LAUNCH OF d2h Nachle
I was glancing through archives and throwback pictures from social media. Wherein, I came across a significant event of my life in d2h – the launch of value added service d2h nachle. d2h Nachle was launched on 10th May 2017.
D2h Nachle Press Conference
We did a press conference to launch the new interactive dance-based value-added learning service- “D2h Nachle”. The press conference was graced by Ms. Madhuri Dixit, Dr. Nene CEO, Mr. Sugato Banerji – Head Marketing Videocon d2h. This interactive value added service was launched on our d2h platform. Here, I will share the story on how and why this press conference launch was significant for me.
Brand Teams Dilemma
We were in the midst of a merger with Dish TV awaiting regulatory approvals. This event was prestigious for every one. This event was a demonstrator of teams strength. We wanted to prove that we are the best. At the same time, we were conscious of many other things.
In every merger, there will be significant pressure on the brand team which is being acquired. The brand Videocon d2h was stable, was facing resources crunch due to many factors affecting the parent brand Videocon. It was unable to infuse cash into an industry which was highly capex intensive in nature. Videocon at that point of time, was facing issues on many fronts and the flagship consumer durable brand was suffering huge losses.
I was taking care of core marketing tasks- brand planning, brand creative, ATL, Market Research, PR. My PR team -MSL group with whom we started working 10 days prior to the press conference. Along with DWM PR team, we had a joint meeting to plan for the conference. Travel is a constrain as most celebrities avoid travelling to South Mumbai. Media is based in South Mumbai, and doesn’t like to travel either. We discussed few venues, finally settled for Taj Santacruz Airport. It was midway, accessible for everyone- Press, Celebrity.
LOGO LAUNCH
The biggest challenge for us was how to reveal the logo. The hero of the event was the launch of the logo of the services. However, we couldn’t get the live feed of the services from our headend due to certain technical issues . Looking at the time required, technical, commercial and operational feasibility. We zeroed on to reveal the logo using a hydraulic pulley. The hotel staff had objections with the kind of elaborate systems that we planned to use. The hotel banquet staff had issues with the machineryused, they felt it will disturb the guests staying. Above all, it further aggravated our problems as we had to quickly think, plan and execute logo reveal in few hours. Fortunately, we could convince them by tweaking few things and got the set up running before the dawn.
We also did a rehearsal to iron- out all glitches if any. It helped in avoiding no surprises in store during the actual launch. The show began on time. It was a perfect exercise as everything went as planned. The press conference was streamed live on facebook and instagram. After the mandatory question answer session from the press concluded. An interaction of Madhuri on various social media platforms was also done.
Media Coverage
Close to 200 Media personnel attended the event. We got extensive coverage of the same in leading newspapers along with all top regional media. Our focus was on Tier II and Tier III cities in Hindi Heartland. Morever, the rural audience is more hooked onto these celebrity-based programs then their metro counterparts and can learn from the top Bollywood choreographers.
The success of a press conference is measured by its performance against the target . The achievement was 122% as against the set target parameters.
Test by Fire
The famous phrase often used for sportspersons – Form is temporary but class is permanent. We often tend to idolize sportsperson for one particular game, but we value those players who show class and quality consistently in long term. However, d2h Nachle Press Conference gave me a perfect platform to demonstrate my skills. It was after a long time, that we did a press conference with a celebrity. Rather, it was a test by fire for me, I was desperate to prove my ability once again to my management, to the brand team with whom we had to work in future.
Significantly, this event reinforced my confidence on my abilities to play a long and remarkable innings. This is a brand with which I am associated since its inception.
Links for the coverage https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/get-ready-to-dance-with-madhuri-soon-on-videocon-d2h/58613193
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