The new regional language addition to the Star bouquet - Vijay TV - which launched its new improved programme line-up from 1 October, has had an extensive advertising and promotions campaign built around it to push its programmes.

To draw a parallel, the Amitabh Bachchan hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati was the pivot around which Star Plus pushed itself as a channel after going 24-hour Hindi. For Vijay TV that role seems to have been taken by the blockbuster serial Marumugal, with filmstar Kushbhu in the lead.

Floats with cutouts of Kushboo were taken out in Chennai, Coimbatore and Salem on 1 October.

As an initiative to proactively involve the viewers, girls distributed leaflets with bindis attached outside select temples in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem Trichy, Erode and other cities across Tamil Nadu. This activity continued until 2 October.

At Foodworld (a popular eatery franchise in the south) goodies were distributed to patrons. Some people fanned out to the local kirana (provisions) stores while others went knocking on individual homes in different localities.

And an innovative kind of promotion is being done through 250,000 phone lines across Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. Vijay TV is calling up telephone subscribers and playing recorded voice messages of Khusbhoo using an interactive voice recorder. In the recorded message she informs them about her role in Marumagal where she emotes the role of a daughter-in-law, and also urges viewers to tune in to the channel during her serial's broadcast time.