Saturday, April 12, 2008

Display and dissemination

Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of almost 51 lakhs. There are 9 multiplexes and 35 theaters in the city of Ahmedabad. The city has six local FM stations at Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHZ), Radio City (91.1 MHZ), My fm (94.3 MHZ), Radio One (95.0 MHZ), Gyan Vaani (104.5 MHZ), All India Radio (96.7 MHZ). All India Radio is broadcast on the AM band. Satellite radio was launched in the city by WorldSpace in 2005. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Ahmedabadis perform two basic sets of activities- Watch films (bollywood) and eat food and Eat food and watch films, in between they also shop. The media savvyness of these people is apparent by the above mentioned statistics. Therefore the most appropriate display and dissemination structure for our information will be multiplexes. Multiplexes have a dual advantage. They provide maximum viewership and high recall value possible due to the ease of repetition of the information. The Cinema Advertising Council reports that advertising in movie theaters is experiencing double-digit growth each year, partly because research suggests it is one of the best ways to reach young and affluent consumers.

Theater advertising takes on many forms, but generally speaking, it is any paid advertisement that appears on the movie screen or in the theater lobby. The two major methods are theater slides (ads that appear on the screen between movies) and filmed spots that appear directly prior to the movie trailers or during the intermission. While only large national advertisers such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola have the budgets for filmed ads, theater slides are affordable and can be a very effective persuasion device.These campaigns will be inserted in between the film intervals at various multiplexes, targeting the cultural and social upholders of society that reserve themselves the right to segregate an entire community from the mainstream.

The maximum audience at the multiplexes belongs to the younger age group (recently employed). These spots and slides will act as an awareness campaign for many who are not even acquainted with the issue, but are still passive participants in segregating the tribe. The notions of such segregation are embedded deep in the social structure which are imbibed much earlier by the children, if not through explicit learning but atleast implicitly through following actions of their elders. Other possible avenues for projections can be the screens in major food outlets such as Barista, Mc Donalds, Mint, Sub way and the likes. These outlets have small Plasma televisions which screen advertisements and songs. As almost 80 percent of Ahmedabadi families have their dinners outside on the weekend, these spaces become lucrative ground for persuasion.

Radio Mirchi has become a big craze in Ahmedabad. Radio theaters can be interspersed between popular programmes while getting the issue endorsed by a RJ (Radio jockey). RJs are becoming a cult figure in such cities with a huge fan following of their programmes. Retail outlets in Ahmedabad thrive on the shopping sprees of Ahmedabadis which to their benefit happen very often. Retail designing especially window displays have become an important part of wooing customers. These window displays can be utilised for slide presentations which will ensure a good visibility.As the campaign progresses, more such avenues can be included.