Adgully Exclusive | Technology engages us in ways that are addictive: Zee TV's Akash Chawla

When the social networking sites took the world by storm, it created a change ' a change in the outlook of people not only in terms of personal, but also professional outlook.

Though the impact of social networking is still in its early stages, brands, companies, channels and possibly every medium is working overtime these days to extract the maximum mileage from it.

Digitalization is the next big thing that is slowly rocking the boat. Everyone here, knows that future is digital and continuing with the tradition of exploring differentiated marketing on DID, Zee TV once again is ready to set some new benchmarks. Maruti Suzuki Dance India Dance Season 3 will unveil the first of its kind WAP site & Mobile Application. Devices Like iPads, BlackBerry, Android, netbooks, iPhones, PDAs, eBook reader, tablet PCs and cell phones have built a virtual network which connects people on the go and allows them to stay connected anytime and anywhere.

This cutting edge technology will make a dream come true for all DID fans and the tech savvy generation of smartphone and feature phone users. The channel has associated with MOBILOX Innovations Pvt. Ltd to develop a WAP & APP technology which will give all mobile phone addicts the opportunity to reach out to their favourite DID contestants in real time.

Besides this, the channel has introduced a "free voting' for contestants, where the viewers are asked to give a "missed call' to their favourite contestant as against the industry norm of pay-per-message.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Akash Chawla, Marketing Head, Zee TV explains the concept behind their upcoming initiatives on digital platforms.

"Technology engages us in ways that are addictive. Today it's the viewers who call the shots -- they are not just passive viewers anymore, they are also generators of content, co-creators of products, and with social media and their smartphones - a media channel in their own right. With anytime, anyplace consumption, it is imperative for a content producer like us to adapt to their methods to make an impression and engage with audiences. And, to remain viable, we must do our part to facilitate this process," explains Chawla.

Chawla believes that, a true youth brand has to keep engaging and talking with everything that today's youth wants to be associated with.

"For example, Dance India Dance is a brand that is a favourite with viewers of all ages, especially the youth. Through Dance India Dance, Zee TV as a channel got an unparalleled opportunity to connect with the youth of today," Chawla says.

"The thought process is to communicate with our audience rather than one way communication which can be done in various ways let it be a letter, mobile gadgets, blogs or internet. Today's youth is usually seen playing with their gadgets all the time whether it is to use social media, downloading of apps and surfing net. So we have to involve them, in judging, participating, interacting with them," Chawla adds.

With the competition growing by the day, Chawla believes that their campaign engages the viewers better.

"We have so far worked on traditional ways to communicate with the viewers. We have built up our campaigns in such a way that it engages them and we will continue to do so. Going forward ZEE is exploiting and using digital medium more and more. Still it's in a very nascent stage and we are focusing on technology," he says.

"It will certainly not be a 'one size fits all' strategy and it will differ according to the programme content and the audience," he adds.

Besides the GEC category, they also plan to replicate the same with Zee Cinema as well. As part of their initiative for DON 2, they plan to run a contest called Berlin Train, where the objective is to find Don. "As a part of entire team we are going to do it twice in Zee Cinema on April 19. Then we are going to do it on Zee TV on the following Sunday at 5 pm, wherein one can win a chance to go to Berlin and 1 lakh rupees every week sitting at home," explains Chawla.

For their next initiative ' the movie Agneepath, Zee plans to have an interactive-based show as they did for the movie Players, which bagged good response.

"We got highest ratings and in terms of SMS and that was highest SMS that Zee cinema had received," he said.