television and are also promoting it in cinema halls,” elaborates Duggal.
The cinema campaign, which started with Dhoom 3, will run for a month, while the outdoor campaign in Mumbai and Delhi has begun too. A huge college campaign has been devised for 450 colleges across 26 cities. Bindass has been active on the digital front as well, with a microsite having been created apart from promotions on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As Duggal puts it, “We have chosen a 360 degree campaign for promotion of the project.”
So how does ‘Dream Start’ work? In its very first phase, the project will offer a two-month internship with UTV Motion Pictures. To participate, “the person has to go to our website and write an essay of 150 words explaining why he/she should be selected for the internship, followed by a general awareness quiz. We sift through the candidates and then shortlist 500 candidates for round two, who will come to Mumbai and Delhi for group discussions and from there, one candidate will be chosen for the internship,” Duggal explains.
Will the selected intern be offered a job at UTV Motion Pictures? “The project is about giving confidence to the individual. We have devised a special curriculum for the intern. This will reflect in the person’s CV,” replies Duggal.
Registrations for Phase I have already started and will go on till 31 January. Internship is slated to commence in April or May this year.
And that’s not all. “Different people have different needs. So, while we start with offering an internship with UTV Motion Pictures, the next phase of ‘Dream Start’ could see someone spending one week at the Oxford University. We are looking at creating best experiences for the youth,” reveals Duggal.
The channel plans to keep the marketing campaign alive even after completion of registration. “The group discussion will be recorded and the same will be put up on YouTube,” chuckles Duggal.
