BBC in global drive to push news strengths

SINGAPORE: BBC World has rolled out a global campaign to remind viewers that it is a news breaking channel and stand out from the growing crowds of news sources. This is the first time the broadcaster has adopted such an aggressive stance. The BBC said the move will remind viewers that it reports news as it happens. Nic van Zwanenberg, BBC World's head of network development in Asia, said: "Historically, we didn't talk about being news breakers because it was assumed that people knew. Our strategy now is to tell them this in addition to the fact that we carry in-depth news and analysis." The television campaign has been produced in-house in London.It shows some of the biggest news of the recent week and highlights the BBC's role in bringing breaking news to viewers. Regionally, the channel is also rolling out a print campaign, which has been developed by Bates' customer relationship marketing agency 141 in Singapore. The print campaign seeks to reinforce the message that unique insights can be gained from watching the BBC. The print ads are only running in Asia, and van Zwanenberg said the campaign maybe rolled out globally in due course. The BBC appointed 141 and media agency Zenith last month to develop and execute the Asian component of the global campaign. The account was previously held by another agency in Singapore, M Bold & Friends. "There's so many ways to get news these days - TV, radio, the web - that we have to ensure we stand out from everybody else by showing we're more international: in other words, not American, and not purely an Asian news channel," said Rajat Mittra, BBC World's marketing manager. However, van Zwanenberg denied the campaign was a move to counter competitive pressures from broadcasters such as CNN or CNBC. "What we have here is a campaign which is global. It is to remind and inform people about BBC World. "To do a campaign which tries to counter the competition would be too complicated We would be fighting too many battles on too many fronts and the end result would be that viewers would be left confused." He also said that BBC World would beef up its production facilities in Asia. Last October, BBC launched a Singapore production and broadcasting facility for its morning Asian business programming. However, van Zwanenberg stressed that much of the Asian content still originates from London. "The world is a much smaller place than it was just 10 years ago. With all the technology at our finger-tips, I don't see the necessity of having a major production base in the region. Not in the near future anyway," van Zwanenberg said. The campaign follows changes within BBC World's in-house sales division, which included the promotion of Sunita Rajan to deputy airtime sales director. - Additional reporting by Leithen Francis in Singapore.

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