Launch fad

The girls selected will be,like Betty,short,stout and fair. They will don the classic Ugly Betty attire replete with thick-rimmed frames,braces,ponchos and stockings. “With this kind of on-ground activity we want to create a word-of-mouth impact before the show launches,” says General Manager of Star World and Star Movies,Jyotsna Viriyala. “Ugly Betty has such a quintessential can’t-miss look that the idea was calling out to us.”

Last week the contestants of MTV Roadies Season 7 were directed to a dilapidated mill in Parel where they were told that a party had been arranged for them. The ‘party’ turned out to be the first ever Roadies concert with performances by bands Agnee and Saadhak. The final 14 Roadies were announced at the concert. “The concert gave the consumers a chance to see the 14 Roadies live before it got telecast,” says General Manager of MTV,Ashish Patel.

The concert,of course,is one of their tamer antics. Last year for the launch of their spoof on Taare Zameen Par,Bechaare Zameen Par,the channel played a ‘bakra’ on the people promising the presence of biggies like Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan at the premiere of the film. Anticipating a mob attack at the absence of the stars,MTV employees preempted an assault by breaking the furniture and door of the MTV studio themselves. Destruction for some,promotion for others?

UTV Bindass took their show The Big Switch to a new level by adopting a slum for a year. On December 15,Bindass Big Switch Connect collaborated with United Way of Mumbai in cleaning a slum at Vile Parle bringing together more than 200 residents,college students and UTV employees.

To promote their show Emotional Atyachar which deals with exposing cheating partners,the channel is arranging for a used car to tour four cities. Any woman who has ever been cheated can bash the car into a pulp as a means of venting her frustration. “It’s all about taking the show to the street so that people can experience it,” says Heather Gupta,channel head,UTV Bindass.

The channels also have no qualms about blasting the promos with star power. While the lovely Katrina Kaif was roped in to participate in UTV’s slum clean-up,the Roadies concert was graced by the presence of actors R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi. For Channel V Kidnap,actress Dia Mirza was kidnapped from the sets of Acid Factory and consumers were offered the chance to rescue her.

With promos becoming an integral part of the success of shows,they’re no longer confined to the television space. MTV Rant premiered on mobiles and MTV What the Hack was aired on the web. Postcards promoting Lost Season 6 will be offered on the net along with fun activities like Sawyer’s online nickname generator where one of the show’s lead characters,Sawyer,will select a suitable nickname for you based on your personality quirks.