MUMBAI: As the undisputed leader in the crime genre, Sony Entertainment Television has kicked-off a one-month special titled Mission Mumbai dedicated to maximum city.

The series started airing early March and will continue through the month, and sees two of Sony’s longest running crime shows – CID and Crime Patrol – showcasing actual crime in the city.

Sony has come up with a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote its Mumbai special on CID and Crime Patrol.

Speaking of CID, the channel has flagged-off a campaign where Mumbaikars can participate in a plethora of fun-filled activities across prominent areas of the city. Twenty-five to 30 localities are on the radar where functions are held every week to felicitate the winners of what Sony calls the ‘Heroes initiative’.

Sony SVP head marketing Gaurav Seth says they wanted to re-energise Brand CID that has successfully completed 17 years and 1,000 episodes. “Plus, we’ve been noticing that Mumbai, which had become a key market for CID and Crime Patrol over the years, is responding in a lukewarm manner to CID over the past few months. We wanted to bring back the show to this market and make it alive for consumers here once again,” he adds.

Sony has ensured that the message of ‘Mission Mumbai’ goes out everywhere, with over 500 outdoor hoardings, bus shelter hoardings, bus panels, platform boards and inside train panels dedicated for the purpose.

The channel has tied up with 10 to 15 McDonalds’ outlets where kids will participate in a contest by answering why they want to meet the CID protagonists. Writers of the best replies will get to interact with CID actors.

Further, SET has tied up with Radio Mirchi where the listeners can nominate their near ones or themselves for the ‘Mumbai ke Heroes’ contest. One more initiative on the FM channel called Mumbai bana CID will have radio jockeys quiz Mumbaikars about their city. The one who gives the most correct answers will get to feature in one of the CID episodes.

What’s more, the channel has collaborated with certain local cable operators to get TV audiences direct transmissions of these one-off events. It is also promoting the Mumbai special on regional news channels to target the local, Marathi-speaking junta with over 1,000 spots.

Seth claims the response received in the very first week has been fantastic. “Over 2,500 people turned up for the event and over 1,000 people interacted and played games during the three-day pre-promotion phase. We reached over 1,000 households and invited them for the main event,” he says.

“We are extremely happy, we have always been doing ground out-reach programmes in terms of how people react to our programmes. This gives us a good feeling that the brand is alive and people love the show and the characters and the channel.”

Buzz is, SET plans on more specials like Mission Gujarat and Mission Delhi but is testing the waters with Mission Mumbai first.