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FLOP SONG- CASE STUDY

On November 17, 2011, Kolaveri, was added to the lexicon of commonly used Indian words & became

probably the one of the smartest word of mouth marketing strategies adapted by movies. Kolaveri-

meaning murderous rage, was the title of a Tanglish (Tamil-English) song written and sung by actor

Dhanush for his film 3 which is directed by directed by his wife Aishwarya starring himself and Shruthi

Hassan.

A video of the song being recorded in a studio was uploaded at precisely 12.53 am on November 17, 2011

on YouTube by Sony Music, which held the music rights for 3. But little did Sony or the star-cast of the

movie know that they were on the brink of creating history. Within a few weeks Kolaveri broke all the

records & became a national pop anthem, despite of the fact that many people who absolutely fell in love

with song didnt even understood the meaning ofKolaveri

Many actually didnt know that it all began with a rough cut of the video being leaked on YouTube.

Aishwarya Dhanush said Even now I do not know the source of the leak & we all were quite upset by the

leak. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for them. Social Hues, a social media analytics firm found

that between November 17 and December 5, there were 43,800 mentions of Kolaveri in the US, 7,000 in

France and 4,000 in the UAE. Tamil movie diehards and non-resident Indians drove most of the traffic in the

US and the Gulf, while Indian students accounted for most of the mentions in Europe

Kolaveri Di is probably the best example of how the use of viral marketing & effective use social media sites

can lead to the success of your product or service. Ashok Parwani, associate director of Sony Music told

NDTV India We wanted this song to go viral. We marketed aggressively to make the song a rage. But for

a song to go viral YouTube was never going to be enough. All forms of social media must be used and

complemented by traditional marketing. It was Facebook that emerged as the main drive for Kolaveri,

accounting for 80% of social media mentions, followed by Twitter and YouTube.

The Sony team posted the song on Tamil, Hindi and international Facebook pages to generate interest. The

results were stunning Social Hues reported that the rate of Twitter mentions rose 200% every day,

starting at 179 and peaking a week later at 14,907 on November 24. November 24 it became the first Tamil

film song to be premiered on a national music channel, MTV India.

Kolaveri found another unlikely admirer in the form of Ratan Tata, who heads the salt-to-steel Tata

conglomerate. He invited Dhanush over for a meal & after the meal he actually retarded soup-song any

one?? Even the prime minister was bowled over. Dhanush and his wife Aishwarya found themselves part of

a state dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda

The Prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) decided to learn the art of viral

marketing from the man who has re-defined the concept. National award winning actor Dhanush, who has

become a household name after the success of 'Kolaveri Di', delivered a lecture and discussed the success

story ofFlop Song song at the premier institute. Dhanush along with cousin and music composer Anirudh

Ravichander, addressed a class of about students of Contemporary Film Industry (CFI) course & PGDM at

IIM-A. Most IIMs have already screened the song in class to discuss how the same strategy can be used by

companies to leverage their marketing activities. Students have also carried out case studies on Kolaveri Di.

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You think thats all!!!!!!! Well then think again. One mans fortune is anothers misfortune. This was never

truer than for what happened on November 25 Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by

a Punjabi youth in Delhi. Soon, a Punjabi version of Kolaveri hit YouTube, logging more than a million views

of its own. The song was now an international phenomenon. It was played on BBC Radio 94.9.

Kolaveri Di is no doubt an example which shows effective use of viral marketing. But there have been otherexamples also. Movies like Peepli Live, Dirty picture & Kahani cached the glimpses of the audience even

before the trailers were premired on the television. A very recent show called Satyamave Jayate hosted by

Aamir Khan has also used the same strategy. Even the famous comedy show Mirakkel uses social media &

viral marketing to good effect.