Dd Targets Sports In Brand Building Drive

The marketing associates of Doordarshan will launch a media blitz in the next few days as a brand building exercise of DD's sports programming on the existing channels and the proposed sports channel of DD.

For the first time, a DD venture highlighting its achievements in sports programming will also be advertised on another satellite channel, Sony Entertainment TV, which would include promos revolving round cricket.

DD's chief executive, SS Gill, admitted that DD will market its sports programming aggressively through the media. He refused to elaborate.

However, sources in Mandi House said, "With DD cornering the telecast rights for some of the hot sports, including cricket tournaments, the brand building exercise would revolve round the theme of almost non-stop cricket on DD.".

 

The media blitz planned includes campaigns in major dailies and on-air brand promotion highlighting the sports events to be telecast on DD beginning with the Indian cricket's tour of Zimbabwe beginning next month, ICC knockout championship or the mini-cricket World Cup at Dhaka in November which would lead up to the 1999 World Cup to be held in England.

"The brand building exercise is like promoting a particular brand within the mother-brand which in this case is DD," sources explained, pointing out that an advertising agency has been roped in to help in the sports brand-building exercise.

In July, Prasar Bhararti took a decision to start a Doordarshan channel exclusively devoted to sports.

The transponder which is going to be used is Pan Am Sat-4 on which DD has a C and KU-band transponder capacity.

Of late, most big sporting events were aired either exclusively on DD, like the World Cup football, or simultaneously telecast on ESPN/Star Sports and DD. Eleven matches of the 1999 cricket World Cup matches, for example, would be simultaneously telecast on DD and ESPN.

According to sources, DD comes out a winner as the national broadcaster is putting in no money for acquiring telecast rights of sporting events.

A marketing consortium, comprising Delhi-based Stracon and Mumbai-based UTV and Creative Eye, have been putting up the money for bidding for telecast rights assuring the rights holders that the programme would get carried on DD as its the carrier.

The gameplan of DD to become a dominant player in the arena of TV sports has been unfolding in stages.

The first stage envisaged DD or associates cornering the telecast rights of major international sports events, including those where India is playing, and airing them for DD viewers.

The second stage of the gameplan was to have an exclusive outlet for these sports programmes and the third stage is to make the venture commercially viable and successful.