Manash P. Goswami

India’s movie-making fraternity is walking the extra mile and leaving no stone unturned in a bid to woo the audiences back to theatres. For an industry that has seen more flops than hits during the past three years (see Bollywood Report 2009), there has been a new race for fresh and more aggressive marketing methods. Film producers are trying every tricks of the trade to create as big a hype as they can, so as to get good openings during the weekend box office collections. So why do you think Aamir Khan traveled across the country in disguise, Shahid Kapoor and Genelia D'Souza spent a night together in a car, or Amitabh Bachchan read news on a TV channel?

Today, if a film does well in the box office, publicity of the film is also credited as one of the main reasons for its success. Gone are those days when filmmakers thought twice before allotting more than 5 per cent of the film’s budget for promotion. In one of his recent tweets, noted producer-director Karan Johar lamented that “marketing meetings are tougher and more stressful than shooting a film”.

Publicity tools have now gone beyond the traditional print, television and outdoor advertisements. The days of theatrical release of five-minute long trailer along with massive billboards cashing on the larger-than-life images of stars are a thing of the past. These days, film-production houses hire professionals and adopt new-age publicity tools like blogs, online fan clubs, viral marketing, SMS contests, reality shows, premieres, wall papers, online games, ring tone downloads, etc., to promote their films. Films trailers are released on You Tube first, and fan pages are being created on social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut well in advance. Publicists craft the promotional campaigns in such a way that they not only spread awareness about the films but also give the films an emotional connect with the target audiences. Slowly but surely, promoting a movie is turning out to be a game changer in an industry that so far had been thriving upon formulaic approach for success.

Strategic shift

It seems ironical but small-budget movies have been ahead in the race when it comes to intelligent and interactive marketing in Bollywood. Low-budget films do not have a huge budget for marketing so the need to generate word-of-mouth publicity within the first week of its launch is much greater than that of mega-budget films. Unlike mega-budget films, the publicity of low-budget films is mainly focused at multiplex-goers. For instance, Bheja Fry, which was shot in 19 days flat, had a ridiculously low budget of Rs 5.3 million, but grossed close to Rs 120 million due to its smart marketing strategy. Also, the success of other low-budget films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Welcome to Sajjanpur and Aamir proved that a good film coupled with targeted and sound publicity campaign can give big-budget films a run for their money.

Another discerning shift has occurred with the segmentation marketing approach taking precedence over mass marketing. Movies are promoted specifically keeping the target audience in mind, which eventually plays a greater role in determining the box office success rates. So, while online medium is explored for viral marketing for youths and multiplex audiences, brand advertising is used for drawing in the family audience. Marketing agencies use popular brands in films to sensitively connect with the audience. In fact, brand advertising has taken over the movie industry by storm. The best example is the recent tie-up between 3 Idiots and Reliance Life Insurance for a commercial based on a line from the film - all is well! The commercial was aired over 50 mainstream TV channels, around 40 radio stations covering 250 cities and displayed on outdoor hoardings in over 500 towns. Such movie-brand associations give huge dividends to both parties.

Star Power

Bollywood actors are increasingly resorting to interpersonal approaches to connect with their audience. Away from the tried-and-tested methods, publicists are striding some new and interesting path.

Taking the lead is Aamir Khan, who toured the length and breath of the country incognito to promote 3 Idiots. In fact, Aamir’s ‘buzz cut' for the movie Ghajini was in itself a promotional tool. The actor’s free buzz haircut ploy attracted 18 hours of TV coverage, translating into free publicity worth Rs 129.6 lakh. Other such activities can be seen on newspaper supplements everyday. In fact, Aamir, who does not usually attend events, was seen walking on the ramp with co-stars Sharman Joshi and R. Madhavan where they unveiled the 3 Idiots range of T-shirts from Pantaloons. The T-shirts were, of course, designed by Aamir.

Most of the reality shows on TV usually have special appearances by actors from soon-to-be-released movies. This translates into free publicity for the film, and higher TRPs for the show. Others do it differently. For Kurbaan, UTV had roped in various media partners across 15 countries to telecast a special show called ‘Date with Kurbaan’ that had Karan Johar interviewing the lead pair in a ‘Koffee with Karan’ format.

Contests to win

The advent of the internet and proliferation of mobile telephony has turned the focus of the film fraternity towards the growing field of digital media. Film publicists are including unique contests tailored specifically for online publics as part of the publicity strategy. Such contests not only generate enthusiasm and response among the contestants but also create widespread publicity. For Kaminey, UTV had a contest called Sabse Bada Kamina Kaun, in which contestants had to upload their pictures with their gang and the best among them would get a chance to meet the lead pair, Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor. Most of such contests are through the internet, SMS, radio and TV platforms.

Close on the lines of contests, popular websites offer various games related to a movie. ‘Ghajini: The Game’, a computer game based on Ghajini, was developed by Hyderabad-based FX LABS at a cost of Rs 30 million. UTV-owned Indiagames had also developed five mobile-based games on Ghajini. Games based on the theme of a film not only motivate the moviegoers to win contests but also make them curious about the film.

The internet's role in film promotion has been growing significantly. It offers the dual advantages of interactivity and cost-effectiveness. The internet allows them to reach a massive audience and make them involved. Today, if a print campaign costs anywhere around Rs 1-4 million, an average TV campaign could cost no less than Rs.10-40 million, depending on the budget allotted. Whereas, internet-based campaigns such as websites, blogs, games, downloads and online communities on social networking sites cost not more than 10 per cent of a TV campaign. For the promotional campaign of Paa, people were invited to share their stories of father-son relationships on Ibibo.com.

Similarly, Bollywood has also woken up to the power of Twitter and social networking sites. Thanks to social networking sites, film-goers now have the power to praise a movie or dump it on the opening day itself. Films like Quick Gun Murugan created separate Twitter accounts that was a crucial part of the online blitzkrieg. Shah Rukh Khan has opened his Twitter account to promote his next venture My Name is Khan.

However, at the end of the day, a film is all about the creative expressions of a bunch of people who put their efforts together to tell a story. Twitter may have its advantages but if a film is bad then negative publicity can be generated as quickly that would keep the audiences at bay. A widespread publicity may help to grab eyeballs in the cinemas initially but, ultimately, it’s the content that decides whether those eyeballs should come again or not and set the cash registers ringing. No doubt publicity is the key in today’s times, but content is the king and will always be.

Manash P. Goswami teaches marketing and advertising at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi.

Indiabiznews, January 20, 2010