I have often heard people saying that there are only three things that’s popular in India – Movies, Cricket and Politics. Yes, Movies in India is a huge market with estimated market size of INR 100 billion.
There was a time when Bollywood promotions were limited to a film’s “Muhurat” or launch party, thereafter its music release event and finally a full fanfare premier. The film industry had a simple marketing formula – sign in a superstar, ride on a “masala” recipe and success was there for the taking. If the film turned out to be a hit, it was followed up with a celebratory bash.
Times have changed, now the hype and hoopla surrounding a film starts right from the storyboard or the mere thought of making a film and continues till the weekend of the screening process. And the whole thing is well orchestrated with a heady marketing mix. The prime reason for marketing usurping silent Friday releases of yore, is the smaller shelf life of films. No longer we have a ‘Sholay’ or a ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ running non-stop for years and raking in moolah in slow burn. It is the very first weekend that decides the fate of a film now. Silver Jubilee, Golden Jubilee etc. have been replaced with the Rs 100 club or the bigger Rs 200 club. And you have to break into these clubs in quick time.
Rumour mill is passe
Gone are the days when marketing and publicity of cinema was limited to illustrious film posters, giant billboards and some gossip & rumours thrown in. Movie marketing now involves more than thoughtful merchandising, television advertisements, pre-release media hype, etc. So, all the marketing rules of STP [segmentation, targeting and positioning] and the inimitable 4Ps are being put to practice in Bollywood these days. Let’s examine them one by one, not necessarily, in that order.
Getting segmentation right
The film industry is making some serious efforts at segmentation based on a national plus regional marketing strategy. Bi-lingual and multi-lingual films are released on the same day with separate promos, slick dubbing and thoughtfully crafted songs for the target audience. Producers are developing publicity material around regional tastes and releasing films in different languages simultaneously. Segmentation can be seen in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’, which was shot and released together in Hindi & Tamil and as ‘Ravanan’ in the Telugu-dubbed version. The much hyped Rajinikanth-Aishwarya Rai Tamil film, ‘Endhiran’ was christened as ‘Robot’ in Hindi and hit theatres the same day. Care was taken in its dubbing & production values and songs were specially scripted to appeal to the Hindi speaking patrons. It was not a hasty compilation for the dubbed version per se.
Keeping curiosity high
Timing of publicity efforts goes a long way in deciding the fate of a movie at the box office. Now publicity efforts begin as much as four to five months in advance to make sure that the world gets to hear about the movie. International marketing has taken Bollywood overseas, big-time. Companies like Special Treats which are into film marketing have helped Hindi films like 3 Idiots and Kites, proliferate the UK & other European markets. Wide-spread publicity is a must these days. Today’s films keep whetting the appetite of the audience much before their release so their curiosity level is at its peak when the film debuts.
Cashing on retro value
Targeting and positioning can be evidenced in promos of films like ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbai’. When this Ajay Devgan starrer was released, several multiplexes had kiosks urging people to enter a retro zone for a ’70s style fashion makeover. The posters in metros were sophisticated and stylish, while the same were flashy in small towns and villages. While the characters in the film had a ’70s look to them, the hired agency P9 developed a unique design solution to connect with contemporary audience. It worked on the ‘retro 70s’ theme and tried out contemporary colour palette to help the audience relate to the film. Similar nostalgic vein had been tried before in ‘Om Shanti Om’ also.
Aamir – the master marketer
Aamir Khan has emerged as a master innovator in film marketing, so we saw ‘Ghajini’ style haircut parlours in auditoriums screening the film and ushers sporting the “Ghajini” look to help seat cine-goers. He tried similar out-of-the box thinking during the release of ‘3 Idiots’ and had the entire nation looking out for him when he travelled across the country in disguise as part of his unique strategy promoting ’3 Idiots’. Aamir roamed around the country for two weeks in disguise and challenged his fans to spot him. More recently, he went into search mode in many a reality show during the release of ‘Talash’. Aamir’s moves are being aped to death by others and today, we don’t have any single reality show on TV without a planted star cast just before a film is scheduled to release.
Reel to real
Taking a cue from the advertising industry, Bollywood actors are now seen adopting more unique and innovative marketing strategies to promote their films. To promote Ken Ghosh’s ‘Chance Pe Dance’, based on the life of a struggling actor, lead pair Shahid Kapoor and Genelia D’Souza spent a night together inside a car. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan who was cast as a media magnate in ‘Rann’ was seen reading news on a TV channel giving a year-end news roundup. The film’s director Ram Gopal Verma, distributed a ten-page daily newspaper ‘Rann Times’ till the commercial release of the film. Similarly, to hype his pet-project ‘Veer’, actor Salman Khan had announced a hunt for unsung heroes who had performed acts of heroism in their lives. All these below-the-line activities were successful in creating a positive buzz around these films and also got the positioning right. “Good marketing has produced good results at the box office. By the time you wait for the merit to show its face, five other films have shown their merits,” Big B aptly blogged sometime back.
On the virtual Trip
Innovative marketing is not merely sweeping terra firma but it is pervading the virtual world as well. Films have now moved on from placing just bare bone advertisements to interactive ones that ensure two-way communication with the audience. Earlier, content that was developed for the conventional medium was copy-pasted on the internet too but today, specific content is developed for the internet because of the interactive nature of the medium and the ROI. Many film-makers are collaborating with online portals for promotional purposes to sell movie-related merchandise. In recent times, makers of films like ‘Heroine’, ‘Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid’ and ‘Cocktail’ tied up promotional deals with e-commerce sites like Mydala.com, Snapdeal.com and Myntra.com, respectively. Interactive connect with youth is propelling film producers to hook on to E-commerce businesses to leverage film marketing. So film ads, posters on homepage and participation on other social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are gaining ground. Mydala.com, an Indian social commerce and marketing platform, tied up with UTV Motion Pictures as a marketing partner for recent big ticket films like “Heroine” and “Barfi”. As part of the association, the portal ran a promotional campaign on its website as well as social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Knock knock
‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’, used some really innovative web marketing, specially the eye blaster technology, which was used for the first time in Bollywood, which saw Imran coming right up to you on your screen. A rich media banner was created where Imran Khan comes alive to interact with the user on his desktop, walks on the website, looks around, knocks on the screen and then walks into the advertisement and even jigs to the tune of the song Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi… A separate shoot was done only for this advertisement which had a click-through rate (CTR) of 2.8%. The average CTR of banner advertisements averages a piddly 0.3% otherwise. Five lakh users replayed the ‘Jaane Tu…’ advertisement and also generated positive word of mouth. Imran coming knocking on the computer screen made one curious about what he’s doing there? This worked well for both the song and the film.
Akshay Kumar starrer, ‘Singh Is Kinng’ partnered with web portal India FM for an interactive campaign where Kumar was seen doing stunts while the users played a game as Akshay Kumar. ‘Love Story 2050’ and ‘Jaane Tu…’ had online groups on Facebook much before the release where the film’s pictures and posters were put up and the group facilitated discussion on the film. Movie Talkies launched an application for ‘Jaane Tu…’ on Facebook on the day of the release, where users were discussing the tagline of the film — so when do you know it’s love?
Selling – Not just tickets
Such Viral marketing was used by the makers of “Heroine” also who collaborated with portals like Fashionara.com. Pre-orders for clothes were opened, inspired by actress Kareena Kapoor’s glamorous look in the film. Movies have started to allot a fair share of the marketing budget to online media. In addition, the web is relied upon heavily for word-of-mouth publicity and sales of movies and music.
Movie merchandising is moving online. New revenue streams, apart from theatrical collections are an established norm these days. ‘Cocktail’, featuring Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty, partnered with Myntra.com where the film’s merchandise was put on sale. The trendy collection on the website offered a mix of funky, casual and sporty clothes, similar to those worn by the star cast in the film. Another e-commerce site, Getthelook.in, had also launched a line of apparels replicating the styles of Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra from the movie ‘Teri Meri Kahaani’. Earlier, superstar Shah Rukh Khan had partnered with Homeshop18, where the original merchandise of his mega-budget film ‘RA.One’ was put on sale for one and all. Downloadable games were also released to whet the online buzz.
Getting into the classroom
August academia has also started to provide insights into film marketing these days. A study group of students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have done extensive research and have devised a model for blockbuster forecasting. They have cracked the blockbuster code to help Bollywood predict a film’s future at the box office, at least during the first three days. The study by the team — visiting faculty Bharathan Kandaswamy and final year students of IIM-A — say that irrespective of the genre and content of a film, the pre-release marketing budget decides the opening weekend’s success for a film. Their mathematical and statistical model figures out the correlation coefficient between a film’s marketing budget and its success within the first three days of its release. The correlation reduces the opening risks of a film. The study looked at 50 Hindi films released in the last 10 years. Among others, films like ‘3 Idiots’, ‘Cocktail’, ‘Ghajini’, ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’, ‘Kahaani’, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ and ‘Bodyguard’ were studied.
Count your money
Marketing spends for movie trailers on television, out-of-home advertising, promotion on websites and celebrity promotions were taken into account. A typical Hindi film with a budget of Rs 35-40 crore, should utilise stars more effectively in promoting a film, the team avered. Even if a film is made with a tight budget of Rs 10 crore, it should spend on marketing to succeed in the opening weekend. Any film with Rs 10 crore budget and no star should spend around 70-80% [Rs 7-8 crore] while a film with Rs 50-100 crore budget and a star can spend upto 20-30% [Rs 10-12 crore] for promotion. Small budget films require more attention as about 250 Hindi films release every year and it takes high visibility to cut the clutter.
A success formula?
However, the film’s success in the first few shows doesn’t mean it will be a hit. Like any amount of marketing cannot save a bad product, similarly only hype cannot sustain a bad film. A film may slip at the box office after a successful opening. The marketing budget will have an impact in first few days but that doesn’t mean it can turn anything into a hit.
Blockbuster, Sleeper, Bombs
Films can be classified into three buckets – type one are films with a high marketing budget and successful in the first three weeks. These are called blockbusters or super hits, typically such films have global releases & a wider screen share in the domestic market as well. The strategy is to roadblock other competing films and rake in the money within a short span. Additionally, nullifying piracy by ensuring wider availability. Secondly, films with a low marketing budget, which fail to pull audiences to the theatre initially, yet run for 40-50 weeks, later, are called sleepers. These films opt for niche marketing and pick up gradually and generally do not have star power to initiate a big bang launch. Thirdly, movies that fail in the first week itself are called bombs or flops. These are bad products with or without publicity.
Armed with such knowledge, film producers and directors can at least make an honest attempt to make it big or minimize their losses. This space shall witness more professional activity in the days to come and it would not be an exaggeration to expect complete professionals taking over the filmy types in the days to come.
Good Film + Great Marketing = Hit Films
Also all the film award functions , whether hollywood or bollywood creates a perfect business sense which can be observed and learned by a management student. These are as follows:
1) Make your product grand
The film award functions make true talent of film industry visible or not can be debated, but looks and gloss factor can’t be debated. Every award function looks grand, with lots of entertainment value and lots of beautiful people. Every award function becomes a multi-starrer blockbuster movie in itself. And that’s why; every film award function attracts top advertisers.
2)Your product should enthral users
Accept it not, as I mentioned in point number:1 that these functions are multi-starrer movies of their own right, are actually meant for higher TRP and more noise value for the channel in general and programme in particular. Indian audience loves music, dance, drama and these award functions provide these things in aplenty. That’s why, these programmes get repeat telecast many a times on that particular channel, which gives away these awards.
3)Engage your audience
Viewers go to watch cinema for entertainment. Very few of them bother about story and technical details, if it provides them entertainment. So, their verdict is often different from the experts, who are famously known as ‘Film Critics’. And viewer’s positive review means financial positive review. So, film producers often focus more on providing what suits to audience then the critics and financials have driven many art house performers to become entertainer-performer. Similarly, film award function organizers also engage their viewers through enabling them to select their best star, movie, music etc. This engagement model works well, because everybody wants to see the fruit of their labour.
4)Communicate it well
To make it viewed and accepted by the audience, these award ceremonies are promoted very effectively through all communication tools and all media platforms well in advance. Since most of the award ceremony organisers claim the results are reached at through public voting only, viewers participation and engagement is anyways guaranteed.
5)Launch it opportune time
All the award functions are telecast on Saturdays and Sundays to ensure that it is viewed by maximum number of people. Since these award functions normally stretch for four hours including all the advertisement slot and runs up to 12.00 of the night, Saturday is the most opportune time for it’s telecast to enable viewers to watch TV late and wake up late.
6)Care about what you have and not about what you don’t
These award ceremonies are often criticized for being please all function. I also used to believe so, but seeing from investment and entertainment angle, what would be the benefit of giving award, who is not present in the function. It will only speak about deficiencies of organisers and will not present any entertainment value. In marketing field also, we work on our core competencies, choose our niche and play our game on them. We also don’t go looking for all those things, which will make producing the product tough, costly and unviable in the market. There are at least 8-10 top film stars in the country, who are very competent actors and if their movie fails, it fails due to some other reasons and not because of their acting. Now, if all of them are present in any award function, and it is matter of acting, then who can be rejected on the basis of acting capability; probably none. So, some of them not attends the award ceremony makes hosting it more easy and convenient. And it should be like this only.
"You were designed for accomplshment,
Engineered for success and,
Endowed with the SEEDS OF GREATNESS. "
"Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent. "
"Innovation Distingushes between a Leader and a Follower "
Regards,
Surbhi Maheshwari [MBA Fin / Mktg ]
Manager Finance
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Cabin Crew Career Guide
Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: Aug. 26, 2013
Words: 2,160 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781301001965
Short description
Cabin Crew Career Guide By Capt Shekhar Gupta Pragati Srivastava www.Cabin-Crew-Career-Guide.blogspot.comExtended description
Cabin CrewCareer
Guide
By
Capt Shekhar Gupta
Pragati Srivastava
www.Cabin-Crew-Career-Guide.blogspot.com
1. Your Aviation Career Starts Here
2. Cabin Crew Training
3. Cabin Crew Flight Ratings –
4. Cabin Crew and Personal Computer
5. Medical Requirements for Cabin Crew
6. Cabin Crew Training – Where to get it.
7. Best Cabin Crew Training Schools
8. Aviation Crew [Flight, Cabin, Ground]
9. Aircrafts [Single Engine, Multi Engine, Prop, Turbo Prop, Jet]
10. Best Paying Cabin Crew Jobs
11. Cabin Crew Interview Questions
12. Aviation Organizations
13. List of Abbreviations
14. Aviation Jargons
15. FAQ
Books
Cabin Crew Career Guide by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $10.00 USD. Approx. 2,160 words. Language: English. Published on August 26, 2013. Category: Essay.
Cabin Crew Career Guide By Capt Shekhar Gupta Pragati Srivastava www.Cabin-Crew-Career-Guide.blogspot.com
Price: $10.00 USD. Approx. 2,160 words. Language: English. Published on August 26, 2013. Category: Essay.
Cabin Crew Career Guide By Capt Shekhar Gupta Pragati Srivastava www.Cabin-Crew-Career-Guide.blogspot.com
P - Productivity S - Speed R - Relevancy by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $20.00 USD. Approx. 16,060 words. Language: English. Published on August 23, 2013. Category: Essay.
How to Take Off Your Professional Career from an Average to Exceptional with the Hidden PSR in You. A Book By working CEO and Manager with Day to day and live Examples How to Fight with Global Recession. By Shekhar Gupta Surbhi Maheshwari
Price: $20.00 USD. Approx. 16,060 words. Language: English. Published on August 23, 2013. Category: Essay.
How to Take Off Your Professional Career from an Average to Exceptional with the Hidden PSR in You. A Book By working CEO and Manager with Day to day and live Examples How to Fight with Global Recession. By Shekhar Gupta Surbhi Maheshwari
Group Dynamic By Sukesha Mishra by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 11,660 words. Language: English. Published on August 10, 2013. Category: Essay.
Groups are a fundamental part of social life. As we will see they can be very small – just two people – or very large. They can be highly rewarding to their members and to society as a whole, but there are also significant problems and dangers with them. All this makes them an essential focus for research, and action.In a group there are many unique roles members might be.Try to be in group.
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 11,660 words. Language: English. Published on August 10, 2013. Category: Essay.
Groups are a fundamental part of social life. As we will see they can be very small – just two people – or very large. They can be highly rewarding to their members and to society as a whole, but there are also significant problems and dangers with them. All this makes them an essential focus for research, and action.In a group there are many unique roles members might be.Try to be in group.
Women Empowerment by Sukesha Mishra by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 15,290 words. Language: English. Published on August 4, 2013. Category: Essay.
Women Empowerment by Sukesha Mishra
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 15,290 words. Language: English. Published on August 4, 2013. Category: Essay.
Women Empowerment by Sukesha Mishra
Modern Ways of Marketing by Mirgaya Thakur byAeroSoft Corp
Price: $2.99 USD. Approx. 39,280 words. Language: English. Published on August 4, 2013. Category: Essay.
" Way of Modern Marketing"
Price: $2.99 USD. Approx. 39,280 words. Language: English. Published on August 4, 2013. Category: Essay.
" Way of Modern Marketing"
Indian Food Safari by Ankita Verma by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 14,620 words. Language: English. Published on August 4, 2013. Category: Fiction.
Indian Food Safari is a book of desi food junction. Indian food is famous for spice and aroma .Cuisine of Indian is diverse at its geography, climate culture, colors we go on exploration work to know more about India food the methods and ingredients of North India orfood preparing style is away different from South India.
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 14,620 words. Language: English. Published on August 4, 2013. Category: Fiction.
Indian Food Safari is a book of desi food junction. Indian food is famous for spice and aroma .Cuisine of Indian is diverse at its geography, climate culture, colors we go on exploration work to know more about India food the methods and ingredients of North India orfood preparing style is away different from South India.
Motivation By Aakanksha Jain by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $3.99 USD. Approx. 19,440 words. Language: English. Published on August 2, 2013. Category: Fiction.
What is Motivation? Motivation is the answer to the question “Why we do what we do?”. The motivation theories try to figure out what the “M” is in the equation: “M motivates P” (Motivator motivates the Person). It is one of most important duty of an entrepreneur to motivate people By Aakanksha Jain
Price: $3.99 USD. Approx. 19,440 words. Language: English. Published on August 2, 2013. Category: Fiction.
What is Motivation? Motivation is the answer to the question “Why we do what we do?”. The motivation theories try to figure out what the “M” is in the equation: “M motivates P” (Motivator motivates the Person). It is one of most important duty of an entrepreneur to motivate people By Aakanksha Jain
Be An Aviator not A Pilot by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 4,750 words. Language: English. Published on July 24, 2013. Category: Fiction.
As A Fact Out Of Every 1000 Pilots Only 1 Pilot Becomes An Airline Pilot, The Book Is All About Those 999 Pilots Only.
Price: $1.99 USD. Approx. 4,750 words. Language: English. Published on July 24, 2013. Category: Fiction.
As A Fact Out Of Every 1000 Pilots Only 1 Pilot Becomes An Airline Pilot, The Book Is All About Those 999 Pilots Only.
Pilot’s Career Guide By Niriha Khajanchi by AeroSoft Corp
Price: $20.00 USD. Approx. 25,040 words. Language: English. Published on July 13, 2013. Category: Nonfiction.
International Airline Pilot’s Career Guide Learn Step By Step How to Become an International Airlines Pilot By Shekhar Gupta And Niriha Khajanchi
Price: $20.00 USD. Approx. 25,040 words. Language: English. Published on July 13, 2013. Category: Nonfiction.
International Airline Pilot’s Career Guide Learn Step By Step How to Become an International Airlines Pilot By Shekhar Gupta And Niriha Khajanchi
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