Dec 16, 2008

Mktg - India;Tata Sky signs up Asin

Meera Mohanty


New Delhi, Dec. 15 Actress Asin, who is set to make her Bollywood debut in the film Ghajini, has been signed up by Tata Sky to endorse its Direct-to-Home services. The DTH company is banking on the actress’ popularity in southern markets.

Ghajini, the Hindi remake of the Tamil hit which also starred Asin, has Tata Sky’s other band endorser, Aamir Khan, in the lead and will be released after Christmas. Tata Sky’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Vikram Mehra, said it had signed a long term association with the actress and it was not limited to any particular film release.

Mr Mehra would not comment on whether the actress and Aamir would be featured in a campaign together. “When we studied the southern market for personalities, we recognised that Asin, who is young, vibrant and successful, had all the attributes that matched with the brand.”

Tata Sky, till October 2007, didn’t have rights to Sun TV’s bouquet of channels; customer acquisition since then has surged in the southern markets where Sun Direct claims to be the leader amongst DTH services.

Tata Sky has started offering Tamil films in its pay-per-view section, and also runs the Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel offering ‘darshan’ of the Tirupati deity. It plans to introduce stories in Telugu and Tamil in its value-added service for children, ‘Active Stories’.

Asin’s popularity in the southern states should help the DTH service better market its product. The actress has also endorsed CavinKare, Mirinda and Colgate amongst other brands. A campaign featuring the actress is to be launched soon. “DTH is an emerging industry, and all of us are in a market growth phase, and will keep making the kind of investments that are needed,” said Mr Mehra.

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