London 10th March 2011.  As Zee Network celebrates its 16th year in the UK, its ongoing initiatives are a reminder of how the network remains out in front as the most innovative player in the South Asian television market.

It has been difficult to ignore Zee Café’s current coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup, from a customised logo, to digital initiatives that have seen the company’s website traffic increase by over 2000%. Couple this with Zee’s sponsorship of the UK’s biggest consumer event, the Ideal Home Show, where Zee will be showcasing the best of British Asian culture and, the recent announcement of a partnership with the BBC to broadcast South Asia’s first supernatural drama series, Bishaash,  Zee is a trailblazer.

Govind Shahi, Head of Business, Zee Europe “There’s no doubt that we are operating in an intensely competitive market, despite this we have grown consistently. The key is not only offering audiences differentiated content, but being able to communicate with viewers in a way that connects with them on a personal level.”

The current ICC Cricket World Cup campaign is testament to how Zee’s strategic insight into content, distribution and marketing has become the cornerstone of its success.  Beginning with the bold move to take Hindi commentary rights, which has proved a huge success with local audiences, the Cricket World Cup campaign has initiated a number of new and exciting innovations.


For the first time Zee Café (previously in the UK only) is broadcasting across Europe for the duration of the World Cup.  The response from European audiences has been phenomenal with subscriptions coming in across communities. The showcasing of this mega event has seen other firsts in a continent-wide marketing campaign including eye-catching black taxi advertising that can been seen across the city of London.  
Whilst up-scaling its regular outdoor activities to include  billboards in every major city, Zee has actively sourced mediums to gain maximum exposure for the brand and connect with its target audience.  Its extensive print and outdoor campaign has seen full page newspaper wraps, newspaper distribution bins outside tube stations, and promotions in health clubs.

A comprehensive digital campaign has driven a significant increase in website traffic with good conversions. 

There have even been roadblock start-up pages on 3rd party websites.



Zee has also embraces new technology initiatives with the inclusion of Quick Response (QR) codes on much of its marketing collateral, to keep in trend with the growing popularity of Smartphone usage.
            
Zee Café was launched in July 2010 and promised cricket-lovers world class cricket from around the globe. Since its launch it has broadcast over 40 days of cricket, all of which have been live and much of which has been exclusive to Zee in the UK.  Zee Café is available free with any Zee pack.