Brands invest more in marquee events than in fiction-based properties: Ashish Sehgal

The Zee Cine Awards are set to make a grand return on May 17, promising a larger-than-life spectacle designed to captivate audiences across 200 countries.

In an exclusive conversation with e4m on Thursday, Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, shares insights on the event’s theme, revenue expectations, media strategy, and sponsorship response.

Excerpts:

The last season of the Zee Cine Awards aimed at celebrating the success and return of Hindi cinema. What’s the theme this year?

The theme for this year is FANtertainment. We’re focusing on bringing fans closer to cinema. We’ll also be unveiling a new trophy in the next few hours. Essentially, the theme revolves around Bollywood being for the fans—because, ultimately, we are all here because of them. Fans will take centre stage in all our communication going forward.

Maruti Suzuki has been your title partner for a long time. How has this partnership helped expand your reach?

When a partner like Maruti comes on board, it allows us to invest more effectively in content, knowing we’re assured of certain returns. Beyond that, it brings immense credibility. When your partner continues to work with you, it signals that your product is working for both the brand and the industry. Maruti, being such a big brand, sees the value in associating with us because of the credibility we bring as a third-party platform. This strengthens their brand trust with consumers.

Apart from Maruti, which other brands have come on board?

At the moment, we have Hell Energy. Since Maruti is a long-term partner, we’ve announced that deal today. In the coming days, we’ll start engaging with other brands that have been with us over the past few years. Some may repeat, and others will be new. By the time of our next press conference, we’ll announce all our partners.

Are you exploring new categories this year?

Absolutely. This platform allows us to explore new categories. Like how the IPL is for sports, the Zee Cine Awards are for the film industry. Brands can come and engage with content, celebrities, and the audience. This year, we’re talking to real estate companies, social media platforms, and beauty brands, among others.

How much revenue growth do you expect for the awards this year?

We are expecting another solid 20-25% growth this year. Even considering economic headwinds, the ad revenue from properties like ours continues to grow. The TV side was particularly impacted, but properties such as these marquee events have seen growth, while fiction-based properties have faced a decline. Brands are willing to invest more in content that drives deeper engagement, and that’s where the Zee Cine  Awards, along with other properties like Zee Tamil Kudumba, Viruthugal Awards and Zee Chitra Gaurav Puraskar, come in. 

Why do you think there's more customer engagement with these events?

The key is that these formats allow brands to engage directly with the content, which amplifies their message. Traditional formats are mostly about viewership, but with events like these, the brand’s message becomes an integral part of the content itself, which strengthens communication.

How has your marketing strategy evolved for this award, and what kind of media mix are you using?

Our marketing strategy evolves every year, adapting to new opportunities as more platforms become available. This year, we're going 360 degrees—ground activations and digital platforms; TV will all play a major role. We’re also going to focus heavily on experiential marketing. We’ll create fan booths in various cities, where fans can vote and engage with the event, and influencers will help amplify the whole campaign.

What kind of experiential activities are planned? Will these activities be rolled out across the globe wherever you are present?

As I mentioned, fans will be the core of our strategy, so we want to bring fan-first experiences. We're making it more interactive and engaging. We’re setting up fan booths in malls and cities, where people can come and vote for their favourite nominations. We’ll also have influencers engaging with the crowd to create more buzz.

 We’ll engage fans physically in India, but votes can be cast from anywhere.

You used influencer marketing last year as well. Will you be expanding this this time?

Last year, we used influencers on the event day itself. This year, we plan to engage them beforehand to help promote the entire event. We're still working on the details but there would be a focus on micro-influencers for engagement and the bigger ones for amplifying content.