Kira, what should a new marketing director do immediately upon taking office? What did you do in the first week of March?
Every new job is a project for me. It is difficult to measure this process over weeks, especially since in just one week it is impossible to understand everything in such a huge organization. Yes, and immediately identify goals and plans. Television marketing is not a quick job. It may take quite some time to see the first results. Over the past six months, we have done a tremendous amount of work: we came up with new ideas, filmed a large amount of promotional materials, prepared a complete rebranding of the channel, and held a presentation of the season. This is a good result, it seems to me.
Modern television has enough of everything.
For you, is marketing more about money or ideas?
Everyone chooses for themselves which path to follow. Money is not about me. I am more passionate about the idea and creating a cohesive team. This was the case at all my previous jobs, and this one is no exception.
In the Internet era, people prefer to watch TV series, movies, shows online without looking up from their gadget. How to bring the viewer back to the screen and gain a new audience?
The Internet is not yet becoming a replacement for TV. They exist perfectly in parallel and at points of intersection. It is quite possible that very soon data on television content viewing will be generated based on indicators from both broadcast and Internet. There is no conflict between on-air time and off-air time: today it is necessary to keep the audience both in front of the screen and on the Internet.
In your opinion, what is missing in modern television?
Modern television has enough of everything. Now it is at the highest level - new technologies are coming to TV, new concepts, never before have there been such amazing opportunities for programming, production and promotion. Television is at its peak and it continues to evolve.
Do you focus your work on someone else's style? Who are your opinion leaders?
There is no specific professional leader, there are a lot of people whose opinions I am ready to listen to and whom I have great respect for. These can be both partners and direct competitors. Just as there is not just one favorite book or song, there cannot be just one authority. You need to listen to many people and pay attention to many things, even communicate with those who may be unpleasant to you personally. It doesn’t matter how you feel about a person subjectively, what matters is his professionalism, experience and knowledge that can be adopted.
Your father is choreographer Kirill Laskari, and your uncle is People's Artist Andrei Mironov. You grew up in a creative family. Has this influenced your worldview?
Yes, I really grew up in an absolutely amazing family, and I owe all my views, skills and approaches, first of all, to her. My family are people with unique flexibility of mind, mischief, charm, ambition, humor, hard work, naivety, wisdom, simplicity, complexity. I would really like to be like them at least a little bit.
Returning to the new season of STS, are you now betting on new shows or are you planning continuations of hits?
Without a doubt, a new season means new shows! But the old ones will not go away, they will improve, become better, more interesting. For example, thanks to the reality show “Weighted People” (now called “Weighted and Happy People”), we not only attract viewers to watch the participants, but also motivate them by showing that, first of all, a person can and should be happy, that this is possible, you just have to really want it.
We have dozens of large projects in development. You've probably already heard about the vocal show "Success". This is a unique musical battle where anyone can compete for a place in the show and challenge the winner. The second season of the culinary project “Simply Kitchen” also started airing: the famous chef Alexander Belkovich buys food in a store for 100 rubles and prepares works of culinary art from them. There will also be weekend shows inspired and hosted by the famous showman Anton Lirnik. Viewers will also be treated to the family show “Allies,” in which divorced parents will reunite for the sake of their children’s future. They will have to overcome the most difficult obstacles and the most difficult trials. And all this for the sake of a big cash prize that will go to their common child.
STS is opening new boundaries for itself: after all, never before has there been a big reality show on the TV channel. Of course, we pin many hopes on new products, but this does not prevent us from breathing life into those projects that are well known to the audience.
STS has series about hockey players, about hotel employees, and now there will be a space comedy. What other profession are you planning to master?
STS is expanding and becoming more diverse. For example, the drama “Gymnasts” will tell about the hard work of athletes, about the path to glory, about betrayal and envy. There have never been similar projects at STS! Indeed, the heroes of “Team B” will conquer space. We will send popular actors to the Moon - Vladimir Yaglych, Nastasya Samburskaya, Mikhail Tarabukin, Yan Tsapnik, Oscar Kuchera, Karina Andolenko and others. Led by the brilliant Mikhail Efremov. This is a comedy about ordinary people who are preparing for an interplanetary flight.
“Psychologists” is a touching and funny series about three expert friends who are well versed in other people’s problems, but cannot solve their own.
And many many others.
I hope that all these projects will be liked by the audience, and the dialogues of the characters will be scattered into catchphrases and memes. At the same time, STS remains a family channel in which everyone can find something for themselves. There's just more of everything. Like under the sun. Hence the slogan “More sunshine!”
It is interesting that “Cinema at 21:00” is mainly foreign films. Why?
We are one of the first to launch new films on television. And we cooperate not only with foreign, but also with Russian film producers. By the way, Russian films have been broadcasting very well lately. I am sure that many wonderful Russian film premieres will soon await us. Moreover, the STS-Media holding under the leadership of Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Murugov is now very actively involved in the creation of film products.
Kira Laskari is the marketing director of the STS channel, director of the STS Love channel.
Born on August 11, 1977 in Leningrad. More than 20 years in marketing: worked in such companies as Art Pictures Petersburg, PTUCH, Russian Musical Television, was also the creative director of the ARC Russia agency (Leo Burnett Group Russia) and the director of marketing and promotion of the Friday! TV channel, in 2007-2008, he held the position of creative producer for off-air promotion of STS and Domashny.
The STS channel presented its new season - a grand event with many celebrity guests and regional partners was held at the Moscow Youth Palace. Vera Brezhneva, Anfisa Chekhova, Anna Sedokova, Vladimir Yaglych, Denis Nikiforov, Alexey Chadov, Nastasya Samburskaya, Alexandra Revva, Dmitry Khrustalev, Ekaterina Volkova, Egor Dronov, Elena Ksenofontova, Natalia Bardo, Marius Weisberg, Egor Koreshkov, came to get acquainted with the new products of the channel. Sergey Burunov, Maria Gorban and many others.
“Over the past two years, unprecedented changes have occurred in the holding, - said the General Director of STS Media Vyacheslav Murugov. - We had to do a lot of work to determine a new path for the flagship channel "CTC Media". I can proudly say that we did it. We present the new STS".
For journalists, some of the information was not new. At the same time the director of STS Daria Legoni-Fialko announced the upcoming rebranding and positive growth figures: all series are leaders in their slot, thanks to experiments with television viewing platforms, the channel has increased revenue 3 times, the key target audience (25-35 years old) has grown by 14%, weekend prime time has been conquered, the channel is present in all digital environments and is growing faster than Runet - the site’s audience grew by 13% over the year, the mobile audience by 20%. As for the rebranding, the channel retained its yellow color, but the visual became, according to Daria, "fatter and richer", and the slogan of the presentation was a life-affirming phrase "More sunshine!"
As for the main success of the channel - content, STS currently has 50 projects in development. We wrote about them in part: TV series await us among the new products "Ivanovs-Ivanovs" about children who were mixed up in the maternity hospital (participation in the series caused the greatest excitement in the hall Sergei Burunov), "Psychologists" about three girlfriends who are graduates of the psychology department and their problems in their personal lives, "Team B"- about a group of ordinary people, led by Vladimir Yaglych sent into space, and a project about civil aviation "Flying Crew"(working title was previously "Wings") - film director's debut Marius Weisberg on TV.
The channel's calling card is the series "Voroniny" and show "Ural dumplings" will continue to exit, with “Voronin” moving to Sochi. My beloved will also return "Molodezhka"- according to Degoni-Fialko, the channel had the task of not ruining the project and attracting a new audience, so the hockey team was released on the big ice.
Among the new products announced at the presentation is a series "New person" With Vladimir Epifantsev: the story of an irresponsible hockey player who lost everything overnight and will return his family, job and other valuables. Series "Girls Don't Give Up" positioned as our answer "Sex and the City". "Trainer" must conquer the male audience, since it fulfills its long-standing dream: the project will give the opportunity to an ordinary person, who loves to give advice to football players in front of the TV, to suddenly become the coach of the Russian football team.
The new direction for STS will be the series "Gymnasts"- instead of the usual comedy, the channel decided to develop a serious dramatic show. Project slogan - "Pain. Envy. Love", and in it, as the name implies, they will talk about the behind-the-scenes life of gymnasts, their relationships with coaches and men.
In addition to series, STS is preparing new reality shows. So, "Allies" will bring together 8 pairs of former spouses and send them to Thailand on the island of Koh Samui to fight for survival and 10 million rubles, which, if they win, will go to... the couple’s children. In this original way the channel wants to convey "deep values reaching the audience", comments Legoi-Fialko.
"Old Farts"- adaptation of an international project in which 4 men over 70 participate: they prove to the world and themselves that they are still under supervision Evgeniya Kulika. According to Daria Legoni-Fialko, many Russian celebrities wanted to appear in the project, but as a result they ended up there Leonid Yakubovich, Boris Grachevsky, Grigory Martirosyan And Vladimir Dolinsky.
New evening show "Women's Council" will bring together all the top comedians led by their ideological mastermind Anton Lirnik.
The original project should be "Surprise"- “a good innovative project” that has not yet been on TV. The channel thought about ordinary people who once did extraordinary things, but gratitude has not yet overtaken them. STS decided to take over this function and arrange surprises of gratitude to these people with the help of friends and relatives. “If we manage to realize everything we have planned, this show will be a bomb!”, Legoni-Fialko is sure.
The channel places its greatest bet on talent shows "Success" with slogan "You don't need a producer". STS is confident that this is the motto of the new time, and the channel wanted to make “a big vocal show that reflects the pulsation of time.” The host of the show was Vera Brezhneva, which the channel chose because she herself got into VIA Gro, simply by standing in the hall and singing in front of Konstantin Meladze. Negotiations were conducted only with her; no one else was considered for the role of host of the show - and STS considers Vera’s consent a great success. “Success” is one of the first international adaptations of the fresh Israeli format from Armoza. They are also preparing their own version of the show in America on the FOX channel, but the Russian version will be released before the American one: the US premiere will take place only in the spring of next year.
“Today I mark the beginning of a new stage as the face of the STS channel, and for me this is new, interesting and exciting, - Vera Brezhneva comments on her participation in the show. - I like the contrasts that the channel plays in the new season. Visually, these are beautiful dark shades combined with sunny yellow - a very interesting solution. After all, our life consists of such opposites, which only makes it deeper and more interesting.”.
Kira Lascari: Ogilvy contradicted himself very often. He made his fortune by constantly creating new branding and advertising for the same clients. And as Ogilvy said in the preface to one of his books: I am writing these lines sitting in my huge estate in my big garden. And this fact is an important reminder for any advertising creator why you need to be ambitious. And the desire to have a new branding comes precisely from the fact that we are very ambitious. This is normal, because we work in the show industry, we always have to give something new, including in terms of visualization and branding. We created branding that is simple and at the same time multifaceted, similar to an attraction that involves viewers in the process.
KS: Among entertainment channels, STS is the undisputed leader, why? Why are so many people watching it?
CL: We are not just a channel, STS is a huge entertainment universe. Due to its size and fantastic capabilities, the channel can provide incredible visual attractions that neither the Internet nor small TV channels can provide. STS is capable of producing grandiose shows, and we are now entering with completely new formats that have never been seen in our country before. For example, the big vocal show “Success” with host Vera Brezhneva. Or the huge show Allied, in which divorced parents team up to win a big cash prize for their child.
KS: Can you tell us more about your parents? I'm interested in myself.
CL: In the new show, several couples will go to the island at once, and there they will have to overcome psychological and physical obstacles. The most important thing is that couples have a very powerful motivation - their common child. In my opinion, this is quite a tough action game, with a prize fund of 10 million rubles, which can be deposited into the child’s account. This is such a rather poignant spectacle, psychologically charged with various traps, surprises and unexpected plot twists.
KS: What message does the channel convey?
CL: STS is a channel that does not just observe, but conveys a certain message: look, when you have a goal, everything can be agreed upon. There is nothing more important than a child, family, overcoming one’s own self, one’s stereotypes. STS not only shows, but also involves, creating the effect of participation. The new slogan of the channel is “More sunshine!”, because STS, first of all, gives positive, interesting content and positive emotions.
Kira Laskari: “I think maybe in the future we will bring our hits to cinema. We have everything for this: ambition, vast experience, and demand from the viewer.”
KS: What made you change, and what new products deserve special attention?
CL: Initially, STS is a channel with a long history, which everyone knows and loves. But we need to move on and expand. We want to become even bigger, so that every viewer finds something of their own, so we are creating not only projects for joy, but also with dramatic notes. We will soon begin filming the series “Flight Crew” with Alexey Chadov and other famous actors about pilots and flight attendants. I hope it turns out to be such a charming “candy” for the eyes. At the same time, viewers will experience serious experiences in the difficult story about the athletes “Gymnasts”. As you can see, the channel is becoming more diverse.
KS: Are these concepts original?
CL: We are both developers of our own formats and do not abandon ready-made ones. Of course, buying stories that have worked all over the world is not a rare practice: we try to follow trends. There is a format that has worked well in several markets, it would be unwise to ignore it.
KS: Will the previous series become a thing of the past in the new season?
CL: The most successful hit projects that have been with us for many years are “Voronins” and “Molodezhka. Adulthood". Recently, by the way, “Voronins” entered the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running adapted series in history. “Molodezhka” has been on air for the fifth year, and this is our original format. The series, like the channel, is transforming, changing, and this year it became an adult, dynamic story, in which such stars as Vladimir Yaglych, Sergei Gorobchenko, Natalya Rudova and others appeared.
KS: Question about the stars, how will things be with them in the new season?
CL: In its entire history, STS has never had so many stars of such magnitude as this season. For example, Mikhail Olegovich Efremov plays the main role in the space series “Team B”. Moreover, in the company of the same Vladimir Yaglych, Nastasya Samburskaya, Yan Tsapnik, Karina Andolenko, Mikhail Tarabukin and Oscar Kuchera. The story is unusual, intriguing, and I am sure the series will be a success. After all, all the components for this are there.
KS: Now there is a trend - to show series in cinemas and take them to major festivals, such as the Movement debut festival. How is STS represented in film production?
CL: STS is often a partner in the production of films for film distribution. I think maybe in the future we will bring our hits to cinema. We have everything for this: ambition, vast experience, and demand from the viewer. We can see at the box office not only films made “in the footsteps” of TV series, the same “Kitchen”, there is also world experience. Of course, this is a trend.
KS: Do you still watch TV?
CL: Of course, they are watching and will continue to watch, I think, for another hundred years. The Internet will not replace television, I’ll say more - they still read books, listen to the radio, and go to theaters. Although they said that cinema would kill the theater, and television would kill cinemas. I saw the UK statistics, and TV is still the leader in the advertising market there. There is also the question of the content producer: a large holding company is capable of producing grandiose shows. We always focus on content, quality, and our own production. We are launching a huge number of projects, becoming larger, but at the same time we are delivering not only in quantity, but also in quality. In general, there is no limit to perfection; you simply cannot spare money on production and promotion. It is important for us that the viewer sees high-quality content into which we have invested so much - effort, time, and money.
