ZapakTV launches Maxim Channel.. Sexy.. Hot.. or Sleazy?
Trust Zapak to be scandalous with everything they do! So if earlier it was the postmen ad for zapakmail now their attention is moved to Zapak TV.
To cut the long story short I get this mail from zapak and i think a picture says a thousand words so here is the pic..
If the above mailer is any indication of what holds for users then what you encounter at the zapak.tv maxim channel is far more .. ahem.. sexy.. hot.. or sleazy.. depends on your moral sensibilities ( One needs to note that many of zapak users are possibly under the age of 18 some of them under 10 as well because of the games and the above content just may not be appropriate for such a young audience. Im sure the self proclaimed moral police of India which has given orkut a lot of trouble might notice this!)
What I make of the zapak strategy?
I think they are trying too many things at one time. There is no clear positioning for zapak as a brand. When they had launched as a gaming portal they had managed to do a decent job by positioning their site through many innovative online and offline campain. Then they started Zapak tv and zapakmail which has been pushed very aggresively recently. Suddenly Zapak is not purely gaming anymore. I feel they are moving towards a portal model which seems like a dangerous move to me. I strongly feel that a brand cant be everything to everyone. Even rediff and yahoo have difficulty in making all their products work under the same brand name (Yahoo has been shutting down products internationally left right and center in favour of other brands and even rediff has some dead products which are online for no ryhme or reason.).
I feel zapak is going everywhere with all the money that it has and soon it would have to find that 1 reason which would make them worth the users time. Till they do that.. The above campaign would be just smart marketing tactics and not path breaking achievements and would eventually die out with the users going back to the applications and content they are loyal too.
Now to answer the question whether Maxim Channel on zapak is sexy, hot or sleazy.. well according to me if it zapaktv was a seperate property which was not associated with the zapak brand (which in my mind still stands fo gaming) then it would have been a great move but as this is being all served under one brand somewhere to me this borders on sleazy content to drive traffic from a young audience!
But then thats me.. Though on my own personal level i think the maxim videos are hot but if I was father of an 8 year old kid playing on zapak i dont think i would think the same way! Any contradicting views from readers are most welcome!
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Um, if Maxim can use a similar pic on their cover, why can't Zapak? It is sad that print mags get away with such photos and sites cannot. I see nothing wrong in using such a photo for promotion.
That apart, I also agree with you that they are trying too many things too soon and not getting most right.
I just had to add this
(H)
The maxim issue carrying the mallika shoot was definitely a collectors piece!
Btw…there were talks of Bipasha or Katrina Kaif joining as a Zapak ambassador…with Bipasha ads of Reliance Mobile appearing – i guess she would be endorsing Zapak stuff too. Wonder what Malaika Arora @ ZapakGirls is up to?
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1521
Worldwide Online Gaming Community reaches 217 million!!! Thats almost 10 times india's total online population (Which comscore put at 22 million. Indian gaming is mostly around the 1million mark
@Aditya – I agree there are magazines on the stands but they cost money.. also zapak is a gaming brand with a constant flow of kids coming there. If i had to compare this move to the offline world this is the same as selling huge maxim posters and magazine in a kids toy store. Tell me would you take your kid to this shop? Well as i said it really depends on moral sensibilities but according to me leveraging risque content to attract young audiences is pretty sleazy
"Now to answer the question whether Maxim Channel on zapak is sexy, hot or sleazy.. well according to me if it zapaktv was a seperate property which was not associated with the zapak brand (which in my mind still stands fo gaming) then it would have been a great move but as this is being all served under one brand somewhere to me this borders on sleazy content to drive traffic from a young audience"
Pretty long sentence dude. i got lost in between..#!
Yeah Mallika rocks! probably gave me reason to look at zapak :$ . Yeah, sex sells like anything,and i think youtube used the same strategy to gain popularity.