Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin…?

The Indian television industry has seen an exponential growth since satellite
television first came to India

Today, though cable penetration is only about 50 per cent (according to various industry
estimates), this class of people is defined as the “consuming class” in India. By 2002, the
share of cable & satellite television was 86.9 per cent of total television advertising as
against a meagre 31.3 per cent in 1994.

Hindi general entertainment television is the fuel for growth in the television industry
with a 46.8 per cent share of total viewership and an even higher 57.4 per cent share of
total advertising revenue. Sony Entertainment Television is a key player in this space and
has been a consistent and strong number two behind Star Plus, which has been the
undisputed leader since July 2000.

In India most homes are single TV homes. Hindi is the preferred language for consuming
entertainment across India (except the four Southern states) and that makes Hindi General
Entertainment Television an intensely competitive space. It consists of five players. Star
Plus has been the undisputed leader since July 2000 and has significantly consolidated its
position thereafter. In September 2003, Star Plus had nearly five times as much
viewership of its nearest rival Sony Entertainment Television. The other contenders are
Zee TV, Sahara TV and SAB TV. The key factor is that in primetime (and specifically in
the 9-10 pm band) which is the focus of this case, the female influences the choice of
channel to view.

Business Challenge:
Star Plus with original programming from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm at night has successfully
funnelled audiences from one show to another and has today a strong loyal base of
viewers. In contrast, Sony Entertainment Television has more “appointment viewing”
wherein viewers come in for a select show, and tune out.
Sony Entertainment Television dominated the 9-10 pm band, with two of its leading
shows, Kkusum and Kutumb up until mid 2002 after which the 4 daily shows of Star Plus
took over.
Despite several high profile attempts to regain lost audiences, Sony Entertainment
Television’s share in this band continued to erode. Star Plus had established a clear
dominance over Sony Entertainment Television. (Star Plus average range of Television
Ratings (TVRs) approx 13.2 TVRs, as compared to Sony Entertainment Television’s 1.3
TVRs). Besides, Sony Entertainment Television was now perceived as a “me-too” to Star
Plus

Understanding Women
Sony Entertainment Television commissioned research among women, the primary target
audience for the channel. The research “Understanding the woman” conducted in seven
cities across India provided insights, which helped define its content/programming
strategy, which is: “To provide intelligent and innovative entertainment to its viewers”.
The research threw up some startling trends and insights. One key insight was “The birth
of the woman as a strategist.” Today’s women have “solutions in their grasp all the time”
- be it at home or outside at work. These women are educated, modern housewives who
easily identify with the working, real woman who strive to make it in the world out there.
These women were looking for something different (yet relatable) from the routine
kitchen politics that dominated television programming.
The challenge therefore was to create and sell a distinct viewing alternative, going
beyond the clichéd family dramas with storyline’s revolving around family conflicts and
kitchen politics which is the predominant fare on general entertainment channels today.

Defining Our Target Audience

While the aggregate Target Audience would be all individuals belonging to SEC ABC,
25-34 years from C&S homes, the bulls eye TG was narrowed down to — Mrs.
Tanushree Salve residing in suburban Mumbai, SEC A, well educated, married and has
two children. While she may be a homemaker, she is well aware of the world outside and
sees TV as a window to it.

Product Offering
The product offering “Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin”, true to its title, has a truly unique
protagonist in Jassi. She is a less than ordinary looking “Plain Jane”, trying to make her
way in a world where good looks and glamour matter more than they should.
Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin is an adaptation of the hit Colombian series “Yo Soy Betty La Fea”
(I am Betty the ugly one). The original Columbian Telenovella was a rage in Columbia
and 25 countries around the world. In India however, we would recreate the serial unlike
all other markets where it was merely dubbed or subtitled.

Marketing Objectives

• To drive sampling for the time slot and build reach in the shortest possible time
o Slot reach prior t
• To grow channel share in terms of average TVRs as well as Audience Preference
Indexes
o Star was dominant here with Average TVRs 10 times that of Sony
Entertainment Television
 • To get “Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin” into the top ranked shows on Indian Television
o Currently Star Plus dominates the list of top 50 shows
• To create hype around the launch in a manner as non-conventional as the serial
• To break the mould in terms of positioning of the serial and thus the channel

The Marketing Challenge

Conventionally, television advertising has always been about big, bold poster advertising
depicting glossy lead actors shouting down at you from billboards. In this case, the
protagonist “Jassi” was less than ordinary to look at yet was truly beautiful if you met
her. The challenge therefore was how do we get viewers to sample the show?

Marketing Strategy
As in the old adage, we decided that we will not give the viewer an opportunity to judge a
book by it’s cover — therefore never show Jassi in any pre- and post-launch promotional
material and activity until we get a critical mass to sample the show.
Also keeping in mind the Indian culture, a literal translation of “ugly” was unlikely to cut
ice with the viewers. Hence Betty was transformed into Jassi - and her extraordinary
qualities were played up.
Like Jassi, her marketing was also unique. The Communication strategy built around the
fact that if you create intrigue yet give people clues about the character you would be able
to fuel their curiosity and get them to sample the show.
We decided to stay true to this strategy in everything we did, be it in print, on billboards,
on TV and even on ground and at press meets.

Execution
The primary objective was to fuel curiosity about Jassi and build endearment for her as a
character, by giving the viewers different facets of her personality. All this without ever
revealing her.
Where all channels were treating the consumer as an unintelligent mass, the Jassi
communication elevated the consumer to a status of a more discerning audience. Each
piece of communication gave you a bite into Jassi’s persona allowing the viewer to create
a personal image of Jassi, which made her real and identifiable. The campaign messages
and various elements built up to fuel the curiosity around the launch and after.
The desired response was, “I’ve heard so much about her, now I can’t wait to meet her.”

A 360 Degree connect with the consumer

The execution of the strategy was designed to take the “Jassi” experience to the consumer
across the entire spectrum of touch-points through appropriate media vehicle. The
execution was unconventional, even if the medium was conventional. The media mix
included a host of unconventional media vehicles such as sms, flash mobs, airport
placards, leaflets designed specifically for traffic junctions, shopping malls, stations,
trains etc. to create the buzz in addition to the conventional TV, radio, outdoor, press.
PR was used as a strategic tool and helped reinforce the Marketing strategy. At the media
launch the channel presented the entire caste of the show (except Jassi), thus further
fuelling the intrigue among the media building to the launch. On the day of the launch,
the Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta Times supplements carried a picture of the entire cast
with the caption “Jassi manages to give the cameras a slip yet again”.
Since Jassi was launching in a highly competitive slot against established shows with
loyal viewership, it was decided to give audiences a special sneak preview of the show on
Sunday (day preceding the launch). It was immediately followed by a half-hour capsule
on the making of Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. This stunt was promoted in a unique way with
the other Sony Entertainment Television stars inviting viewers for this special preview.

Communication Flow
The communication strategy started with building attributes that personified Jassi. The
next phase had anonymous people talking about Jassi and then the campaign moved on to
characters from the show talking about Jassi in their inimitable way; be it her parents, her
boss, her peers.
Once Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin had generated some momentum and the initial feedback from
critics, media and viewers was very positive, the channel seized the opportunity to use
this feedback to fuel further sampling through the next phase of communication — the
Shaher Shaher Mein Charcha campaign, which features people across all walks of life
voicing their opinion about Jassi.

Sustaining the buzz post launch

While the Shaher Shaher Mein Charcha campaign continued to fuel the buzz on TV and
billboards the channel embarked on yet another unconventional activity launching a
Jassi’s Pals club. The objective of the club being to create a community of Jassi fans who
will become apostles and advocates for the show.
In addition Jassi merchandise was now being made available - the ring tone download
being the first in a series of items to be launched.
Having hidden her all this while, it was now time to get the viewers to interact with Jassi
in character to drive further connect and empathy. The channel took Jassi to Delhi where
she was the talk of the town. She was interviewed live in the studios of Aaj Tak and Red
FM, feted by the Delhi Secretary’s Association. The frenzy on seeing her was akin to that
generally reserved for film stars.
Each of these initiatives continues to drive audiences and build viewer affinity to Jassi
and the show. What started as a buzz, turned into a roar, with Jassi-mania taking the
country by storm.

The Results (Figures as of February 2004)

l Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin is today the top rated show on Sony Entertainment Television and
continues to grow.
l Sony Entertainment Television share of the 9.30 pm slot is up from 8.2 per cent prior to
the launch to 32.4 per cent by December, within three months of launch, and still
growing. Star Plus is down from 81.8 per cent share to 62.6 per cent share
l Slot TVRs are up from 1.33 TVRs prior to launch, to 6.3 TVRs by December 6th.
l Slot reach grew close to three times within 10 weeks of launch.
l The advertiser response has been so overwhelming driving slot rates up by 50 per cent.
The show today has a full house of 12 sponsors as against the single one when it
launched.
l The initial pull campaign “want to know more about Jassi” resulted in an overwhelming
response of over 2 lakh hits.
l A single burst e-mail campaign to 46,000 calling for viewers to enrol for The Jassi Pals
Club yielded over 4000 members, a conversion rate of 8.7 per cent
l The consumer connect can be gauged by the fact that over 100,000 viewers participated
in an sms based opinion poll, when Jassi was caught in a moral quandary.
l The first of the merchandising activity, the Jassi ring tone download has resulted in over
80,000 in just a couple of weeks
l At the time of writing this document, Jassi is being hailed by media, critiques and
viewers alike as the new, refreshing and popular face of Indian Television.

Truly, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin!

Questions to ponder

• Do you think Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahi can do for SET what Kaun Baenga Crorepati
did for Star Plus?
• What contributed to the success of the series — differentiated content or
innovative marketing?
• How should SET capitalise on the success of Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahi to push up
TRPs of its other programmes?