Mumbai: Star Plus?s new show Saraswatichandra, which marks the TV debut of iconic bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, has already become big on digital.

In a unique initiative Star Plus had done a web premiere for the show on Valentine?s day. The web premiere became a rage on Youtube hitting almost a 1 million views even before the launch of the show. The channel aired 2 versions of the preview - a 7 min long version and a shorter edit of 3 mins. Digital audiences lapped up the sneak preview and showered generous praise on the show.

Said Nikhil Madhok, Vice president, Marketing, STAR Plus, ? Saraswatichandra is a really unique love story and we instinctively felt that it would find good traction amongst the youth. The whole idea of the web premiere was to reach out the youth and give them an opportunity to engage with the characters of Kumud and Saraswatichandra much before the TV launch. We are delighted that the premiere met with such a huge response.?

The show also trended on Twitter as the first episode was aired on TV on Feb 25th.

Saraswatichandra airs every Mon to Fri at 730pm only on STAR PLUS.

Mumbai: Following its huge success and popularity, AXN hosted the first ever Top Chef Open Kitchen Night in association with the Marriot group of hotels in Mumbai on 20th Feb, 2013.

The event allowed AXN viewers and fans to come and attend this fun filled activity through a simple FB contest. The viewers enjoyed the experience of the Top Chef in their own city, cooked up a meal for
themselves with Chef Manuel in an open kitchen set up followed by dinner and cocktails. The food enthusiasts got a chance to learn new dishes along with the secret tips from the Chef- making this a
cherished and memorable experience for them.

Top Chef Texas, aired on AXN recently is the ninth season of the popular cooking reality season which just gets bigger and better with host yummy mummy Padma Laxshmi joined by head judge Tom Colicchio, and
Gail Simmons from Food & Wine magazine.

MUMBAI: ET NOW, India?s #1 Business news channel is all set to gear up for the upcoming Union Budget 2013. As the nation is setting up its expectation from the Finance Minister, ET NOW launched a series of special shows analyzing the challenges and opportunities for the year ahead. The pre-budget special shows have gone on air from 18th February and continue post budget.

ET NOW with its formidable team of India?s most proficient business anchors will air views and expectations of technical trading experts, stakeholders, global investors, retail investors along with political specialists. The channel that is ?Always Thinking Markets? is leading the business news channels genre with 53% market share in core TG of the genre and is steadily growing its presence in the market.

Some of the pre-budget shows have gone on air while some are still lined up till the budget day. This budget keep your eyes glued to ET NOW for the most prominent names like Uday Kotak, K V Kamath, Deepak Parekh, Madhu Kela, Shankar Sharma, Vallabh Bhansali, Raamdeo Agrawal and most all Swaminathan Aiyer. Catch the special programming on ET NOW:
 

• Traders 20 Budget Special: Get 20 top trading ideas for budget day from India?s best technical analysts, including Ashwani Gujral and Mitesh Thacker from 7am to 8am.
• Budget 2013 Countdown: Kick start your trading day with investment ideas from a power-packed panel of market experts including Shankar Sharma, Sunil Singhania, Ridham Desai, and Raamdeo Agrawal from 8am to 11am.
• The FM Speech: Understand the budget as it unfolds like never before. Swaminathan Aiyar analyses the speech real time, even as the best technical analysts fire stock recommendations based on budget proposals. ET NOW?s dynamic screen will help you interpret the budget with the fastest impact flashes and expert opinions from 11am to 1pm.
• Budget: The First Cut: The sharpest minds in the market and corporate India have come together to analyse the budget and its impact on investors and companies. Swaminathan Aiyar leads an exclusive panel of experts including KV Kamath, Uday Kotak, Jim O?Neill, Prashant Jain, Sunil Singhania, Shankar Sharma, and Nilesh Shah from 1pm to 2pm.
• Budget: Closing Strategy: Get the best investment ideas from the top market gurus Madhu Kela and Vallabh Bhanshali as they decipher what the budget means for equities from 2pm to 4pm.
• Budget Day: 3 hours of non-stop bulletins that analyse the budget fine print. Catch top government officials and the biggest corporate leader?s debate and discuss the budget from 4pm to 7pm.
• Investor?s Guide Budget Special: What does the budget mean for the retail investor? Has the FM left more money in your wallet and what?s the devil in the fine print? ET NOW gets the biggest personal finance experts together to answer all your queries on Budget 2013 from 7pm to 8pm.
• Budget 2013: The Street View: The trading day may be over, but it?s time to reflect on the fine print of the budget and its impact on markets in the medium term. Which sectors will dominate street sentiment and which stocks should investors bet on? Catch the biggest fundamental experts with their stock picks from 8pm to 9pm.
• The Verdict with Swami: Has the FM warded off the downgrade threat? Has he done enough to revive corporate India?s animal spirits? And will foreign investors keep their bets on the India story? Swaminathan Aiyar leads a marquee panel of experts including Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deepak Parekh, Uday Kotak and NR Narayana Murthy from 9pm to 10.30pm.
• Budget Picks: The Day After: Get tomorrow?s most compelling picks today. ET NOW cracks technical line up will be back with its top 20 trading ideas for the day after budget. Ashwani Gujral, Mitesh Thacker, Sandeep Wagle and many more will help you with winning ideas for the day after budget from 10.30pm to 11pm

Mumbai: Take a popular RJ, his on-air prankster alter-ego Bauaa, a wish to connect the RJ directly with his adoring audience, the never-say-die attitude of DDB Mudra Max and you have an incredible event Bauaa Hawa Mein ? a series of LIVE radio shows by 93.5 Red FM from studios fabricated on billboards

The objective was to popularize Red FM Delhi?s evening show host RJ Raunac?s character Bauaa through an OOH medium that allowed for live performance and face to face interaction with the audience and fans. The idea was to have Bauaa seen, and not just heard, for the first time! And, thanks to the competence in innovation that is now the hallmark of DDB MudraMax, the execution was literally from up in the air.

There were several challenges, of which fabrication was just one. Hoisting a 100 sq ft live-broadcasting, fully equipped studio in mid-air, was not easy. Managing permissions from all the authorities involved, ensuring security to the performers and preventing crowd misadventures in high-strung Delhi had all the makings of a nightmare. Not just one, but three of them!

To connect to the listener, live studios were set up at three different locations of the NCR. RJ Raunac along with the Bhagra Pop Singer Daler Mehandi did the entire show Live from a radio booth mounted on a billboard at Rajouri Garden on 29 January 2013. Similar shows were conducted from unipoles in Noida on 1 February and Gurgaon on 6 February. Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, widely recognised for showing up at every cricket match the Indian team plays with his entire body painted in the national colours, attended the event in Noida. Deep Money, Punjabi Pop singer of ?Dope Shope? fame, was a part of the Gurgaon show.

All three events were executed by DDB MudraMax - OOH who have built up a formidable reputation for innovative outdoor activation guaranteed to grab eyeballs and generate buzz.

The audience was mesmerized. Lot of fans were happy to meet Bauaa. Each and every vehicle that passed the location noticed the event and several people stopped to meet Raunac. The Facebook page garnered almost 1000 likes on 29 January , the night of the first show at Rajouri Garden . The show became so popular that almost every media channel came to cover the next two shows at Noida and Gurgaon.

Commenting on the campaign, Nisha Narayanan, Senior VP - Projects and Programming, 93.5 Red FM said, ?We always strive to think different and innovate to connect with our listeners. Thus, it is our constant endeavour to set higher standards of radio programming. Initiatives like Bauaa Hawa Mein help in bringing the brand and our jocks closer to the listeners.?

Commenting on the campaign, Mandeep Malhotra President, DDB MudraMax said, ?It?s always a wonderful feeling to take up challenging assignments and deliver clutter breaking work for any media brand. We are really kicked about this work and are looking forward for doing more exciting work in the fresh start.?

MUMBAI: STAR Plus has always aimed at presenting new ideas, new content and new promotional campaigns to its viewers. And this time, for the launch of Sanjay Leela Bhansali?s Saraswatichandra, the channel deployed an innovative and clutter breaking guerrilla digital campaign, which was a huge success.

The show launching on 25th February at 7:30 PM, is a modern-day adaptation of the Gujarati novel by the same name and is essentially a one-of-a-kind love story at its core. Hence, STAR Plus decided to give a Valentine?s Day treat to its viewers by releasing a 7 min sneak peek of the show?s episode over digital platforms. The exclusive web premiere, which aired on STAR Plus?s official YouTube channel on 14th February at 3 pm garnered approximately 2,97,462 hits in a short span.

The exclusive preview helped generate a lot of and excitement for the TV launch on 25th February; it had the non tech-savvy audience exploring the digital medium and at the same time reached out to the digitally-proficient younger audience.

Speaking on this novel marketing initiative Nikhil Madhok, Vice President, Marketing, STAR Plus said, ?Saraswatichandra is a really unique love story and we instinctively felt that it would find good traction amongst the youth. The show is a modern-day love story, so we wanted to reach out to the younger audiences. The best way to get their attention is by going digital. And, it has definitely been a successful campaign going by the overwhelming number of hits and views.?

The response to this disruptive, clutter-breaking campaign has been remarkable. In less than two months, Saraswatichandra?s digital content has crossed 1 million hits and views.

Saraswatichandra premiered across Star Plus?s digital platforms on 14th February at 3 pm. The TV launch took place on 25th February and the show airs daily from Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm on STAR Plus. The digital content of the show is available on STAR Plus?s official YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/starplus

MUMBAI: The previous week saw the excitement and fervor of the auditions of Tresemme presents A Cut Above. The hunt for India?s best hairstylist took renowned celebrity hairstylists and mentors Aalim Hakim, Rod Anker and Natasha Naegamvala to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Grueling rounds of tasks saw these budding stylists battling it out to prove that they are a cut above the rest in the world of hairstyling!

The upcoming episode of Tresemme presents A Cut Above on zoOm will unveil the top eight from amongst the 12 shortlisted contestants from the auditions. An exciting mini-challenge will see 8 scissors snipping a ?bob? that will give an ?advantage? to the winner in the elimination round. By the time the contestants have received pearls of wisdom from their mentors, an elimination challenge will throw them off guard!

With the elimination task of giving dual look to the models, who will stay put and who will be eliminated? Will the winner of the mini-challenge use the ?advantage? wisely?

Catch the drama unfold on Saturday, 2nd March at 9 pm only on zoOm ? India?s No. 1 Bollywood Channel Repeat Telecast on Sunday, 3rd March at 10 pm