If there’s a channel that truly understands the pulse of its audiences, it’s Zee TV.
Leveraging the power of social media and public relations, the channel constantly pushes out creative and innovative marketing campaigns for its new content offerings.
For the launch of two of its new shows that premiere tonight (23rd August), the brand decided to set the context for the stories through an interesting social experiment and a social media movement.
The first show, Meet, follows the journey of a spirited Haryana-based girl who is the sole breadwinner of her household and takes full charge of the household responsibilities. She embodies the emotion of “zimmedari ko ke pata, use nibhaane wala chhora hai ke chhori”.
In a nutshell, she is the ‘ghar ka chiraag’ – a tag most families unfortunately associate only with the son of the house. The show aims at breaking these gender stereotypes and highlights that even women are fully capable of juggling responsibilities both in and out of the house.
To spark a conversation on the subject, the campaign for Meet began with a video of a conservative ‘Tauji’ expressing his problematic views on gender roles and speaking of what a man’s duties are versus a woman’s. The video went viral on WhatsApp groups, and creative netizens began making memes mocking his bigotry. Across more than 200 meme pages, Tauji’s video garnered 5 million+ views with thousands of comments.
Actress Huma Qureshi and wrestling champion Babita Phogat stepped in, posting videos in response to the viral video on their respective social media handles.
The hashtags #TaujiBasKaro and #TasksSeeNoGender began trending and thousands of people shared their views on gender roles. Many lauded Qureshi and Phogat for taking a stand against gender discrimination.
When the buzz was at its peak, the actress revealed that the Tauji video was a social experiment orchestrated by Zee TV to draw attention to this disturbing mindset still prevalent in society. The channel attempts to address this pertinent subject through its upcoming show Meet, thereby setting the context to the show’s core premise beautifully. The Tauji video, coupled with reactions from Huma Qureshi and Babita Phogat created a huge buzz on media channels.
Launching on the same day as Meet, Rishton Ka Manjha explores the story of Diya and Arjun, who share a passion for badminton, but are at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their approach to life. The lead protagonist Diya is a cheerful optimist, while Arjun is a former Badminton champ who has given up on life after a scandal jeopardises his career.
To acquaint people with Diya’s optimistic personality and the uplifting impact a person like her can have on people, the brand launched the #BeingDiya campaign.
Many of us have experienced uncertainty and withdrawal lately. Diya, in a plea video shared by Zee TV’s Instagram account, urged people to come forth and ‘be a diya’ for those in need of positivity by starting a chain of hugs on social media.
Diya apne iss Virtual Hug ke saath logon tak pahuncha rahi hai positivity. Toh chaliye uske saath hum bhi bante hain kisiki life ka diya.
1. Upload your 'Virtual Hug photo' with #BeingDiya and #PositivityVolunteer.
2. Tag @ZeeTV and 5 friends @krushalahuja9#AanchalGoswami pic.twitter.com/osVcqksSgJ— ZeeTV (@ZeeTV) August 18, 2021
People were encouraged to sign up as ‘Positivity Volunteers’ via a sticker while posting a selfie with arms stretched wide open, connoting a virtual hug. Actors from the television industry like Urvashi Dholakia, Kratika Sengar and Pavitra Punia joined the initiative and added momentum to the #BeingDiya movement.
On ground, camera-embedded screens were installed at two locations in Ahmedabad and Delhi. At a time when people are unable to travel and meet loved ones, these two-way screens enabled them to interact with people in the other city and give them a virtual hug.
This innovative on-ground initiative saw an overwhelming response where thousands of people became positivity volunteers over three days. The #BeingDiya campaign successfully spread cheer and built the character of Diya as a symbol of optimism prior to the show’s launch.
