Vyas attributes her agency's success to its holistic approach to communications by offering a range of integrated services such as advertising, graphics, publication design, corporate identity, event management and more recently web designing.

``In a span of just seven months of communication support to Sony Entertainment Television, India, we have achieved enough credibility to bag their international account,'' says Vyas, whose clientele includes the Aditya Birla Group, Flimfare, Yumkeenz, Zenith Computers and Charagh Din.The new account follows in the wake of Sony's effort to popularise its new channel, Sony Entertainment Television Asia. Sony launched the newchannel in April 1998 to tap the entertainment needs of the Asian diaspora in UK. Now it plans to push its brand-building exercise to the sky.

Says Rajesh Pant, executive vice-president, Sony Entertainment Television: ``We have positioned the channel as `the Asian family entertainment channel'.'' In the first phase of its brand-building activity, Sony sent direct mailers to potential subscribers across the UK. And through its publication, Telelise, the company developed direct contact with the target audience. Recently, it has started releasing press ads too.

Pertinently, while Vyas Giannetti Creative formally bagged the account only last month, the agency had begun doing direct mailers and press ads on a trial basis. Vyas ran a direct mailer exercise in December 1998. ``The response to that was immense: there was a 30 per cent jump in subscriptions,'' says Vyas, who visited the UK to learn more about the Asian audience before taking on the project.

After the first phase of communications, the newchannel now has over 20,000 subscribers in the UK. As part of its marketing strategy, the company has recently conducted an extensive market survey to know more about the perception of the channel in the Asian communities in the country. ``After we know the results of the survey, we will plan our future course of action in advertising,'' says Vyas. According to Vyas, the marketing parameters are very different in both the countries. In India, the main source of revenue for any channel is advertising and promotions. Whereas in the UK, revenues are subscription-driven.

Accordingly, Sony Entertainment Television Asia is a pay channel in the UK with each subscriber paying 5 to 10 pounds per month. ``Therefore, the objective of our advertising and promotions is to raise the demand for the channel. The subscription fee hence received forms the bulk of revenues for SET in UK,'' elaborates Vyas.

As for Sony's future plans in the UK, Pant says that the company plans to adopt a new subscription management system.``We will be adopting a Direct- To-Home (DTH) approach to reach out to a larger consumer base. To back communications, we will opt for radio promos too,'' says Pant. At present, Vyas is also busy charting out new advertising strategies--such as press ads in leading Asian newspapers--to woo the Asian communities in the UK.