With more than 120 Indian brands battling amongst themselves to win the Pitch Brands 50 – Awards for Excellence in Marketing recently held in Gurgaon, Zee TV, walked away with the Best Social Marketer award. Zee TV was also shortlisted in the ‘Resurgent Brands’, ‘Buzzy Brands’ and ‘Bang for the Buck’ categories. Shortlisted brands in the Social Marketers category included Satyamev Jayate, Parry India Agriline, Tata Tea, Godrej Saloni, Stayfree, Nihar Naturals, GSKCH Horlicks, P&G, NICT Indore, Saffola Oil and Zee TV. When Zee TV launched ‘Punar Vivah’, the channel unleashed a blitzkrieg of unique, multi-lingual print ads across all major publications in the country. With a view to gauge the pulse of the audience and see where they stand on the subject of the show ‘remarriage’, the advertisments for the show urged readers to reply with a missed call to the numbers indicated. The question being asked to millions of Indians was - "Can two shattered lives be rebuilt on hope? Do widows and divorcees deserve a chance to remarry?" Viewers could share their ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ by merely giving a missed call to two separate telephone numbers and register their opinions. The initiative met with an overwhelming response with lakhs of viewers participating and voicing their opinions. Taking the cause of broadening mindsets on the issue of remarriage one step forward, Zee TV took the country by storm conducting panel discussions with eminent achievers and experts from various walks of life. These panel discussions held across all major cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Kanpur, Chandigarh and Ludhiana served as a nationwide campaign aimed at driving people to think in an evolved manner about the subject of remarriage and eliminate the stigma that surrounds widows or divorcees seeking to rediscover marital bliss a second time. The discussion threw up some interesting questions on the subject of remarriage - What could possibly be wrong or objectionable about two people getting remarried and attempting to find happiness in life after a failed first marriage? Are divorcees or widows not entitled to start over afresh? ‘Debate Punar Vivah’ also questioned the double standards Indians display towards the issue of remarriage: While men can easily remarry, women who wish to remarry are frowned upon by the conservative sections of Indian society. Why the gender bias? The debate then probed into the success of remarriages - Can a person after having loved his or her partner deeply in the course of their first marriage get oneself to move on and love a second life partner? On the other hand, if a person has been left emotionally bruised by an abusive spouse in their first marriage, does he or she ever manage to wipe the slate clean and give their second partner a fair chance? Or does the baggage from the first marriage often kill the prospects of happiness in the second marriage? Zee TV also partnered with Mobilox Solutions in conceptualizing a mobile solution that would provide a platform for all viewers to receive live counselling and professional help on issues connected with remarriage right from their mobile phones. “Going beyond the mere goal of ‘profit-making’, organizations that have an objective vision with a social cause in place, are the ones that are the real growth drivers for the economy” says Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Integrated Brand-comm about ‘Social Marketers’. He adds, “When organizations have a clear strategy in mind that reaches to the grass root level in terms of business and social good, then we have a winning organization in shape.” The Awards are an editorial acknowledgement of the great work done by brands in the last 12 to 18 months in 10 categories – Resurgent Brands, Globetrotters, Social Marketers, Rechargers, Marketing Innovators, Impactful Launches, Ageless Brands, Bottom of Pyramid, Bang for the Buck, and Buzzy Brands. The brand entries have gone through an exhaustive shortlisting process and have been vetted by Pitch’s esteemed jury panel, chaired by Ramesh Jude Thomas, President, EQUiTOR Consulting. Other jury members include marketing professionals and professors such as Rahul Sen, International Brand Advisor; Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Integrated Brand-comm; Subroto Chattopadhyay, Chairman, Peninsula Foundation; Sunil Gupta, Marketing Partner, South Asia, Results International Group; and Ashok Pratap Arora, Marketing Professor, MDI.