Sania Mirza to run 'PIX School of BONDing' on Sony Pix

In the new property, the channel will air all the 23 Bond movies, starting November 22. The movies will air every Saturday at 7 pm and 9 pm.

Seems like Sony Pix is up for some real Bond propaganda! The English movie channel from Multi Screen Media stable has decided to go on a twelve week spree in training the boy lot how to woo the fairer sex, Bond-style!

Come November 22, Sony Pix will launch 'PIX School of BONDing', a new property that will showcase all 23 Bond movies, that have been made over the past five decades. Starting November 22, the movies will air every Saturday at 7 pm and 9 pm.

Touted as the biggest marketing campaign from a property in the genre, the channel has roped in Sania Mirza as the face of the property. With Mirza, the channel will launch the "School of BONDing" wherein she'll be seen as a trainer, giving tips on how to woo one's way to a woman's heart, the BOND way. The idea being - men want to be like Bond and women would kill for a man like him.

According to the channel, Bond has inspired many generations and is an iconic character. His movies have earlier been associated with various English movie channels but this will be for the first time that the Bond franchise, with all the 23 Bond movie titles, have been packaged and positioned uniquely on Sony Pix.

Saurabh Yagnik, executive vice-president and business head, Sony PIX and AXN, explains that the English Movie business is not just about putting the best content out, but it is important to build a brand and a destination where people will go to and offer something compelling to watch.

"Many generations have found Bond as desirable and inspirational. We are a young country and bulk of our audience must have not seen the full cycle of the franchise. Girls, guns and gadgets kept changing for the 50 years, what actually remained evergreen is Bond's evergreen attitude which we call the Bond way of Life! We wanted to bring alive that attitude. And, that's the common theme for the 23 movies," he explains.

So, if being a Bond is a male's desire, the channel wanted to communicate a woman's perspective - what is it that she finds desirable about Bond. To communicate the same, Mirza was chosen as a disruptive choice of a woman, where she is most powerful in the space she is in and the most desirable too, Yagnik adds.

Sony Pix has gone all out to promote the property as the most sought after one. The channel has rolled out promos featuring Mirza which are running on different network channels.

Talking about the marketing push, Neville Bastawalla, head, marketing, Sony Pix, says, "We are pushing the campaign on digital in a big way. We have taken the entire MSM's 10 million + fansbase on Facebook, Sania's 75 lakh fans and even her 20 lakh twitter followers. That's the muscle on social media with the plan. There was a live chat with Sania arranged on November 20. We have even created multiple memes are making them go viral through whatsapp."

On November 22, the YouTube masthead will say - 'Lessons from Sania'. On print, there will be insertions in leading English dailies on two consecutive Saturdays in six metros.