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.
