Koffee With Karan season 8 marketing focuses on embracing audience feedback
Koffee With Karan season 8 mixes its cup of marketing strategy with healthy doses of honesty, clever product placement, a splash of CGI, and sprinkling the good old celebrity power to attract audiences.
One of India's most popular celebrity talk shows, Koffee With Karan, has seen a love-and-hate relationship among its audiences. While many deny loving the series and some simply love hating it, Koffee With Karan has taken audiences' reactions head-on and embraced its flaws. KWK season 08 welcomes audience feedback as part of its strategy to promote its latest season.
During Season 07, the audience largely complained that the conversations were 'meh' and to address this, KWK and streaming partner Disney+ Hotstar, launched a candid video with 'Karan's Konscience' before its season launch
Johar is faced with his alter ego who confronts him with all the criticisms about the show. The video shows Johar taking a dig at himself with all the issues netizens had with the show like flashy endorsements, excessive focus on the celeb’s personal life, conversation quality deteriorating, nepotism, etc. The ad campaign lets the audience know that Karan is in on the joke and has taken the criticism of his audience well. This promotional tactic helps Karan placate the audience. The video says that Karan is his harshest critic and intends to build a connect with its audience.
This approach of self-reflection and self-depreciation was also seen in Season 07.
Continuing this honesty and candor in the season's first episode, the focus was on improving the quality of the conversation and taking a pivot from celebrity's sex lives. The first episode dropped on October 26.
Apart from embracing feedback, the show has used a mix of marketing techniques including CGI, not-so-subtle product placements, and banking on interesting conversations with prominent celebrities. The show is almost a part of popular culture and audiences look forward to the new season every year to get their dose of celebrity drama and gossip.
Last season, the show attained a viewership of 12.2 million views in its first week.
The show is massively popular and attempts to maintain its viewership streak with various marketing techniques. KWK season 8 has been posting snippets and preludes of each episode featuring celebrities' best moments without revealing too much.
Prelude Peeks
The first episode’s fun moments were hinted at by their teaser of sorts showcasing the guests Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh engrossed in conversation with the host. The teaser got 1.4 million views.
Disney+Hotstar later posted a preview of the following episode with Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol.
Koffee With Karan hopped on the CGI train like many others and released their version of a CGI campaign. A hot red cup of Koffee landed on the Gateway of India reminding audiences to tune in. Gateway of India has been the choice for their campaigns for many others like WhatsApp and Wacoal due to its iconic silhouette and familiarity.
The show made sure their audiences were anticipating ardently by posting content that built up the excitement. A good build-up would hook the audiences to the launch date and will keep audiences coming back for more. The show posted content consistently with Karan Johar or their streaming partner Disney+Hotstar hinting at the development and whats-to-come.
As there is a high level of excitement surrounding the appearance of the set each season, KWK also skillfully amplified the audience's expectations by gradually revealing various sections of the set. Karan Johar’s digital production house, Dharmatic posted a behind-the-scenes look into the studio production to rev up the engine.
Koffee with Karan is a star-studded event anyway and the show understands the value that the celebs bring to the table. The show capitalizes on this opportunity to reach a celeb’s fan base. Koffee with Karan season 8 has rolled out its red carpet for the stars to walk on and the first to step on have been Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Both Deepika and Ranveer have shared the event on their Instagram profiles.
The show has always been an excellent podium for brands to get a shout-out on. The brands being promoted in an overt tone by a famous host like Karan Johar is a big boost to their name.
Koffee with Karan S8 has conducted a quiz for the audiences in collaboration with Google Pixel with mentions of the Google Pixel phone. The show also promoted its sponsor Jaquar Lights by arranging a live audience segment seated in a 'Jaquar lounge.'
In the past, Koffee with Karan S7 had ‘MyGlamm zone’ which included a quiz round with the celebs. Having an entire segment named after the sponsored brand puts the brand at the forefront of the audience’s attention.
For season 08, Karan has taken an honest approach. The focus seems to be on brewing meaningful conversations and getting in on the latest technology. While KWK does manage to clock in high viewership numbers every season, will it woo its audience with its revised approach in marketing and overall set-up? Let's hold on to our cups to watch that unfold.
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