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Hallmark to invest
$5 m in revamping, promotions
Hallmark
Entertainment Network will be investing $5 million till the
end of 2001 in repackaging, research and promotion of its
channel. The channel will also start a dedicated Indian feed
in January, 2001, and schedule programmes to fit into the
audience needs of the country. Hallmark is scouting for local
studios and story lines from the country. Said Joel Jodie
McAfee, Vice President, Marketing, Crown Media International,
"We are looking at Indian production houses and specific
stories from the land. Besides, we have introduced local faces
in our packaging." The channel is available in six million
homes in the country.
Hallmark conducted a research in mid-April on focus groups
in five cities including Mumbai to get rid of its "stale,
slow and boring" channel image among the youth. The study
was based in four demogarphics split between male in the 18-34
and 35-54 year-olds and women in the same age group. "We
were not quite as appealing to a younger demographic and were
known as a channel skewed towards women. But it had to do
more with interstitials than programming," said McAfee.
Hallmark, as part of its global business plan, has created
a new brand package, which includes branded theme blocks,
a new positioning line, on-air graphics and signature music.
As the first step of this redesign, Hallmark commissioned
Lubin Lawrence, a renowned global brand strategy development
consulting firm and initiated a six-month global branding
research project that included consumer focus groups in the
UK, Poland, Taiwan, India and Argentina.
The entire project focused on five key factors: identification
of key viewer segments critical for future growth; understanding
of the core values of the target audience; fundamental viewer
understanding; definition and development of the Hallmark
brand platform and the translation of the brand platform into
a dominant growth strategy.
Hallmark also created six new prime time branded blocks to
offer to its viewers more variety on TV and to its advertisers,
a more defined target audience. The theme blocks are The Big
Event on Sundays (showcases the newest and best premieres
on the network), Crown Cinema on Saturdays (brings back the
best of the best), Night Files (delivers chilling mysteries
and suspenseful thrillers), Our Time (family-oriented programming
with uplifting stories), On the Edge (action-packed thrillers),
and Lovebeat (movies with passion and about contemporary issues).
"It is a like a real estate for ad sales as we can target
specific demographics. The programming of the individual branded
blocks appeals to a more specific audience," said Mr
McAfee.
The network will take ownership of the redesigned brand over
the course of a six month roll-out beginning November 1 in
Asia and Latin America, followed by a December launch in Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Greece and Central Europe. Hallmark
produces 45-55 new movies a year, besides acquiring additional
films for its channel. "Almost 60 per cent of the movies
are Hallmark products and 40 per cent acquisitions. The cost
of the big movie budgets range between $20-70 million. We
already have 4,000 hours of programming," said McAfee.
Hallmark has a 30 million global subscriber base. It, however,
is not present in France and Germany as it has co-production
deals with two free-to-air broadcasters. "We have identified
India, Brazil and Taiwan as growth areas for us," McAfee
said.
Sibabrata
Das
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