Making BBC relevant to India: BBC World launches first ever India-specific marcom activity

British Airways did a Salaam Namaste some time back and now BBC World is all geared to connect with the Indian audience. In the first ever marketing communications activity that has come from the channel, BBC World has launched a local campaign that will be completely India-focused brand advertising. The Vyas Genetti Creative-designed campaign is called ‘What Affects the World, Affects You?’ and will tell its audience that the global news broadcast on BBC World is relevant to Indians as well. The campaign is being launched from January 16.

Circling around the television, outdoor and Internet domain, the creative campaign will run through television commercials and visuals entirely in English. “The reason why we have chosen English as the language for the campaign is because we have essentially always been an international channel,” explained Vaishali Sharma, Head, Marketing and Communications.

During the mid-2006, BBC had launched a marcom unit in India, its first in the region, signifying the interest that the media major has in the country. “We have been working on the campaign since quite a while now. It finally took shape only now,” said Sharma, adding, “The idea behind launching the campaign was to tell bring international news to the Indian audience, considering that the Indian market is a great potential for us.”

The campaign will run for three weeks, and the two television commercials include short films on environment and fashion. “These are issues that concern every Indian,” Sharma further said.

Vyas Genetti Creative is the official advertising agency handling the campaign for BBC.

"BBC World will continue to put news first throughout 2007, giving viewers everywhere a global perspective. Among the key things we will focus on are more Indian business news and a few specially commissioned series on some very intriguing issues. The aim of our South Asian related programming is to make India relevant to the world and contextualise the Indian experience to an international audience. BBC World has many interesting seasons and series relevant to the Indian audience planned for the year, but it's a little early to comment on this," said Sharma.