“Today, kids are specific about the kind of content they want to consume”: Abhishek Dutta, Cartoon Network

The leading children's entertainment channel has unveiled a new brand positioning with fresh colours, music, design and content slate. A chat with the South Asia network head, Cartoon Network and POGO.

Cartoon Network, the leading children's entertainment channel, has unveiled a new brand positioning and tagline, ‘Redraw Your World’. It aims to encourage the kids to always be true to themselves and be confident in their abilities to impact real change.

The campaign's presenting sponsor is Perfetti Van Melle India (PVMI) that will be present across the channel’s key tent poles, including its flagship School Contact Program and the year-end festive season. Starting March 30, kids will interact with a completely new look and feel of Cartoon Network that is refreshed with vibrant colours, music and design. There is also a new programming slate.

Speaking about the channel’s repositioning campaign, Abhishek Dutta, South Asia network head, Cartoon Network and its companion channel POGO, tells afaqs!, “With ‘Redraw Your World’, we wish to encourage kids to always be true to themselves and impact real change, however small or big it can be. It is our brand promise to empower kids to express themselves and expand their imagination.”

“Today, we are living in very interesting times, where the kids feel very empowered to express their voice and are extremely specific about the kind of content that they want to consume. They are looking for stories that would not just engage them, but also inspire them.”

The new content lineup will include over 200 hours of fresh content, including original home-grown series, international shows, Specials, etc. The channel will also bring a special block for pre-schoolers under Cartoonito later this year.

The campaign will ensure that the channel is present across all relevant viewer touchpoints, including leading malls – a place that has been out of bounds for the past two years.

Additionally, Cartoon Network will collaborate with the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals to co-create content with characters like 'Ekans' and 'Tom and Jerry' for the channels digital platforms. In collaboration with Reliance Digital, Cartoon Network will bring its new theme closer to the viewers, with in-store display and character meet and greets across 100 stores in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

In May, Cartoon Network will roll out a music video anthem, a hybrid of animation and live action, by the kids and for the kids.

Today, video streaming apps and OTT platforms also offer a plethora of content for children’s entertainment. We asked Dutta if this has taken children away from television viewing?

“India is a very unique country, where both OTT and TV co-exist. The rise of OTT that has been driven by Internet penetration, has never undermined TV. Even going forward, we believe that TV penetration will keep increasing and we will be seeing more and more audiences consuming television content,” he mentions.

When it comes to creating content on social media platforms for the kids, a slightly challenging target group to crack, certain key parameters need to be considered.

“The three pillars of content are age, gender and genre. These are always kept in focus, while creating content across our mediums. Social is one of the mediums to reach out to our audiences, as is TV. While creating content for the kids, we have to be extra conscious about the kind of content we are showing them. We are also trying to bring in kids into our fold from a very young age and also provide content that caters to families,” Dutta concludes.