Comedy Central Becomes Your Happy Place

Riding the happiness wave, Comedy Central now has a new brand ethos ‘Your Happy Place’. The channel has decided to move beyond its positioning of ‘Laugh it Off!’. Effective today, 10th September 2015, it will incorporate a new look and feel; there are a number of new shows on the cards as well.

Ferzad Palia, Executive Vice President and Business Head, English Entertainment, Viacom 18 Ferzad Palia  explains that the new brand ethos is an outcome of  evolution process as well as acknowledgement of the fact that happiness is increasingly becoming a rare commodity and something needs to be done in that direction. He says, “Comedy Central   has been there for three and a half years in India and you keep evolving as you go along. You need to refresh every now and then. We are taking one step beyond laugh it off.  Our philosophy always was about making people look at lighter side of life. Lack of happiness is a cause of concern across the globe and we want to do our bit for it. We want to bring happiness on television and hence this move. A happy place could be anything – your own home, it doesn’t have to be a destination.”

The new look showcases this positioning by using a rich and vibrant color palette, slick animation and an overall design package that is easy on the eyes. Using the circle to signify locations and happy ‘zones’, these elements also help to highlight each show.  The new content would be supported by extensive ‘happy’ marketing activities. Ferzad Palia says, “We are broad basing our philosophy and evolving with the changing consumer needs. Hence, we are going all out, whether it is new content or various activities we would be undertaking. Essentially, there is a lot of stress and this is the place where you can come and be comfortable and get involved. If we succeed in busting stress, we would contribute to making people happier outside of watching television too.”

New shows on the channel include Younger, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Your Family or Mine and The Mindy Project Season 3. The content is not sourced only from US market but handpicked from across the globe if it fits well into the channel’s scheme of things. Ferzad Palia says, “We are market agnostic and bring the content that deserves the channel.”

The channel asserts that it has viewers from across the country. Ferzad Palia says, “There is a large percentage of our viewership that comes from outside the metros. With the kind of genre we are, we connect with viewers. There is a lot of non-verbal humor also – for instance we have shows like wipe out impractical jokers or funniest home videos. We attract a large number of audiences on our social media presence as well.” 

The channel has rolled out a 360 degrees marketing plan with extensive campaign on its digital and on-ground platforms. The campaign is being promoted on other network channels of Viacom 18 including Vh1, Colors Infinity and MTV.

As part of its consumer engagement, Comedy Central will run a month-long on-air contest known as “Comedy Central What’s Your Happy Place”. Viewers will stand a chance to win exciting prizes every day by sending their answers via SMS. The winners will be announced on Comedy Central’s Facebook page.
The channel will further engage with its viewers through a unique, fun- filled ‘Happy Quest’ treasure hunt in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

Besides exciting consumer engagement, Comedy Central has also extended the concept of ‘Your Happy Place’ through on-ground partnership with various bars, salons and coffee shops. Venues such as Café Coffee Day, Gold’s Gym, and Maroosh etc. will be converted into ‘Happy Places’.

The Happy Place proposition will be carried forward through the year with two award winning projects - LOL Club –a Consumer engagement program which offers viewers discounts and freebies on happy experiences and Spread the Cheer 2 – A service initiative which helps give back to the society by bringing cheer to those in need.

As for the revenue, Ferzad Palia is confident that it would see a further jump due to enhanced audience engagement. He says, “Advertisements have grown by 40% this year. We are extremely happy that different kinds of advertisements are coming. Every brand is now looking to be consumed in a happy environment.”