Bindass' new campaign encourages youth to 'B for Change'

The channel is looking at spending 20-25 per cent of its annual marketing budget on the campaign.

Almost three years after the 'What I am' campaign, Bindass (formerly known as UTV Bindass) has rolled out yet another brand campaign called 'B for Change'.

While the campaign extends brand Bindass' core messaging from being 'Rest-less' to 'Enabler of Purposive Action', it aims to inspire the youth to take action and galvanise dreams into reality. With the 'B for Change' campaign, the channel encourages the youth to be enablers of change through their actions and initiatives. The idea is that the initiative to create a change lies with each one of us and just not with society at large.

Talking about the reason for launching a new brand campaign, Shikha Kapur, VP and head of marketing, Disney UTV, tells afaqs!, "Today's young people are dynamic and multifaceted. The Bindass brand film has tried to capture the different nuances of this generation. Bindass has always mirrored the lives of young Indians and in this film as well, the idea is to portray different shades of today's young people."

The brand film features 13 short stories and its creative is credited to the in-house team of Bindass. It is directed by Prashant Madan with Tapan Basu as the director of photography. Skylark Productions is the production house for the film.

The new brand film of about 2 minutes' duration was launched recently and is being played across Disney UTV network channels. It portrays the 'cool generation' in the first part and showcases stories of youngsters who are looked upon as superficial and hence connotations like careless, irresponsible, spoilt and uncouth are often attached to them. The second part portrays the 'Duel' generation that shows that although today's youngsters are rebellious and loud, they are still contributing in bringing about a change in the society in their own unique ways. But, these actions are often misunderstood due to pre-conceived notions about them. The 'Do' Generation, in the concluding part, portrays a holistic picture of positivity and enthusiasm of the young people who have made a small or a big difference.

The 'B for Change' brand film also puts forward few thought provoking statements that define the voice or intention of today's young people, like 'hum bade shaitaan hai, magar pata hai...humari shaitaani corruption ki naak mein dam kar deti hai' , 'hum darte nahi, isiliye vahan bhi pahunch jaate hai jahan jaane se manaa karte hai sab', 'hum tension nahi lete, tension dete hai...aur aisi ki lene waala phir kabhi bhulta nahi', and 'humein paison ki value nahi magarjinke paas nahi hain unki hum dil se value karte hain'. In the end, the film projects the young people as social agents with a strong declaration - Bindass 'B for Change' 'Change Aayega....Hum Laayenge'.

"We also feel that the general sentiment amongst the youth currently is about the need for change and hence it was the right time for Bindass to present them with a platform that will enable them to bring about a change themselves," Kapur adds.

The channel has also launched a website called bforchange.com. "The brand film is the first leg of the 'B for Change' campaign, by which Bindass will create awareness amongst the youngsters about the initiative, followed by the website which will be an extension of the campaign online and become a platform for youngsters to bring about change.

The campaign will be extended on air through content on Bindass, which will be rolled out in the coming months. "These shows/properties again will reiterate Bindass' brand philosophy - 'enabler of purposive action' and be a part of the 'B for Change' campaign, where the young India will have the power in their hands to bring about the change they want to see," Kapur adds.

The brand film will be showcased in theatres, too. It will be promoted on 250 screens spread across Mumbai, Delhi and key cities in HSM 1mn+ markets; wherein Mumbai and Delhi would be the priority markets.

Adding about the research done by the channel, Kapur mentions, "Bindass has always been a brand that is entrenched in research. Our ongoing research suggested that the youth are restless and want to take action, but the nature of the action needs to be purposive - they would rather do it themselves than wait for someone else to bring about a change. With this core thought, we designed our brand philosophy of Bindass being an enabler of purposive action - which eventually resulted in the 'B for Change' campaign."

The channel is looking at investing 20-25 per cent of its overall marketing budget on the campaign. Kapur says that impact and innovation will be the key filters in selection of media vehicles. There will be heavy presence in outdoor, key dailies in print in addition to exposure through theatres.

"There will be exhaustive exposure across all major social media platforms - led by YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Outdoor, vernacular dailies and radio will be the driving force in the key cities of HSM 1mn+ markets," she adds.

The off-air media campaign will be on for four weeks through different media. In the launch phase, the social media campaign will actively drive the new channel positioning and awareness about the website, 'www.bforchange.com'. Sustenance will be pursued through social media, which will help build and increase traction for the website and keep alive the channel positioning.

GroupM's Motivator is the media agency working on the account.

For the record, Bindass is one of the leading youth entertainment channels and was launched in 2007. The channel is home to the popular home-grown youth oriented cult shows and franchises such as 'Yeh Hai Aashiqui', 'Emotional Atyachaar', 'Superdude', 'Beg Borrow Steal' and 'Big Switch', most of which have run into multiple seasons.

After the acquisition of UTV by Disney, the channel, formerly called UTV Bindass, was re-christened Bindass. It also adapted a new tagline, 'Rest-less', instead of the earlier 'What I Am'.