Contract Advertising to handle Star Plus account

The agency's Mumbai office will work on the business.

After evaluating several creative agencies, popular general entertainment channel Star Plus has handed its creative mandate to Contract Advertising, part of the JWT group. The process that began early this year took place in Mumbai.

The agency's Mumbai office will work on this account.

The agency was in the news a few days back when Law & Kenneth's Rana Barua was brought in as its chief operating officer to replace its former CEO, Umesh Shrikhande.

Ogilvy India has worked on this account in the past. The agency has also worked on other prominent channels from the STAR TV stable, including STAR Gold and STAR Jalsha.

It may be recalled that in June 2010, on the occasion of having completed a decade as a Hindi GEC, Star Plus unveiled a refreshed brand identity, which featured a new logo (blue to red), new tagline -- Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi (old relationship, new thinking) -- and new programming content that was in sync with this fresh thought.

At the time, the logo was designed by Venture 3, a London-based brand solutions company. Piyush Pandey, executive chairperson and creative director, Ogilvy South Asia and team were responsible for the brand's new look and feel.

According to sources, a corporate branding exercise is likely in the near future.

Besides Star Plus, other popular channels under the STAR Network include Life OK, STAR Pravah, STAR World, STAR Movies and STAR Jalsha, amongst others.

For the record, popular shows on Star Plus include names such as Saath Nibhana Saathiya, Diya Aur Baati Hum, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Nach Baliye 5, amongst several others.

Satyamev Jayate, one of the channel's much talked about shows, centred on social issues plaguing Indian society and has not only upped Star Plus' brand value in the recent past but has also given the channel a claim-to-fame in the non-fiction space. The show also added zing to the otherwise 'lazy' Sunday morning slot on Indian television.

For the story afaqs! tried to contact a top marketing manager at the Star Network consistently over a week but received no response. However, after the story appeared, we received the following statement from Star:

The Star India spokesperson says,"We would like to state that Ogilvy & Mather is the agency on record for Star Entertainment Network and works on initiatives of significance and scale on all Star Entertainment brands including Star Plus. There is no change in this arrangement. It is not uncommon for individual channels in the network to work on show specific communication with a roster of agencies. Any discussions in this regard are part of business evaluation, and will be confirmed as and when finalized through due process."