A cool cafe-cum-bar, designed in bright cheerful colours of orange, yellow and pink. Walls are adorned with witty quotations. For the gizmo freaks, the cafe has innovative themes like quirky I pad menu, video walls and touch screen gaming television.
Welcome to Channel [V]’s new cafe in Delhi –– [V] Spot cafe. “We want to make our café business profitable,” says the channel’s general manager (marketing) Prem Kamath. He lists Café Coffee Day, Mocha and Big Chill Café as the main competitors.
Is the channel serious about the claim? Kamath is realistic enough to put things in perspective. “We have no intention of entering this business seriously. So it is neither a diversification move nor a publicity gimmick,” he clarifies.
The cafes are the route Channel [V] has taken to take the brand to the ground level. According to a research the channel conducted, a vast majority of today’s youth does not spend time in front of television sets and prefer to hang out in cafes, malls or theatres. “Cafes are actually a big area for involvement of the youth,” Kamath adds. So the café is a reflection of the channel’s image. A lot of activities have been kept in synergy with TV. The café gives a chance to amateur singers, rock bands and comedians. The performances are recorded and then aired on the channel’s show, [V] Spot. Apart from this, the cafe has a video wall which allows people to record video messages for anyone, to be shown later on the Channel.”
Kamath thinks the cafes – the channel has plans to open several of them shortly – would be able to showcase the transition Channel [V] has made from just music. For example, just 20 per cent of the content is music-related while 80 per cent are reality-based shows. Ashish Pherwani, Associate Director, (Media & Entertainment) Ernst & Young, says it’s a good way of connecting with the youth.
Others, however, argue it is quite an expensive way to promote a channel. But Channel [V] perhaps had no other option but to try something unique to recover lost ground. According to TAM Data, from April, 2011 till June (week 15-22), the channel was in the seventh spot among music channels with 9.3 per cent market share. While MTV, its direct competitor, had the second largest market share with 13.2 per cent t, Hindi music channels like 9XM, Masti, B4U music and Zoom are among the top five.
Will competitor MTV follow the Channel [V] route? Sandeep Dahiya, SVP, (Consumer Products & Communications), Viacom 18, replies in the negative. “We will feel threatened with something like Facebook where the youth is more active. But we already have a huge fan following on Facebook with 2,597,233 members”.
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The channel is already an established player in the merchandising division. MTV consumer products today extends into more than 10 categories with eyewear, bags, stationery & paper, debit cards, mobile phones, bed linen and helmets, among others. Its key licensees include Citibank, Aureole-Inspecs, BILT, Portico, Micromax, Steelbird, Wildcraft and Mochi.
MTV in fact had a headstart in merchandising and launched a full-fledged division in 2001 with the launch of MTV Citibank credit card. It also had a successful stint in the apparel biz by tying up with Bangalore-based Jay Gee and launched its new MTV Style series. Before the launch of MTV Roadies-Season 8, this year, MTV partnered with Mochi — ‘The Shoe Stoppe’ — to launch an entire new range of stylish Roadies footwear. The channel has already made its mark in the print industry at the start of this year. It launched its first ever publication, ‘Noise Factory’ in India. The magazine is available through subscriptions and also in select locations and bookstores like Odyssey and Landmark.
Dahiya says the consumer product division helps in two ways, first, it’s a revenue generating model and second, it’s a great way to connect with the viewers and also ensures consistent fan following. “We are also planning to go below the belt, by launching inner wears too.”
MTV doesn’t distribute the products but helps in creating brands and content. Once the brand is strongly placed, it conceptually co-creates and monetises the model by tying up with partners in the value chain.