Valentine’s Day in Bangladesh has never been the same ever since “Kache Ashar Golpo” took on the television screen by storm. The No.1 toothpaste brand in Bangladesh, Closeup’s hugely popular campaign, “Kache Ashar Golpo”, has been winning hearts throughout the nation every year on Valentine’s Day.
One Story Doesn’t Fit All
Love stories come in all shapes and forms, and the true definition of love varies from person to person, but the one constant feature of all romantic tales is that they tug at the heartstrings like no other narrative. What sets “Kache Ashar Golpo” apart from every other generic romantic drama is that the plots of the annually aired Valentine’s Day show are taken from the lives of the consumers themselves. So, where does Closeup come in here? As a global brand, Closeup never ceases to care about its customers. The brand is targeted towards the youth of the country and is positioned to unite people. The campaign, “Kache Ashar Golpo” is an extension of this brand ideology.
The Prologue
In a conservative society like Bangladesh, a romantic relationship is as taboo as it gets and lovers are more likely to be torn apart than end up together. Closeup has always worked on building intimacy and confidence between lovers through their various initiatives. And that’s how in 2010, based on its positioning strategy of ‘The closer, the better’, “Kache Ashar Golpo” was conceptualized and went on to be aired a year later in 2011.
The campaign is based on consumer-generated content as people are invited to share their love stories via mail and digital platforms. The impetus behind the campaign was to encourage young adults, the target group of Closeup, to engage with the brand by sharing their love stories and hence, allowing the brand’s marketing efforts to be centered around real-life stories instead of fictionalized advertisements. Three of the best stories are then chosen to be made into dramas and are aired on TV.
Chapters in the Making
“Kache Ashar Golpo” is no ordinary campaign and Closeup pulls out all stops to ensure it has the maximum possible reach. And the results speak for themselves, with television having maximum contributions and leading to the highest number of story submissions. On the digital front, there was maximized reach and engagement within the target group. While the print media focused on regional newspapers to maximize reach, radios advertised the show during the popular shows, and its songs were aired with high emphasis during the peak hours after 6 pm because that is the time when listenership is quite high.
An Epilogue to Remember
“Kache Ashar Golpo” has become an integral part of Bangladesh’s pop-culture and has been going strong for the better part of a decade. The numbers for the dramas are getting better day by day as it reached the No. 1 on Valentine’s Day. In fact, they delivered approximately 1.5 times more TVR than the second-best drama of Valentine’s Day.
Individually, each drama has fared quite well on digital platforms, especially on Youtube, with one of the dramas, “Ami Tomar Golpo Hobo” performing the best out of the three by reaching about 1.8 million views at the time of writing this article. This was followed by the drama, “Tobuo Bhalobashi”, which amassed as many as 1,427,559 views, and finally “Shohore Notun Gaan”, that has reached 981,939 views.
In more technical terms, the returns from the “Kache Ashar Golpo” campaign are measured on the basis of engagement with the target group, especially on digital media. Television viewership rates are also considered to be a key metric. Apart from these, some qualitative factors, such as the relevance of the brand and the campaign to consumers, are tracked as well for determining the ROI (Return on Investment).
In terms of reviews, the 6th season of “Kache Ashar Golpo” has received highly positive feedback from the audience and has been a roaring success for the campaign, as well as Closeup.
Love for the Legacy
For the 2018 Valentine’s Day, three stories were deemed the best and belong to: AKM Mahfujul Alam Anick, Md Khayrul Hassan, and Md Rafikul Islam. Some of the best directors were chosen to helm the project and include, Rubayet Mahmud. His story, ‘Tobuo Bhalobashi’ stars current sensations Siam Ahmed and Safa Kabir in lead roles. This is the first time these two actors have paired up together for a drama. The title song has been composed by Adit Rahman.
Director Mabrur Rashid Bannah has directed Tawsif Mahbub and Mumtaheena Chowdhury Toya in ‘Ami Tomar Golpo Hobo’, based on the story sent by Md Khayrul Hassan. This was the first ‘Kache Ashar Golpo’ for both the actors. Musical sensation Minar Rahman has composed a song for this drama.
Actors Manoj Kumar and Sabila Nur were seen for the first time together in Shafayet Mansoor Rana’s drama ‘Shohore Notun Gaan’. Md Rafikul Islam was behind this winning story. The title song for this drama has been composed by Raef Al Hasan Rafa.
“Kache Ashar Golpo” has been consistently impactful since it first aired and has gone on to create its very own niche in the pop culture of the country. The drama series has become an annual treat for the audience and the campaign has only cemented Closeup’s brand image as the best toothpaste brand in the country. And at the same time, it has managed to bring people together through a shared love for romantic narratives.
