Love is in the air

and why not? It shud be... Because Love is not just about sublime emotions and unexpressed feelings any more, it today is a huge market for Indian marketers. While there are debates worldwide on how India has a turbulent V-Day, the truth is the V-Day market is booming by the day.

Earlier, it was the organised florist chains that sketched for us the picture of the V-Day market, with figures of 50-60% of their annual Sales coming in only on V-Day. A report in the news paper yesterday quoted 'Ferns n Petals' business last year on this day as 1.5 Crore, which is huge by any standards. It was only Archies and Ferns n Petals that offered the customers unique products for V-Day until recently. It was only roses that did great business till last year. That doesn't mean that roses have lost sheen this year, what with the sale expected to reach Rs. 25 Crore today. Who knows, as I write this, there must be 100s of red roses changing hands all across the country.

But now, India has arisen to a new V-Day, and firms like banks and airlines have queued up to woo the valentines' day pairs. I really dont understand if the couples of the country looking for a romantic retreat would really utilise such offers or would rather worry about being beaten up by organisations protesting against Valentines' Day. Thats too much of thinking to do. So, I leave to you guys and bask in another Valentines' Day where I romance myself! :P

The Style in Lifestyle...

Television is a powerful media, it reflects the societal thought and ideologies at a given time. The shows, the kind of media, the kind of audience tells a lot. We earlier had mythologies, then soap operas, and then started Reality Shows. Today's Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are a monitor of what the audience wants and enjoys.

Also the same is the case with different channels. We once had only Doordarshan, that gave us complete platter of programmes. We had news, songs, reality shows all packed into one channel and should I add that we enjoyed it. Even today, we idolise Doordarshan! Then came an onslaught of channels that gave us a share of movies, songs and other things. They further diverged into subsidiary channels, giving us channels specific for songs, news, movies etc... Zee, Sony, Star... All have taken this route, and have done it commendably well all the time fighting it out with each other with elan!

With growing demand and pan-India development of cable networks, they introduced local flavors. Then came a flurry of News channels, and when it all seemed saturated, we were left guessing what the next step would be... While there have been many genres of television in the world like History, Food and Travel, Weapons and Action, India has confined them all only to specific shows!

Now, NDTV has dawned open a new era of Television. After mastering news and finance, it has now ventured into Lifestyle. Lifestyle, as a genre, is not exactly new to Indian audience. Various channels have always had Travel, lifestyle as concepts for several of their shows. Now, NDTV has taken it a step forward and launched an entire new channel on it. Though I am yet to see it, am looking forward to it more than anything else on television. Agency FAQs writes the following about it:

The channel is in English and it is positioned as an aspirational product for viewers. It will mould programming specific to the Indian context. It claims to have at least 50-60 programmes per week to cater to the taste of its target audience. The genres include food, late night chat shows, relationships, travelling, cooking, tech and gadget shows, Indian weddings, parenting, pet care, parties, health and wellness and fashion cars and motor bikes.

It is indeed endearing to look for a channel that has a specific positioning in mind and working towards it. The most important factor behind this channel is its association with Kingfisher. Kingfisher, with its wizardly marketing acumen, has been venturing into right businesses. From rockshows, F1 races, lounge bars to lifestyle channels, it knows what it takes to be the King of Good Times! Kingfisher blog announced the launch of this channel too!

One of the masters of modern marketing, Kingfisher, and one of the pioneers of Indian television, NDTV have joined hands and am sure this going to be something interesting. If as nothing else, as a casestudy! ;)

PS: I quite dint understand completely though as to why this channel is completely in English!