ZEEL expands English movies offering with &flix; bullish on & brand

After the launch of &Privé HD, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) is now expanding its English movies portfolio with &flix. The SD and HD channel will go live across all leading DTH and digital cable platforms on June 3, 2018 at 1 pm with the premiere of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.  

With the brand proposition of ‘Leap Forth’, &flix will focus on a distinct set of viewers who seek enthrallment and covet challenges. 

When asked about the rumours doing the rounds of the industry regarding Zee Studio being revamped as &flix or &flix replacing Zee Studio, a Zee spokesperson refuted these rumours and maintained that both &flix and Zee Studio would have separate identities and air different sets of films.

Punit Misra, CEO, ZEEL, commented, “The ‘&’ family was created to offer distinctive storytelling experiences for the progressive Indian audience. The creation and curation of &flix is based on our core value of putting the consumer first in everything we do, and our audiences will love what &flix has to offer to them. The English movie viewership has grown by 35 per cent in the Mega cities, a clear indication that the consumer appetite for this content is growing significantly. With &flix, we present to the ever growing group of the English movie enthusiasts, larger-than-life movie viewing experiences in the comfort of their homes. We invite them to leap forth and enjoy with &flix.” 

Canadian design agency Zink has done the channel packaging for &flix. Incidentally, Zink had also worked on &Privé HD. 

With &flix, ZEEL is eyeing to increase its share of the ad spend pie in the English movies category, which currently stands between Rs 550 crore and Rs 600 crore. 

Keeping in line with the channel’s proposition of presenting unparalleled experiences, &flix has planned a disruptive 360-degree marketing plan engaging audiences through numerous touchpoints. The channel leveraged a never seen before in the category – Twitter Integrated Outdoor innovation – to unveil the channel’s first communication, where viewers tweeted using channel hashtag to reach 10,000 tweets, garnering more than 52 million impressions in just 24 hours.

The promo TV campaign for &flix is already on air across channels. Conceptualised by Publicis India and the in-house team of ZEEL, the campaign will span television, print, digital and outdoor media.

Prathyusha Agarwal, CMO, ZEEL, explained, “Our marketing campaign has been chalked out keeping in light the awe-inspiring larger than life experience we wish to offer. Our innovations, across mediums, reflect the magnitude of our offering, surely making it one of the biggest launches in our sector this year.” 

So far, five brands have come aboard as channel partners for &flix ahead of its launch – ITC’s Fiama, Havells, Domino’s Pizza, Amazon, and Pernod Ricard, informed Mona Jain, Executive Vice President – Sales, ZEEL. She added, “The response has been extremely positive from our clients and such partnerships further validate our belief in our offering. We are hoping to drive synergies with more brands as we embark on this new journey.”

Commenting on &flix’s content strategy, Aparna Bhosle, Business Cluster Head – Premium Channels, ZEEL, said, “Our library of movies includes 52 premieres, along with 400-plus celebrated titles. From action and drama to comedy and animation, we have a compelling mix of genres for the Indian viewers.” 

To enhance the movie viewing experience &Flix will bring one hit premiere every week #BAE – Before Anyone Else, under the property Flix First Premiere. Additionally, it will showcase its movies under different properties like Best Flix Forever, Late Night Flix and FamJam Flix, among others. Some of the movies lined up include ‘Baby Driver’, ‘Life’, ‘The Emoji Movie’, ‘The Atomic Blonde’, ‘Jumanji’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’, among others. 

Bhosle further said that Zee has partnered with Sony Pictures for the first time. The channel also has drawn up contracts with Paramount, Disney and 7-8 independent producers. “In total, we have 400 titles for &flix, which includes 52 premieres,” she added.