Television Soap Opera Producer Also A Major Marketer

Now the beauty of this show is its ultra-fabulous publicity and marketing campaigns. The producers of the show signed a secrecy contract with the lead star, Mona Singh, who plays Jassi. Until Jassi’ s actual transformation happens in the show, she was abided to make all her public appearanced as the ugly Jassi, with spectacles, braces and all! So for two years, every public picture of Jassi ever taken was the one its viewers identified with in the show. She also gave radio interviews as Jassi and not as Mona Singh.

Right before her transformation to the pretty model in the show, the newspapers and media was abuzz with the names of the designers and image consultants who were going to give Jassi her new look. It was almost as though Jassi was real– and the audiences followed her every move!

After her transformation, she gave her radio interviews as the Jassi who was once teased in school but now loved by all. The whole stunt was brilliantly planned and executed. Almost like a reality show, but an actual soap.

What if TV producers channelled into this kind of long-term thinking? The most difficult task for a soap producer/director is to keep its TV ratings constant and to do that it is necessary to keep the audiences glued in. Creating an aura of mystery like in the case of Jassi and raising the expectations of audiences is a sure shot way to keep your audiences on the edge of their seats. This is an idea worthy of investigation..

Btw, the audiences were enthralled with the new, transformed Jassi. Obviously- Mona Singh was a model before becoming Jassi.

Contributed by Jinal Shah