Date:26/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/01/26/stories/2008012651660500.htm

Back Big 92.7 FM repositions itself on ‘Tamilian’s Pride’

Sravanthi Challapalli

Chennai, Jan. 25In a market where the mantra for all FM radio channels is films and music, harping on Tamilian pride may well be the clutter-buster. So believes Mr B. Ramaswamy, Chennai Station Head of Big 92.7 FM.

Speaking to Business Line, he said listeners tended to leave a channel and move to another when the song finished playing and the RJ began speaking.

To ensure ‘stickiness’ and build loyalty, what the RJ says has to be gripping enough.

Research had revealed that “listeners want to stick to stations which are the best for Tamilians” and hence the repositioning of Big 92.7 FM in Chennai as ‘Tamizhanin Perumai’ (Tamilian’s Pride).

Mr Ramaswamy said various character traits attributed to Tamils would be the focus, as would be their achievements.

For instance, Tamilians are reputed to be intelligent and have a sarcastic wit; and there’s a certain inclusiveness which welcomes non-Tamil people who go on to make it big in the State (superstar Rajnikanth being a case in point) — it’s these elements that would be played up rather than the Tamil language itself, he explained.

Achiever interviews

The focus will not be restricted to Tamil movies but also encompass achievers in other fields including sports and business.

Ever since the repositioning was kicked off, since Pongal, the channel has been featuring interviews with one celebrity a day and will do so for a month to drive home the message, Mr Ramaswamy said.

Next on the agenda is celebrating unsung heroes, maybe through a vote, and a large-scale celebration of some typically Tamil festivals and games such as ‘Kal Thookudhal’ (lifting stones) and ‘Uriyadi’ (striking pots hung on a tall pole), he added.

Adspend

Big 92.7 FM has spent close to Rs 35 lakh on advertising and marketing the new positioning.

The media used are print and outdoors. It is also tying up with IIT-Madras’ Saarang festival as on-air partner. The event will give the channel much visibility through branding and RJs judging/participating in various events.

“Big 92.7 FM will own and celebrate Tamil pride,” says Mr Ramaswamy, adding that this tactic may not work in other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore where the population is relatively less homogeneous. However, there will be no overkill on the parochial aspect as the RJs commentary is spread out in four intervals per hour and some of them comprise the regular features such as the traffic and stock market updates, he said.