Project report on

Movie Marketing

By

Mr. Punit Ketan Thakkar

T.Y.B.M.S.

Div – B Roll No – 109

Academic year 2010-2011

Project Guide

Prof. Pankaj Natu

DATE OF SUBMISSION

30TH September, 2010

SVKM’sNarsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics

Vile Parle (W), Mumbai-400053

- 1 -

DECLARATION

I, Punit Thakkar of SVKM’s Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics of

TYBMS, hereby declare that I have completed the project on Movie Marketing in the

academic year 2010-2011

The information is true and original to the best of my knowledge.

Punit Thakkar

- 2 -

CERTIFICATE

I, Mr. Pankaj Natu, hereby certify that PUNIT THAKKAR of SVKM’s Narsee

Monjee college of Commerce and Economics of TYBMS (Semester V) has

completed the project on “Movie Marketing” in the academic year 2010-11 under my

guidance.

Prof. Pankaj Natu Prof. Sunil B Mantri

( Project Guide) (Principal)

N.M. College N.M. College

- 3 -

Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge the following for being the idealistic channel and fresh

dimension in the completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me a chance to

do this project.

I wish to appreciate the SVKM management for providing the state of the art

facilities, the Principal Prof Sunil B. Mantri for his dynamic leadership and the

library staff for their support in providing academic content, and the teaching

and supporting staff of N.M. College, for providing the entire state of the art

infrastructure and resources to enable the completion and enrichment of my

project.

I take this opportunity to thank our co-coordinator and my project guide, Prof. Pankaj

Natu, for his moral support, guidance and intellect that made this project successful.

I would like to thank our college library for having provided various reference books

and magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped

me in the completion of the project. Especially my parents and peers, who supported

me throughout the project.

- 4 -

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Gone are the days when the producer’s job ends once a movie is made. In this day and age it is imperative for every filmmaker to market his movie once it is completed. The lag between the completion and release of any movie can have a fatal effect if it is not promoted effectively and smartly. Thus, for a movie to stand out in the minds of the audience, it is important that the merit of the same is communicated to them in the most appropriate and meaningful way.

In the last five years, non-traditional media houses have opened up. But the fact that a producer can spend more doesn't really mean that he has to. When you say, you have spent so many crores, it isn't really something to be proud of. What really matters is how we spend the money.

Marketing surely has to translate into driving more people to the theatre on that first critical weekend. Today, with the change in speed of operations, a major campaign can be launched in a matter of days, but in such a situation, factors from the ability of differentiate your radio message from the TV to the spread of your costs and what media you buy – all becomes critical.

Marketing is the key in ensuring that a film is able to communicate its core theme to potential viewers in an engaging way. It sets up the expectation levels of the audience with regard to what sort of film they can expect when they enter the auditorium, and is primarily responsible for the opening the film garners. Post release, the objective of marketing is to ensure the film remains fresh in the minds of audiences as long as possible and to build on audience reactions to the film by adapting the PR and media plan accordingly.

In its true sense, marketing is all about the launch.

The Indian film industry has definitely woken up to the importance of marketing in driving the business, however, it is still looked at by many as an additional expense rather than an investment like the cost of production.

The reason for me to have chosen this topic for my research project is based on the fascination I have towards Bollywood and its various facets, primarily marketing.

The quantum of publicity of movies that is all around is simply hard to ignore. The emerging trend of rightly marketing every movie – right from pre production to distribution and promotion is something that I like to follow keenly. As a marketing student, the idea of effectively presenting a film to the audience and the dynamics that influence the same interests me.

This is the reason why I have chosen ‘Movie Marketing’ as the topic for my project.

- 5 -

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SR NO. TOPIC PAGE NO

1. Entertainment industry 7-11

2. History of Indian cinema 12-15

3. Bollywood 16-19

4. Marketing Mix for movies 20-26

5. Marketing and Bollywood 27-28

6. Marketing the Film 29-34

7. Role of marketing in creating a successful movie 35-39

8. Promotional tools 40-51

9. Corporatization of Bollywood 52-55

10. Box office collections 56

11. Case studies 57-67

12. Recession and Bollywood 68-70

13. Future of Movie Marketing 71-72

14. Recommendations 73

15. Conclusion 74

- 6 -

THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

The Indian media and entertainment industry stood at Rs 58,700 crore in 2009, a growth of 1.4% over 2008, said the latest FICCI and KPMG report released at Frames 2010 on Tuesday.

The industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% to reach the size of Rs 1,09,100 crore by 2014.

Last year, print showed a very moderate growth of 2%, reaching around Rs 17,500 crore in size. Music, Internet, gaming and animation brought cheer with double digits growth, albeit on a smaller base. Out of Home, films and radio sectors registered a negative growth during the year.

Rajesh Jain, head of media & entertainment, KPMG India said, “The untapped potential for growth in media reach, impact of digitisation and convergence, better consumer understanding, sustained efforts in innovation, and enhanced penetration of regional markets, all augur well for the industry.”

Experts believe the annual 13% rate will be driven by factors such as favourable demographics, expected recovery in the GDP growth rate and increasing media penetration.

“Though console gaming currently constitutes the largest share of the pie, going forward mobile gaming is expected to eventually surpass console games levels. The growth in this sector will be backed by the increase in number of casual and active games, arrival of 3G, availability of localised content, growth in ad funded gaming platforms and greater awareness of products and services,” said Jain. By 2014, the gaming industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 32% to reach Rs 3,200 crore in size.

PWC recently released – Indian Media & Entertainment Outlook 2009 Report –

which however is optimistic of a double digit growth rate for Media & Entertainment

sector from next year onwards.

Print medium still dominates in terms of the size and share percentage. Total print

size is Rs. 111.5 Billion with a market share of 47.3%. Television comes in close

second with 38.6% market share and total size of 91.0 Billion. But interesting trend is

the fast growth of Online and Radio industry, though OOH still needs to pick up pace.

Online medium is at a very nascent stage in India in terms of Advertising and it

- 7 -

provides a huge potential. What we need though is a different kind of ad selling model

as Google ads doesn’t seem to work the same way in India as in the US.

The report also presented some very interesting Stats about Indian M&E sector-

Over 1,000 movies released annually (largest in the world)

3.2 billion movie tickets sold annually (largest in the world)

80 million pay-TV homes (third largest in the world)

119 million television households

450 television channels

Over 300 million mobile subscribers (second largest in the world)

Over 350 radio stations

6,000 newspapers published, including the worlds’ largest circulated daily.

10,000 music tracks released annually. (That is close to 3 tracks daily)

Indian Entertainment and Media Industry in no doubt have witnessed magnificent

growth in recent years. If a recent report by PWC is to be believed then India is

certainly on the verge to witness major growth in E&M industry after only to China.

Indian E&M industry grew at 10.3 per cent to reach the size of Rs. 536.9 billion,

although it will witness only 8 % in 2009 compared to 16.6% compounded annual

growth over the 2004-08 period. The growth in Indian E&M industry would hover

around 10.5 per cent during the forecasted period 2009-13.

- 8 -

Outlook for Segmented growth of the Indian E&M Industry (2009-13)

Television: The industry is estimated to grow at a rate of 11.4% cumulatively over

the next five years, from an estimated Rs. 244.7 billion in 2008. The overall television

industry would reach Rs. 420.0 billion by 2013. In the Television pie, television

distribution is projected to garner a share of 60% in 2013. On the other hand,

television advertising industry is projected to command a share of 41.0% in 2013,

having increased from current 39.0% in the total ad industry pie. The relative share of

the television content industry is expected to remain constant at 4%.

- 9 -

Film: The industry is projected to grow at a rate of 11.6% over the next five years,

reaching to Rs. 185 billion in 2013 from the current Rs. 107 billion in 2008. The film

industry would see a paradigm shift and would accrue larger revenues from new

emerging avenues.

Print media :  It is projected to grow by 5.6% over the period 2009-13, reaching to Rs.

213 billion in 2013 from the present Rs. 162 billion in 2008. The relative shares of

newspaper publishing and magazine publishing would remain the same at around

87% in favour of newspaper publishing. Magazine publishing is expected to grow at a

higher rate of 6.5% as compared with newspaper publishing which is expected to

grow at 5.6% for the next 5 years.

Radio advertising :  This industry is projected to grow at a rate of 18% over 2009-13,

reaching Rs. 19 billion in 2013 from the present Rs. 8.3 billion in 2008; more than

double its present size. In terms of attracting ad spend; it is projected that the radio

advertising industry will be able to increase its share from 3.8% to 5.2% in the next

five years.

Emerging segments :  The key growth driver for the music industry over the next five

years will be digital music, and its share is expected to move from 16% in 2008 to

60% in 2013. Within digital music, mobile music will continue to increase its share

and maintain its dominance.

Online advertising: It is projected to grow by 32% over the next five years and reach

an estimated Rs. 20 billion in 2013 from the present Rs. 5 billion in 2008. The share

of the online advertising too is projected to grow from 2.3% in 2008 to 5.5% in 2013

of the overall advertising pie.

Out of home (OOH) : Advertising spend is expected to touch Rs 15 billion in 2008,

which is almost twice its current size Rs 25 billion in 2013.Its share in the total ad pie

is expected to go down marginally to 6.8% in 2013 from a current level of 6.9% in

2009.

- 10 -

Animation, gaming and VFX industry: It will continue to maintain its growth pace

and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 22 per cent to Rs. 42.5 billion in 2013 from its

current size of Rs. 15.6 billion.

Break up of Indian Media and Entertainment Industry

- 11 -

HISTORY OF INDIAN CINEMA

1896 was a significant year for Indian entertainment industry as it witnessed the

arrival of cinema in India. When one goes to think about the history of Indian cinema

that first name that springs up are the Luemiere Brothers who demonstrated the art of

cinema to the subcontinent. Bombay was the first Indian city that screened

cinematography, six short films by the luemiere brothers. The success of these films

led to the screening of more foreign films, for instance, Vita graph by James. B.

Stewart and Moto- Photoscope by ted Hughes. In short introduction of cinema in

India took place with the aid of the colonisers.

A kaleidoscopic view of history of India includes the pioneering efforts of save dada

(Harish Chandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar). He made two short films as early as in

1897. In 1900 the entire Indian entertainment sector underwent huge changes and the

emergence of Dadasaheb Phalke took Indian cinema to new heights. In 1913, raja

Harish Chandra was released which achieved path breaking success. During that time

i.e. the era when silent films were made and when talkies were introduced, the main

sources for Indian films were the mythological texts. Gradually silent films were

taken over by the talkies. Films were now made in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu

and these films proved to be phenomenal successes.

The period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the

"Golden Age" of Hindi cinema. Some of the most critically-acclaimed Hindi films of

all time were produced during this period. Examples include the Guru

Dutt films Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and the Raj

Kapoor films Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955). These films expressed social

themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India; Awaara presented the

city as both a nightmare and a dream, while Pyaasa critiqued the unreality of city

life. Some of the most famous epic films of Hindi cinema were also produced at the

time, including Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), which was nominated for

the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and K. Asif’s Mughal-e-

Azam (1960).V. Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have

- 12 -

inspired the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967). Madhumati (1958), directed

by Bimal Roy and written by Ritwik Ghatak, popularized the theme

of reincarnation in Western popular culture.Other acclaimed mainstream Hindi

filmmakers at the time included Kamal Amrohi and Vijay Bhatt. Successful actors at

the time included Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt, while

successful actresses included Nargis, Meena Kumari, Nutan, Madhubala, Waheeda

Rehman and Mala Sinha.

1950 onwards, decade after decade indian film industry saw the emergence of stars

like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachan, Asha Parekh

and many more. The list is endless. In 1960, K-Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam created history

and a trial of romantic movies followed. Similarly 1970 Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay won

hearts worldwide. Regional films too were doing well.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films starred actors

like Rajesh Khanna and  Dharmendra, and actresses like Sharmila Tagore,

Mumtaz, Leena Chandavarkar and Helen. In the mid-1970s, romantic confections

made way for gritty, violent films about gangsters (see Indian mafia) and

bandits.Amitabh Bachchan, the star known for his "angry young man" roles, rode the

crest of this trend with actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor, which lasted

into the early 1990s. Actresses from this era included Hema Malini, Jaya

Bachchan and Rekha

 Some Hindi filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic

parallel cinema throughout the 1970’s, alongside Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan

Mehta, Govind Nihalani and Vijaya Mehta However, the 'art film' bent of the Film

Finance Corporation came under criticism during a Committee on Public

Undertakings investigation in 1976, which accused the body of not doing enough to

encourage commercial cinema. The 1970s thus saw the rise of commercial cinema in

the form of enduring films such as Sholay (1975), which solidified Amitabh

Bachchan's position as a lead actor. The devotional classic Jai Santoshi Ma was also

released in 1975. Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash

Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman against his

- 13 -

brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan", portrayed by

Amitabh Bachchan, it was described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema”

by Danny Boyle The most internationally-acclaimed Hindi film of the 1980s

was Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988) which won the Camera d'Or at the 1988

Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign

Language Film.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pendulum swung back toward family-

centric romantic musicals with the success of such films as Qayamat Se Qayamat

Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale

Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), making stars out of a new generation of actors (such

as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan) and actresses (such

as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol) In that point of time, action and

comedy films were also successful, with actors like Govinda and Akshay Kumar and

actresses such as Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor appearing in films of this

genre. Furthermore, this decade marked the entry of new performers in arthouse and

independent films, some of which succeeded commercially, the most influential

example being Satya (1998), directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Anurag

Kashyap. The critical and commercial success of Satya led to the emergence of a

distinct genre known as Mumbai noir urban films reflecting social problems in the

city of Mumbai This led to a resurgence of Parallel Cinema by the end of the decade.

These films often featured actors like Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Manisha

Koirala, Tabu and Urmila Matondkar, whose performances were usually critically

approved.

The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's popularity in the world. This led the nation's

filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story

lines as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects, animation,

etc. Some of the largest production houses, among them Yash Raj Films and Dharma

Productions were the producers of new modern films. The opening up of the overseas

market, more Bollywood releases abroad and the explosion of multiplexes in big

cities, led to wider box office successes in India and abroad, including Lagaan

(2001), Devdas (2002), Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Kal Ho Naa Ho(2003), Veer-

Zaara (2004), Rang De Basanti (2006), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006),

- 14 -

Krrish (2006), Dhoom 2 (2006), Om Shanti Om (2007), Chak De India(2007), Rab Ne

Bana Di Jodi (2008) and Ghajini (2008), delivering a new generation of popular

actors (Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan) and actresses (Aishwarya Rai, Preity

Zinta, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor), and keeping the popularity of actors of the

previous decade. Among the mainstream films, Lagaan won the Audience Award at

the Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign

Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards, while Devdas and Rang De

Basanti were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

 

The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience

(see the discussion in Ganti, 2004, cited in references), and has resisted making films

that target narrow audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would

maximise box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards

accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians,

and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.

There have generally been five major influences that have shaped the conventions of

Indian popular cinema:

The ancient Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana which have exerted

a profound influence on the thought and imagination of Indian popular

cinema, particularly in its narratives

Ancient Sanskrit drama, with its highly stylized nature and emphasis on

spectacle, where music, dance and gesture combined "to create a vibrant

artistic unit with dance and mime being central to the dramatic experience."

The traditional folk theatre of India, which became popular from around the

10th century with the decline of Sanskrit theatre.

The Parsi theatre, which "blended realism and fantasy, music and dance,

narrative and spectacle, earthy dialogue and ingenuity of stage presentation,

integrating them into a dramatic discourse of melodrama.

Hollywood, where musicals were popular from the 1920s to the 1950s, though

Indian filmmakers departed from their Hollywood counterparts in several

ways.

- 15 -

BOLLYWOOD

Bollywood is the largest in the world, producing almost 800 hindi language films per

year that are viewed by roughly 11 million people per day. These movies are known

for their high concepts, ethnic flavour, rich emotionalism, vivid colours and sensuous

music.

The entertainment industry in India has outperformed the economy and is one of the

fastest growing sectors in India. Since 1931 when talkies were there in the country,

the film industry has produced more than 67000 films in more than 30 different

languages and dialects. India’s movie industry is a great sector for foreign investment

by corporatized entertainment companies. Though risks are high on per- movie basis,

the risk spreads out across a number of films. However the domestic film industry

despite its profligacy is yet to acquire …the character of professionalism on a large

scale.

After the far fetched success of information technology and biotechnology, the Indian

entertainment industry is all set to bloom in the coming years. Be it the changing

distribution scenario, consolidations within the industry and segments, technological

invocations or changes in regulatory environment- all are contribution to the growth

of the sector. Even the macroeconomic factors like the country’s GDP growth rate,

demographic changes and Indian Diaspora are spurring the trend. There is immense

potential to be tapped to make the Indian entertainment industry at par with its global

counterparts.

Mumbai, the City of Dreams, houses the prime centre of Hindi Film Industry, better

known as Bollywood. Acclaimed as one of the biggest film industries of the world,

Bollywood produces over 1000 films every year. Since 1913, Indian Cinema has

made a long journey from simple silent movies to sound films, then coloured films to

technically advanced movies of the present day. Bollywood imbibed its name from

the merger of the term Bombay (now Mumbai) and Hollywood, the American Film

Industry.

- 16 -

Another point worth-mentioning is that Bollywood is just the part of Indian Film

Industry, which also encompasses other language film industries. The movies churned

out here are the major source of entertainment, with an audience of 3.6 billion people,

which is more than half of the world's population. Bypassing the reality, Hindi films

are usually 'masala' (spicy) movies that comprise all the ingredients like music, dance,

violence and melodrama of a good entertainer. The languages of Hindi, Urdu and

English are extremely common in Bollywood.

Interesting Facts about Bollywood

Production-wise, Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world with over

1000 films produced every year.

Its movies are watched by almost 14 million Indians everyday.

Raja Harishchandra (1913) was the first silent feature film of India.

'Alam Ara' - the first Indian sound film was released in 1931.

Kisan Kanya (1937) was the first coloured movie produced in India.

'Kagaz ke Phool' (1959) was the first cinemascope film of Bollywood.

The first 70 MM film of Bollywood was 'Around the World'.

The first 3D movie in Hindi was 'Shiva ka Insaaf'.

'Noorjahan' (1931) was the first Indian English film.

Every year, Bollywood movies are celebrated in no less than 6 award

functions.

- 17 -

Business Segment Name of Companies

TV Broadcasting & Software

Production

Zee Telefilms, ETC Networks, SONY

Entertainment Television, TV Today, NDTV,

Balaji Telefilms, Bag Films, Creative Eye,

Cinevistaas, Padmalaya Telefilms, Sri Adhikari

Brothers Network, TV 18, Miditech, UTV,

Nimbus Communications

Film Production, Distribution &

Exhibition

Adlabs Films, PVR, Mukta Arts, Shringar Films,

Pritish Nandy Communications, Galaxy

Entertainment, Kaleidoscope Entertainment

Music Content & Distribution Tips Industries, Saregama

Print Media Mid-Day Multimedia, Hindustan Times

Radio Broadcasting Entertainment Network of India

Animation Crest Communications, DQ Entertainment

Country wise Films Produced

- 18 -

Country Wise Cinema Attendance

- 19 -

MARKETING MIX FOR MOVIES

Marketing mix is the set of controllable variables and their levels used to influence the

target market. The elements of marketing mix are the basic components of a

marketing plan. Also known as the Four P's, the marketing mix elements are price,

place, product, and promotion.

The concept is simple. Think about another common mix - an ice-cream mix. All ice-

creams contain milk, sugar, flavours. However, one can alter the final ice-cream by

altering the amounts of mix elements contained in it. So for a chocolate flavour add

more chocolate powder, for vanilla flavour add more vanilla powder and for bitter

coffee taste add less sugar and more coffee powder!

It is the same with the marketing mix. The offer made to the customer can be altered

by varying the mix elements. So for a high profile brand, increase the focus on

promotion and desensitize the weight given to price.

The 6Ps of Film Marketing

Product: It is time and again that we keep coming back to this. The base for a well-

defined film marketing strategy starts with the film itself. A well researched script

with a well-woven screenplay is where the core of the film-marketing strategy for a

film should be invested. It is not about who sees the film only, it is also about catering

to a definitive audience who watches your film in theatres, and more often than not,

more than once. While other elements of marketing focus on attracting these

audiences it is this aspect of marketing i.e. ‘the product’ that aims at satisfying these

audiences.

- 20 -

Placement: With the first element satisfied we move on the element that makes the

first element possible. It is true that an audience will be satisfied only when they are

attracted to go into the theatre to watch the film. It is ‘placement’ that accounts for

attracting the audience into crowding the theatre. ‘Placement’ as a term is used to

describe the modus-operandi of placing the communication and promotion strategy of

the film on to media and non-media platforms available in the industry today.

There is a complete media-mix that should be put into place usually 15% to 25% of

the production cost of the film is invested into the marketing of the film in

Bollywood. But then there are films like Lagaan, Boom, Out of Control, Khel and

others who have spent as much as 40% of their production cost on marketing. But

only Lagaan out of all these films became a super-hit and needles to point out that that

had a lot to do with the central theme of the film.

Today it makes perfect sense to collaborate with one or more media partners in order

to ensure maximum focused publicity of your film through certain guided platforms.

The PLACE of Movies:

A marketing attitude tickles the creative genius in many a digital entertainment entrepreneur! Where and how do your prospects find (and use) your movie products? That's marketing "place."

It's about making one's products and services available to prospective buyers when, where and how they want them. Direct marketing to your end customer and filling the distribution channel in between. Marketing strategies mix and match indirect channels such as wholesale and exhibitor channels. Single or multiple channels. Long supply chains or short. Domestic and/or global. Urban, suburban, rural.

With the ever-inventive entrepreneurial energy in the entertainment whorl, people find venues for entertainment sales not only through traditional theaters and broadcast, but on street corners, in homes, over the Internet, over phones, through clubs, by ship, plane and with leaps over tall buildings!

Options for delivery of intellectual property are exploding: movies, games, music, news, and educational content. Distribution takes place through theaters, rental stores, sell-through stores, catalogs, non-theatrical groups, the Internet, even cell phones and the latest new media gadget.

Just a few of the technologies that have provided platforms for creative sales of digital media include broadband, cellular phones, hard disk miniaturization, WYSIWIG

- 21 -

interfaces, database tools, simulators, and the growing options in integrated home theater systems.

Technologies that were invented for delivery mechanisms become the entertainment themselves. There hasn't been such a cross fertilization of place and function since the Italian Renaissance shook the communications world with the mixture of art, music, literature and political ideas in the 1400s.

Is today's digital renaissance any different? We have digital entertainment, education and news tapping the political and military fronts. Digital delivery of information affects business, education, government and family communities.

The half-life of platforms, strategies and formats are shorter than ever. Affiliate programs on the Internet saw their peak. Now we have RSS feeds, blogs, vblogs, audio blogs and mobile computing. Many families no longer lease a land-based phone line--relying strictly on their cellular phones, instant messaging and e-mail for personal communications.

Through all these mobility and technological changes, the human factor remains constant. People like people. They like meeting places and a reason to get together. The campfire might be digital, but it hasn't lost its glow. That's where marketing shines.

What does the technical digi-master need to know about the marketing realities of place? Think Zip drive. Floppies. Analog. Radio. Local television. Books. Stone tablets. The frustration felt by today's consumers about upgrading, lost data, boat anchors and mice is real. A marketing 'tude about technology is really about availability of personal and business photos and recordings and letters and records -- not to mention collections of music, games and movies.

Place is about availability -- not just sales availability, but usability. Ability is the heart of a marketing attitude. Backward compatibility, cross-platform compatibility, global standards. Successful technologists think about people as they contort bits and bites into new opportunities.

To put a human face on this process of change, remember how parents struggle to rear their children who, in their teen years, hit their stride. Technology links these cutting edge communicators with family, friends, advisors, teachers and coworkers in the home, the car, the office, and the back pocket. It's about place. Availability. Community. Sharing the joy, the opportunity and the content of the message.

Design for sharing and for varying levels of technological compatibility, adaptability and speed of adoption are powerfully tantalizing and profitable elements of a successful marketing mix.

Options for "place" today are different than twenty years ago. In 1985 Ronald Reagan took office as President. The first laser printers were added to the desktop publishing revolution. The Apple Macintosh and the IBM PC AT home computers had just been released. Microsoft releases its first version of Windows. The first CD-Rom drive for

- 22 -

personal computers was released sporting a whopping "1X" speed. Is it any wonder people are reeling from the speed of technological change?

Today, the "place" of entertainment distribution is mind boggling. Producers and distributors must pick and choose their distribution avenues, but also manage their presence in all of the key market distribution channels. When technologists work closely with marketing strategists, they can keep pace with groundswell market shifts created by competitors, collaborators and global shifts in economic, political and social changes.

"Place" is the grassroots of a marketing attitude. There's still no place like home turf.

MARKETING TO DOCreate your in-house list of family, friends, supporters, and industry members, vendors and media

Research the distribution chain in the general movie industry and hint, hint, at least THREE niche markets related to the subject matter of your products

Refine your market niche and develop a library of movies with a cohesive core so that you can develop fans -- people who look for the next movie you produce because it touches their interests: genre, subject, ensemble cast, etc.

Get to know your distributors. They are people. They love movies just like you. They see a lot, hear a lot, and think a lot about how to bring quality to their market niches.

Positioning: The entire media, marketing and communication strategy of the film

depends on the positioning of the film. Positioning is that particular slot in the mind of

the audience that the film positions it in. This kind of positioning has a lot to do with

how well defined your target-audience is.

The time-consuming and highly complex ordeal of pin-pointing the target- audience is

something that a good film marketer should take care of in the conceptualisation

stage. The film by and large should appeal to the sensibilities of all kinds of audience

but prominently should be positioned for a well defined audience. Based on the

projected associations with your target-audience you must formulate the ‘positioning

elements’. These ‘positioning elements’ should highlight and reflect in all the

promotions for the film.

- 23 -

People: The positioning of the film has a lot to do with the personification of the film.

Personification finally is the key to creating a brand out of the film. Lagaan is brand

India and Cricket.

It is the central characters (not the actors) of the film that should enable the making of

a brand out of your film. There should be a well-defined promotion plan that has to be

put-into place for promoting the people of the film (both on-screen and the technical

team). The build-up should be such that without over-exposing the team there should

be enough flurry of activity that will catapult the audiences into the character of the

film even before they see the film.

Public Relations: Besides the advertising and promotion of the film there should be a

strategic focus on public relations for the film, both media and non-media public

relations play an important role in the success of the film.

Partners Brands and Bollywood: There is evidence of shortened attention spans and

a greater effort to break through the clutter of multitudinous brands and media

vehicles. The best way to deliver the message is to catch the customer off-guard when

the rational defences’ are down. The best way to do so is to use the emotional gate

rather than the rational gate. The rational gate examines the advantages, benefits,

features and seeks value for money; the emotional gate is all about trust, love,

identification and belief. It has been noticed that films operate at the emotional level.

These aspects have been leveraged by brands such as Coke, Pepsi, Lux, Airtel,

Hyundai, Bagpiper, Lux wherein movies and brands flash discreet (and sometimes

indiscreet) messages at their target audiences.

- 24 -

Then there is also the need to examine synergies between the brands and films. The

successful integration of product placement within the film’s storyline has a long

history: the first example being the yellow Rajdoot bike used in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby.

Hollywood also leverages brands such as BMW (Bond movies), Jaguar, Ford, Ray

Ban (Tom Cruise in Risky Business and Mission Impossible and Will Smith in Men

In Black), Starbucks coffee, AOL, AT&T, and so on. My personal favorites are the

brand fits created for ‘Nike’ in What Women Want and for FedEx in Castaway.

However, at this point it might be crucial to point out that what is important is that

there is complete transparency in the agreement that the film-marketer and brand-

marketer get themselves into. Otherwise things can get really dirty. Recall Rakesh and

Hritik Roshan of Koi Mil Gaya v/s Killer Jeans and Emami.

Films are a different medium and one bad placement can do more damage than 10

good placements. Artistic integrity is crucial for successful brand placements and the

operation has to be woven into the script. Sometimes, unreasonable clients demand

more footage although research has shown that a 2-minute clip can effectively deliver

a message in a credible manner. The placement should be a natural fit and shouldn’t

be contrived and unnatural. Each effective tie-up between a brand and a film involves

hectic negotiations of around 3-6 months.

There is no fixed formula but the factors that are taken into consideration MEDIA

during the negotiation stage include: cast and credits; size of the projects and the

producers; timing of the release; brand impact; number of screens during release and

post-release phase; and possibilities of brand associations through contests and

promotions. Depending on the content of the film and its story line, the film-maker

can sketch a profile of viewers who would flock to see the movie. Then the film-

maker approaches all those brands who could appeal to the targeted viewers. This is

followed by a 360 degrees marketing plan for cross-promotions during the various

stages of a film’s release.

- 25 -

A list of marketing variables under Product, Place, Promotion, and Price are as

follows:

Product Price Place Promotion

Quality List price Channels Advertising

Features Discounts Coverage Personal selling

Options Allowances Locations Sales promotion

Style Payment period Inventory Publicity

Brand name Credit terms Transport

Packaging

Sizes

Services

Warranties

Returns

- 26 -

MARKETING AND BOLLYWOOD

"Taking your family to a multiplex would cost you at least Rs 600. Now to make the

masses do that, a good marketing strategy is very essential."

Hence now it is believed that any product --- be it a film, play or TV show --- requires

good marketing if its commercial expectations are to be met. The purpose of

marketing is to maximise the audience for a film and to therefore maximise its

earnings i.e. to make as much money as possible. Most blockbuster movies already

have an audience. So producers put in millions of dollars into the movie because they

already know people will go and see it because it is based on a media text that already

has an audience. This may be a previous film (e.g. Krisshh’s audience will consist of

many people who are fans of the first movie Koi Mil Gaya ...!). However, the

producers need a guarantee that the film is going to be make not just a small profit,

but a comfortable one, and after spending crores of rupees on a movie they will

usually spend around half as much again on marketing it.

Marketing also aims at making the movie a brand so that people are loyal to it and a

set of brand loyal consumers are created. Marketing plays a very important role in

attracting people to the theatres. However the brand loyalty lasts for a very small

period of time. People might buy the t-shirts, audio CD’s etc. of the movies. Movies

are a one time experience and people don’t go to see the same movie again and again.

The brand loyalty in case of movies is entirely different from that of FMCG products.

People buy those products again and again if they like them but movies they will see

only once or at the most twice if they like it so much. The decision to go and watch

the movie is largely influenced by the marketing of the film.

With each new movie release, the studio has to create a new brand. That’s one of the

reasons why producers are keen on producing sequels to well established brands.

They know that they already have a brand loyal customer base and no matter however

the movie would be, the audiences would have a sense of curiosity to go and watch

the film. For e.g. the producers of dhoom knew that they would get the desired

number of people for dhoom 2 and if they come up with a third sequel people would

- 27 -

still go and watch it even if they didn’t like dhoom 2. Hence marketing of sequels is

much easier than creating a new brand altogether.

Stars may also be considered as brands, particularly if they are associated with only

one type of movie. People may be fans of an individual actor and will go to see the

movie because he or she stars in it. Therefore the marketing of a movie is all about

creating instant brand identity. A movie's brand is established by signalling to

consumers what it is like and where it has come from.

Films can only be marketed effectively prior to their release. Once they have been

shown in cinemas, the cat is out of the bag, and word-of-mouth takes over from the

marketing department in persuading audiences to go and see a particular movie. Films

have a limited distribution window, and therefore a limited shelf-life. They may play

in cinemas for as long as six months, sometimes only for a week. The marketing has

to happen at absolutely the right time to get audiences into cinemas. A marketing

campaign may build for as long as it takes to make a film, but it is over once the

movie has been released.

Earlier there were only two streams - parallel and the mainstream cinema. But now

we have all kinds of films that make it a difficult task to tag them. Even an odd

regional or foreign film has its audience in cities now. People today only look for the

quality of the film and so they would go to watch a film even in a regional language.

The challenge therefore lies in surviving the mad race for eyeballs. In the older days,

the public had only a few alternatives for entertainment and film producers could

always get away without spending much on marketing. But now, the new generation's

needs and interests should be treated carefully failing which the filmmakers would

suffer huge losses not only in terms of money but also in terms of lost audiences.

Thus today the mantra of marketing is… "If you don't project your film in the correct

perspective, the target audience won't notice it."

- 28 -

MARKETING THE FILM

Launching a new film into the market- place is like launching any other new product -

the public need to be made aware of its existence. It is the role of the distribution

company to promote the film as widely as possible in order to maximise its chances of

success at the box office. There is, of course, only one chance to do this - if the film is

not a hit when it opens there is no opportunity to re-release and try again at a later

date. People make their decision about whether to go and see a film at the cinema on

the strength of what they have seen, heard or read about it and the marketing

campaign must persuade as many people as possible that this will be a film they will

enjoy.

K E Y F A C T 0 R S

When a distribution company has negotiated the rights to market a particular film, the

marketing team meets to decide the key factors in the campaign:

Audience

Unique Selling Point (USP)

Budget

The Audience

The distributors want to advertise the film to as many people as possible, dependent

on its certificate. However, they also know that there will be a particular group, or

groups, to whom it will really appeal and therefore they will make this group the

target audience for the marketing campaign. They will also aim to schedule the

release date for the film so that it does not open at the same time as another film

hoping to attract the same audience.

- 29 -

The Unique Selling Point (USP)

The Unique Selling Point - also known as the USP - will be the factor that makes this

particular film different from others in the same genre and will be evident in the

images that are seen on the poster and trailer. The marketing campaign must aim to

give the public information about the genre, story and stars of the film so they feel

confident that this will be the type of film they will enjoy coming to see. However,

whilst stressing the familiar elements of the film it must also highlight how the film is

different.

The Budget

The success or failure of a film can depend heavily upon the amount of money spent

on marketing in the run-up to its release at the cinema. The budget for the marketing

campaign will be set according to how much the distributors think the film will make

at the box office. They have no real way of knowing this as each film is unique and

sometimes there are unexpected successes or failures, but calculations can be made

looking at other films of a similar type. Influential factors may include the cast and

crew of a film, when and where it will be released, audience research from early test

screenings of the film and how well the film has performed in the US, as it usually

opens there first.

The Campaign

A marketing campaign is divided into three areas:

Advertising

Publicity

Promotions

- 30 -

Advertising- It is to be paid for and consists of press, television and radio advertising

as well as posters and ‘new media’ such as the Internet. The advertising budget is an

‘above the line’ cost as the amount spent and what you get for it can be worked out

exactly. Additionally there is ‘in cinema’ activity, which only costs distributors the

price of production. This comprises supplying posters, trailers and other materials,

such as banners, standees (three-dimensional © Film Education 4 cardboard cut-outs)

and mobiles to Exhibitors. There is no charge for this, as it is obviously in the

cinema’s interest to promote films which they will be playing.

Publicity which is not paid for but is generated by the publicity department includes

reviews, articles and interviews in any media. This is a ‘below the line’ cost; the cost

of bringing a star over from the US can be calculated fairly accurately, however the

level of awareness raised about the film through this visit cannot be guaranteed.

Promotions - which are also a ‘below the line’ cost for many of the same reasons as

publicity, are often run in conjunction with other companies to coincide with the

film’s release. However, the success of some promotional activities, such as

competition leaflet giveaways, can be measured quite accurately.

Each of these three areas will work together to raise awareness of the film. As the

release date of the film approaches, and particularly as the film hits the cinemas you

will see more and more elements of the campaign emerge.

THE TEASER CAMPAIGN

If the film is to be a particularly high profile release, with a large promotional budget

to spend, the main campaign may well be preceded by a teaser campaign. A teaser

campaign can contain many of the elements of the main campaign such as posters and

trailers but is designed to tease the prospective audience, to arouse their curiosity

about a film without giving too many details away. It may be set in motion as far in

advance as six months before the release date, whereas the main campaign will not

usually begin until there are approximately six weeks to go. Both campaigns need

careful handling as too much exposure runs the risk of losing the prospective

- 31 -

audience’s interest. The teaser aims to get people talking about the film, the main

campaign aims to raise the profile and get them into the cinema to see it.

The Poster

The poster is the primary tool in the marketing campaign. It must be instantly eye-

catching, because often it is seen only briefly, yet it must offer clues as to the genre

(type) of film it promotes, information as to narrative (story) and the stars, and sell the

film as being unique.

The Trailer

The trailer works effectively to market a film because the audience experiences it

actually in the cinema auditorium. In this way, we can get the full impact of the

moving images and sound, which is far more effective than any still picture could be,

and the connection in our minds has been made between the cinema environment and

the film. Trailers are not randomly shown before a film; they are carefully chosen to

appeal to the same type of audience as the main feature, so a trailer for say ‘Koi Mil

Gaya’, a children's film, would not be shown before a late night horror show aimed at

teenagers. Trailers also receive a certificate, and can only be shown with main

features of the same or higher certificate.

PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION

Press kits and EPKS

Press kits are sent to journalists all over the country to give them information about

forthcoming films. They are one of the basic tools of any publicity department. Press

kits include: -

A set of stills i.e. photographs which have been taken during the making of the film.

These may be images from the film itself, studio portraits of the stars, and

photographs of the production crew working with the actors and so on. These stills

have been authorised for printing in newspapers and magazines.

- 32 -

Production notes form the bulk of any press kit. This gives the journalist a synopsis

of the film and provides interesting information such as elements of costume design,

location choices, issues raised by the film, choices in casting and how the stars feel

about their roles; all the sort of material which could be used to write an article for

their publication.

A list of cast and crew credits- Journalists writing about the film need correct

information and correct spellings.

Biographies and filmographies of the cast, director and producer: The front page of

a press kit will display the title of the film, written in the graphics which have been

chosen for all the publicity surrounding the release. It will also contain the title and

logo of the company which is distributing the film.

Electronic Press Kits, usually known as EPKS, are available to journalists working

in television. These take the form of a video tape; radio journalists will have similar

information on audio tape. The EPK may include:

A trailer for the film. There may be more than one version of this.

Short clips from the film showing dramatic or funny moments, authorised for

showing on television without further copyright clearance. For the

promotional period of the release, these are the clips you will see on film

review programmes and in more general programmes featuring film. There

will be a variety of clips, not only to show the different features of the film

but also so that the audience for a certain television programme can be shown

an appropriate clip for their age and interests.

Short extracts of the director, principal stars, screenwriter talking about their

role in the film, how they feel about it, what’s new about it etc. These clips

can be used by television presenters to make it look as if they are actually

interviewing the star, but of course without the massive cost that this would

involve.

The B-Roll. This is footage shot behind the scenes. It will often show the

director at work or it could be showing how animals were trained; anything

which may be of interest to anyone wanting to know about the film’s

production.

- 33 -

PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS AND MERCHANDISING

Distributors may link with promotional partners to generate additional publicity for

their films. Fast food retailers may be approached to run promotional packaging

featuring the film or electrical outlets to run trailers on televisions in shop windows.

Media partners may be asked to run preview screenings or to give away holiday

packages or other exclusive items related to the film. Prospective partners may be

shown a sizzle reel to give them an idea of what the film is about, as the film may not

be finished when the tie-ins between the two companies are being discussed.

Merchandising will be also produced to promote a film. This can be of two types:

a) Sweatshirts, baseball caps, pens, mugs, lunch boxes etc. which will be given to

journalists to provide a constant visual reminder of the film and will be used for

competition prizes in the press and so forth. This is all given away.

b) Licensed merchandise, whereby companies will buy the rights to make toys,

clothes and other goods featuring the film. These products are sold.

THE PREMIERE

The Premiere of a film is its first major public showing, although it will have been

screened to the press previously so reviews can be written and the film publicised in

newspapers and magazines at the time of its release. The Premiere screening is often a

high profile event, perhaps for charity, with stars and directors in attendance and a

themed party after the film. It is an excellent opportunity to gain publicity for the film

as there will hopefully be television and press coverage of the night and as such, every

effort is made to make the Premiere a little different.

- 34 -

ROLE OF MARKETING IN CREATING A SUCCESSFUL MOVIE

Has the concept of ‘movie marketing’ really taken off in India? How effective is this

mode of marketing in promoting films?

It’s a split vote so far. While many are of the view that Indian film producers are now

cashing in on the hype around their movies to a great extent, others argue that the

concept has failed in many cases. For instance, the concept has worked very well for

the movie Om Shanti Om while it has failed to promote movies such as Sawaariya.

Recognising the growing significance of movie-marketing, Bollywood producers are

increasingly opting for this mode of marketing. A 360 degree marketing platform was

provided for Om Shanti Om. It worked very well for everybody who was associated

with the movie. This concept is gaining a strong momentum in India.

According to industry analysts, the concept of movie marketing is still at a very

nascent stage in India but Indian film producers are very eager to create hype and

hoopla around their movies through this mode of marketing. The concept of movie

marketing is helping producers a lot as they are able to recover the cost of the film

within the first two weeks of the release of the movie and all this is only because of

the hype created around the movie. Due to this reason the marketing budget of films is

also rising. Almost 30% of the budget is allocated for marketing. Innovations in

marketing are coming with every big banner release. But as mentioned above, the

concept is still at a nascent stage in India. Out of 500 Indian film producers, only 12

now opt for movie marketing because it becomes difficult for producers to raise such

huge funds for marketing.

Producers now have realised that marketing plays a vital role in deciding the fate of a

film and so they are now getting into marketing even if it’s a small budget film. With

more and more movies being produced, the shelf life of an individual film has

decreased and so it’s very important to make an impact on the minds of the people

- 35 -

and this can only be done through marketing. Realising this, producers now are

willing to spend almost half the budget of their film on marketing.

Not just the producers but even the stars now realise how important it has become to

attract the crowds to watch their movies. They are willing to take part in media

interactions, cast engagements and road trips. Thus is explained the stripping of

Aamir Khan, the clinical documentation of flab to pectorals, and his generous

billboard appearances in the Ghajini haircut. The efforts really paid off and the movie

went on to becoming one of the biggest hits of recent times. Marketing has also

become very sophisticated. The earlier approach that bombarded audiences with noisy

television and print advertisements has now subsided. Producers are engaging into

innovative strategies of marketing now. Marketing should be done at the right level

i.e. it should raise only so much expectations as much as the movie can fulfil

otherwise it was prove quite fatal. One such example is ‘Drona’.

The film Hum Tum produced by Yash Raj Films is a classic example of a film that

had highly innovative marketing-publicity campaigns. Though film critics gave a less

than warm reception to Hum Tum, the film, specifically targeted at and marketed

among the youth, was an acknowledged box office hit.

The campaign Hum Tum unleashed could well find place as a textbook case on

marketing. Yash Raj Films tied up with organisations ranging from Times of India to

Lays Chips to promote the film. The USP of the film were the cartoon characters of

HUM TUM which were highly publicised and a lot of merchandising also was

undertaken for those characters.

Simultaneous to its production, strategising the film's marketing and publicity

campaigns had begun. Hum Tum invested 10 to 12 per cent of its total production

budget on marketing and publicity. The movie actually got free publicity worth 30 to

35 per cent of its budget because of the free-of-cost deals like Saif's appearance in

Sony's soap Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin and the numerous MTV appearances of its cast-

members.

- 36 -

Why Correct Marketing is important in Bollywood???

The super bumper opening that Kabir Khan’s New York had

generated in the metro cities and the multiplexes, underlines the importance of the

right way of marketing.

Vashu Bhagnani’s much hyped Kal Kissne Dekha had opened to a lukewarm response

despite being a far better promoted film in terms of money spent than Yash Raj. But

the major difference between the marketing of the two films was that, while the

marketing of New York gave the audience an insight into the film, the marketing

promotions of Kal Kissne Dekha left the public wondering what the film was all

about.

One may argue that New York had established stars whereas Kal Kissne Dekha

introduced newcomers such as Jackky Bhagnani and Vaishali Desai but still, the

opening of Bhagnani’s film could have been far more better had the promotion been

well thought of, irrespective of the film’s merits. At the same time the release of

Paying Guests, a Subhash Ghai production hardly came with any promotion.

Trade sources felt that Subhash Ghai might have saved a couple of crores of rupees by

economizing on the publicity and marketing of Paying Guests but he might have lost

more than that because many in the public weren’t even aware that the film was

releasing or what the film was all about or who were the actors in it.

- 37 -

Marketing as a tool is considered to be successful if it is able to highlight the

unconventional and make it the selling point and the USP and this is the basic edifice

on which marketing is governed. Let’s try to understand this by analysing and

undertaking the comparisons between the marketing done for SAAWARIYA and OM

SHANTI OM. OSO had emerged as a perfect success as a marketing tool.

This is clearly evident from the fact that Shahrukh Khan continued to promote OSO

on whatever occasions he could grace, as he had been doing through various cricket

matches around the countryside and different parts of the world where India had been

playing.

The song in which all the film stars till date could congregate had been brought

together and had been positioned as the USP of the film from the day on which the

promos of OSO were launched. The saviness of Shahrukh in marketing the product

aka OSO was evident from the smart comment that he made while giving an interview

to after the final one day match between India and Pakistan at Jaipur. With a

mischievous glint in his eyes Shahrukh told Rameej Raja that when people are bored

of watching a test match should come over to a cinema hall to watch OSO.

For SAAWARIYA the marketing effort of this variety was not made in the same

magnitude as it was done by OSO though it had been reported that more than Rs.50

crores had been earmarked for promotion of SAAWARIYA.

While Salman Khan was an integral part of the film he was never marketed in the

manner in which he should have been. After the first round of publicity when it

became evident that the film needed some further prop, this tool could have been

highlighted. Salman Khan after all has his captive audience and could prove

beneficial for the film.

Second aspect of the film that could have been highlighted is the fact that it was a

love story between a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl. The films made on these themes

are very few, and if a director had taken this courage to do it, this fact should have

been highlighted. This is owing to the fact that the past films of this variety,

BOMBAY, DIL SE and GADAR were a resounding success, and in the second line of

marketing effort this could have been thought of as the strategy to reposition the film.

- 38 -

SAAWARIYA was a work of art, where something different had been attempted in

terms of the choice of colours and the contours and this needs to have been brought

out in a detailed motif. This could be the first film where blue colour has been chosen

as the motif in the background, and to make the audience accept the same this is also

an aspect that could have been used to position the film.

Marketing after all is the ability to make the product stand out in the crowd and have a

distinct entity in the clutter, and to do so unconventional is what has to be highlighted.

The mediums of multitude available as option need to be tapped, and occasions need

to be capitalized on to sell the product. After all it is marketing that goes on to decide

the destiny of the product.

- 39 -

PROMOTIONAL TOOLS

Film promotion is a practice undertaken by most film studios. Studios invest in

expensive marketing campaigns to maximize target audience attendance of the

released film early in the release cycle. Many promotional techniques, both traditional

and modern, serve this end:

Trailers in theatres:

Main stays are the trailers that are two-minute film promotions for movies.

Trailers screen in theatres before movie showings and pop up across the

Internet on websites.

Television and radio

Movie distributors spend huge amounts in a year to buy paid advertising (30-

second TV commercials, newspaper ads, etc.) and over half that total is placed

on broadcast and cable TV, which are the main vehicles for advertising

movies to audiences. TV is effective because it is an audio-visual medium –

like film – and can deliver a vast audience quickly, which is crucial because

films typically don’t linger in theatres more than 4-6 weeks.

Product placement: Paid active or passive insertion (as on-set posters,

and action figures) of film brand in drama or sitcom shows, or as passing

mentions in dialogue. 

Extended placement: full episodes of television talk shows, entertainment

news programs, or network news programs, devoted to compensated exposure

of the film, stars, clips, director, etc.

Production and paid broadcast of behind-the-scenes documentary-style shows.

Advance trailers, longer previews, or behind-the-scenes footage on rental

videos and DVDs.

- 40 -

Internet: Creating a special website for the film, "example-the-movie.com".

Viral marketing: Free distribution of trailers on movie-oriented websites and

video user-generated-content websites and rapid dissemination of links to this

content by email and blogs. Includes alleged leakage of supposed "rushes" and

"early trailers" of film scenes.

In print

Paid advertisements in newspapers, magazines and inserts in books.

Cross-promotion of original book or novelization, including special printings

or new cover jackets ("Now a major motion picture.")

Comic special editions or special episodes

Merchandising tie-ins:

Paid co-branding or co-advertising (BMW and James Bond films) of a product

with the film.

Promotional giveaways: branded drink cups, toys, or food combinations, at

fast food chains.

Promotional tour - Film actors, directors, and producers appear for

television, radio, and print media interviews, sometimes showing a clip from

the film or an outtake. Interviews are conducted in person or remotely. During

film production, these can take place on set. After film release, key personnel

make appearances in major market cities, or participate remotely via "satellite"

or telephone.

- 41 -

In the movie theatre

Slide shows - stills, trivia, and trivia games from the film, shown between

movie show times.

Trailers and behind-the-scenes shorts, shown prior to the main attraction

In lobbies and video rental outlets

Stand-ups (freestanding paperboard life-size images of figures from the film)

Cardboard 3D displays, sometimes producing sound

Film posters.

IN-FILM ADVERTISING

Taking a lead from in-film advertising, multi-national companies are now eyeing

associative marketing partnerships in Bollywood.

If Nike had become a part of the Men in Blue's uniform for the Cricket World Cup

2007, Reebok is busy romancing Bollywood. And this is not just a brief flirtatious

engagement, as the sports brand readies for long innings.

It's definitely not in-film advertising where a brand makes an appearance akin to an

advert in a movie that the MNC is interested in, but a partnership with production

houses for associative marketing.

In the movie Hattrick, Reebok had a small placement in the movie and was seen in a

60 second commercial at the end of the movie. The brand was also seen in a small tie-

up with Salaam India, Lets Bring the Cup Home and Goal, a football movie.

In Goal, customers got to see Reebok's new range of sports shoes sported by the star

cast that was to be launched in August along with the movie. Reebok also partly

financed the movie and participated in co-promotions, retail promotions and other

activities.

- 42 -

Reebok has increased its budget tenfold for alternative mediums, which largely

include Bollywood. Over the last two years, the trend is shifting from in-film

advertising to associative marketing and tie-ups with bigger budgets. Also, more

brands, whether it is the FMCGS’, new sectors like apparels (for instance, Pantaloons

was associated with Don), all are looking at tapping into Bollywood to reach their

consumers.

For regional movies, brands have budgets of Rs 25-30 lakh (Rs 2.5-3 million) and for

a bollywood movie or popular stars brands spend anywhere up to Rs 3 crore (Rs 30

million)

Advertising agencies like Madison, JWT, Leo and Group M have specialist divisions

focusing on entertainment business. Broad mind, Group M's specialist unit for its

entertainment business, has signed on 100 customers in four years since inception.

Some of its work includes ICICI in-film placement in Baghban, Lenevo in Kabhi

Alvida Na Kehna and Reebok in Goal.

Bollywood has now become an integral part of the advertising budgets of corporates.

Over the last two years corporates are setting aside significant budgets for Bollywood.

A huge change from the ad hoc spending where Bollywood was a part of the 5-10 per

cent of the advertising budget allocated for innovations.

Till last year, brands association was limited to just 60-70 movies of the over 300

Bollywood movies releasing every year. This has now changed. In-film advertising

and associative marketing is growing at over 70 per cent and the number of movies

having brand tie-ups will also double.

- 43 -

DIGITAL MARKETING

Bollywood has started increasing it’s spending on digital marketing. Typically, total

marketing budgets of a Bollywood movie comprise 30 per cent of which 15 per cent

is spent on digital marketing. This is still small when compared with Hollywood flicks

which invest up to 30 per cent of its budget on digital promotions.  

For promoting films like Kambakkht Ishq and Love Aaj Kal on the web, almost 20

per cent of their marketing budgets were spent on digital promotion. Love Aaj Kal

invested nearly Rs 3 crore in online promotions. Tie-ups were made with Yahoo and

YouTube to market the two films. An extensive online activity was carried on to

promote the movie on websites like Bollywood Hungama, Orkut, and Facebook

which interact directly with the younger audiences. In an attempt to lure the 50-60

million Indian internet subscribers, programmes were designed to engage the

audiences through games based on films.

Eros and Hungama Digital Media had also come up with a game on the movie Love

Aaj Kal. It was an arcade game with Bollywood twists, tailor-made to give the player

information about the movie and its concept. Users could access the game online and

on mobile platforms and a mobile racing game on Kambakkht Ishq. Eros also offered

its customers free digital content based on the movie and had also tied up with online

ticketing partners like www.kyazoonga.com. Around 81 per cent of the online Indian

population, according to a report by Hungama Digital Media, engages in some kind of

social interactivity on the web making it an ideal place for the film marketers to draw

young crowds.

- 44 -

Internet viral marketing is less about how much is spent and more about how

effectively it is spent. Eros, which was one of the early players to strike an alliance

with Google’s YouTube, has its own partner channel on the video sharing site that

gets over 100 million views. Eros also markets its videos on websites like MSN,

Rediff, AOL, Yahoo to drive the audiences to its content.

After the success of Slumdog Millionaire, the Indian film industry gained an

international outlook. So, it is no surprise that the spending is increasing on digital

marketing by bollywood.  

The recently-released Kambakkht Ishq, which was said to have cost the producers

about Rs 70 crore, pumped in nearly Rs 7 crore in digital marketing. With around 50

million Indians accessing the internet, movie marketing budgets are bound to include

the online platform.

Rise of the movie portals

For the last decade or so the bollywood space has been covered by the likes of Indiafm now renamed and rebranded Bollywoodhungama.com (owned by the hungama group) and Bollywoodsargam.com. But offlate there have been a bunch of bollywood centric portals that have sprung up. That also from big corporate houses like the Reliance group and Percept. These are cinecurry.com and bigoye.com which we covered here and here. Not to forget Network18 as well which has buzz18 covering the bollywood razzmatazz.

This trend indicates that more of more movie goers (especially the multiplex kinds) is flocking to the online space for reading reviews and views and dicusssions before going and watching a movie.

Rise of Microsites/Movie Sites

Of recently In.com has started the trend of hosting movie websites and promoting it via their portal. They did so for Singhiskingg and also for a few others. There has also been considerable free PR and publicity via official movie websites and a case in point is Dev D a small budget multiplex audience targetted movie which caused a stir with its adult website and lust line feature.

Rise of the Social Media & Gaming Phenomenon

Practically every decent movie last year has had an official facebook and orkut group and marketing and engagement through social media be it blogs and communities. This has been a big trend in the US and our last post on dark knight has discussed this

- 45 -

with a video. But the trend is catching up in India as well with movie makers hiring professional agencies to handle their social media and buzz marketing for their films.

Facebook Fan Pages of Recent Movies

Dabangg

We are family

Peepli Live

Hoardings and Trailers are things of the past

Movie production houses are now looking at novel marketing techniques to get audiences to the theatres. And with several movies lined up for release, we'll see more innovationinthisarena. From big-ticket contests to online promotions, there are a slew of initiatives on the table. Some movies are taking the reality show route, with Salman Ghouse, the winner of a dance reality show, performing with Salman Khan for a song in Wanted Dead & Alive. Love Aaj Kal had tie-ups with the T20 World Cup.

To promote New York, Katrina Kaif is expected to write an online diary chronicling her experiences during the film's shoot.

UTV Motion Pictures has devised horror-based marketing initiatives for their movie Agyaat. The Agyaat Short Film Contest has been announced, for which participants can submit a 10- to 15-minute-long scary clipping. The winner will work with the production house on a movie. Widget-like software will also be launched soon, with a Make Your Own Trailer contest. Ram Gopal Varma will select the best trailer, which will be showcased on-screen.

"The usual promotions — basic campaigning, a few trailers and a couple of media interactions — is out. Now, we plan it strategically and keep the target audience in mind. We study the core of the film and understand the depth of the story before constructing a marketing plan. The process is variable: the budget, technicalities, impact — everything is flexible," explains Shikha Kapur, vice-president, marketing, UTV Motion Pictures.

Percept Picture Company used the IPL to promote Jannat last year. They also had 20 consumer screenings for Khuda Kay Liye, which gave the film a good boost. "The movie ran for 51 days because of the buzz around the film much before its release," says Navin Shah, CEO, Percept Picture Company.

Big Pictures is also having special screenings for its upcoming film, Sikandar. "Movie-goers just don't go to the multiplexes and decide which film to watch anymore. We have to create a space in the minds of the audience through various activities and pre-release buzz. Even gossip related to movies has become part of

- 46 -

marketing strategies. Movies like Wake Up Sid and Kites are already making news," says Saurabh Varma, chief marketing officer, BIG Pictures, adding, "Earlier, trailers would give away the best part of movies, but today, we try building curiosity in them."

Producers are also increasing marketing budgets. Says Navin, "Marketing cuts the losses of a bad movie and increases the profit of a good one. Earlier, less than 10 per cent of the total budget was kept aside for promos. Today, it's shot up to 20-25 per cent."

But Saurabh believes the budget depends on strategy. "For instance, 13B was a small-budget film. But we thought it had good potential, so we went beyond what was decided," says Saurabh.

- 47 -

SOME OF THE PROMOTION TOOLS USED FOR MARKETING

FILMS

“Movies have become extremely perishable,” and so it becomes very important for

the marketers to attract the audiences in the 1st few days of the films release.

Marketers today are focussing on having fewer but very important strategies to

promote the films. Let us look into some of these examples.

Stars today are willing to take part in media interactions, cast engagements and road

trips. Thus is explained the stripping of Aamir Khan, the clinical documentation of

flab to pectorals, and his generous billboard appearances in the bizarre Ghajini

haircut. It certainly paid off, says Nitin Sood, Chief Financial Officer, PVR, with due

respect to the contents of the movie. The movie was the biggest hit in recent months.

DevD, UTV’s modern-day version of Devdas, launched a line of tattoos in Mumbai’s

Al’s tattoo parlour, and a ‘Lust line’ had been opened for callers who could talk to

key actors in the urban interpretation of Devdas. The initiatives were targeted at its

key audience, the urban youth.

The plans were different for the highly awaited Delhi 6, directed by Rakeysh

Omprakash Mehra, which had a more pan-Indian appeal, said UTV. A caravan took

stars to 10-15 cities across the country, including Indore, Surat and Nagpur. A mela,

recreating the gullies of Old Delhi, was planned for Bangalore and Kolkata.

For the release of Luck by Chance, Big Pictures arranged programming alliances, now

a norm. Stars made appearances on Oye! It’s Friday, the talk show on NDTV Imagine

(hosted by lead actor Farhan Aktar himself) and at the grand finale of the singing

contest show SaReGaMaPa .

- 48 -

For its movie Fashion, UTV tied up with RPG Cellular, Kimaya and Sunsilk. Both

Kimaya and Sunsilk launched a range after the film. Lead actors Priyanka Chopra and

Kangana Ranaut walked the ramp for Sunsilk at Lakme Fashion Week, helping buzz

reach peak at the time of launch. A Vogue photo shoot was roped into the storyline;

Priyanka Chopra had already featured on the magazine’s cover by the time the film

released. As brand endorsers stars can extend the association. Samsung launched

special Ghajini-model handsets and Tata Sky ran a continuous feature on how Aamir

Khan (its brand ambassador) worked to get the Ghajini look and hosted an interactive

quiz.

Producers are counting on paid previews/premiers. It’s a new phenomenon; Chandni

Chowk to China had them, and Luck By Chance ran a “paid preview” before its

release. The Hollywood studios’ foray into Hindi movies has demonstrated how the

big studios do the marketing. But the hype only did that much for the movies

Saawariya (Sony) and Chandni Chowk to China (Warner). Eventually it’s all about

the content.

Ram Gopal Varma’s horror film about black magic, Phoonk, offered a cash prize of

Rs5 lakh to anyone who dared to watch the movie alone in a theatre. UTV

Entertainment Network offered viewers a chance to get married on a grandiose set

of the film Jodhaa Akbar, if they won a contest that was run during the television

premiere of the movie. Jannat, a film about cricket match fixing, was promoted

aggressively by actor Emraan Hashmi at the Indian Premier League matches.

- 49 -

Around the release of the film ‘Rock On!!’ a 7,000- strong crowd gathered in the

backlot of Select Citywalk Mall in New Delhi for a concert featuring Magik, the

fictitious band from the Bollywood film Rock On!!

The event, different from the traditional celebrity-laden Bollywood promos, was a hit

with the audiences that had gathered there to see actors Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal,

Purab Kohli and Luke Kenny perform live, backed by musicians Shankar, Ehsaan and

Loy. The idea was to engage and “interact with audiences through a different

platform”, said Ritesh Sidhwani, co-founder of Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, which

co-produced Rock On!! “A star cast is not enough to market a film any more...you

have to think out of the box.”

Engaging viewers: Luke Kenny (left) and Arjun Rampal, part of the fictitious band

Magik from the film Rock On!!, at a concert organized by Excel Entertainment, that

produced the film, in the Capital on 6 September.

A growing number of film-makers are looking at investing in innovative film

marketing to cut across the clutter and grab consumer attention in an increasingly

competitive movie business.

- 50 -

No surprise then that the production house also commissioned a Rs25 lakh music

video for the track Pichle Saat Dino Mein... as a part of their Rs4.5 crore marketing

and promotion budget for the film.

Experts maintain that innovative film marketing is linked to Bollywood becoming

more organized. Big-budget films such as Jodhaa Akbar, which could open with

1,200-1,500 prints in the market, adopted a strategy of trying to reap maximum box

office collections during the first weekend, which determines the fate of a movie.

Smaller-budget films, however, have to stand out to score in an extremely cluttered

market that has three, or four releases every week. Both scenarios call for smart

strategy, say experts.

Film-makers need to have a differentiator. There is no such thing as a clean window

for release any more…so you have to create excitement around the film and a sense of

urgency, which will drive audiences to theatres.”

- 51 -

CORPORATIZATION OF BOLLYWOOD

There is a lot of buzz going around that the Indian movie making process especially the Hindi film making process has started adopting corporatization in a big way. The talk rests on the premise that the financing for making of the films has started getting institutional finance, big business houses have stepped into the business of filmmaking and they are also distributing the films. Then corporatization is also being talked about for the fact that now the big companies are doing bookings in bulk for their employees to view a film, which is a part of the corporate responsibility. This happened in a big way with Rajnikant's latest movie SHIVAJI-THE BOSS where all the corporate majors of the software sector booked bulk tickets, and it was termed as a corporate interest in the film dynamics.

Corporatization has also become buzz word in association with the fact that corporate are participating in the processes of film making by either sponsoring the songs or the vehicles being used in the movies as it happened in the case of TA RA RUM PUM, where Castrol and Chevrolet Aveo and Good Year chipped in a big manner. The signing of a number of films with the top stars is also being brandied as one more step towards corporatization. But does this mean that a streak of corporate approach has been injected in the process of film making in the country.

When the surface is scratched then beneath the veneer the reality is different. The first fundamental premise of corporatization is the finalized script of the film. Rarely does it happen that when the film has gone to the floor the actors are having a complete script of the film with themselves. Shootings go on, and then at the editing table the story is given the conclusion. When one has the complete script then shooting schedules is organized in a better manner, there is a minimum wastage of the raw stock and the film can be completed in the ordained time frame, thereby saving in a big manner on the input costs.

Another fundamental principle of corporatization is the process of accounting that is adopted in the filmmaking. The payment system has to be through the cheques and the expenses incurred in totality should be audited after the completion of the films. May be the new companies which have stepped into the process of film making like Shringar Films, Adlabs, etc., have adopted it, but they still form the miniscule minority, and in majority of the cases the financial transactions that are done are either in cash, or in kind in form of various usable commodities.

In the process of corporatization another key edifice is the system of deferred payment while here signing amount is the norm. Even the corporate majors, who are stepping into this arena gradually, have not been able to introduce the system of deferred payment on a gradual basis. A form of deferred payments though has come into play in a big way, it being obtaining the territory rights. Once the system of deferred payments is introduced the headache of getting the signing amount back from the stars who may have been signed in the initial euphoria but refuse to return it, either after being dropped at the time of film going on the floor, or being dropped from the project could become a thing of the past.

- 52 -

A beginning is being made, though and the real corporatization would come only when scripts are given at the time of signing, payments are through cheques and in the form of deferred payments and auditing and publication of accounts film wise starts getting done on a regular basis.

This had to happen. A chunk of industry which was talking about the 'evil' of corporate world (especially the ones that were believed to be having no business to be making movies) resulting in rotting of Bollywood has now come out in open. Of course there were collective failure of much hyped films like Drona, Love Story 2050, Yuvvraaj and 'Karzzzz' (all of which were either produced, backed or acquired by corporate houses) that had set the ground for a debate around whether corporate world is burst or just about to burst.

Saawariya, which had released in 2007, had started it all while raising the question around foreign studios entering Bollywood with big money. And now, within 14 months of the release of Saawariya, Chandni Chowk to China, which saw Warner Bros. aiming for a solid foundation, has made quite a few industry followers go on record with their views about corporatization of Bollywood world. In this two-part Exclusive Feature in Bollywood Hungama, Joginder Tuteja kick-starts the debate and seeks point of view of independent film makers as well as those who belong to the corporate world or are making films with them.

"The bubble still exists though the myth of big money is over. It's the time of high concept - low cost films", says Anurag Kashyap whose Dev D is produced by UTV Spot Boy and is eyeing a 6th February release. Ramesh Taurani of TIPS too maintains the same stand by saying "I don't think the corporate bubble has burst. However, I must say that reality has (thankfully) crept back into the industry. In the year gone by, we have seen losses being made not only by flop films but also several super hit films."

He does make a point here because there have been murmurs that even a biggie like Singh Is Kinng didn't make profits for a distributor or two. Though the quantum of the money being lost on the project is not something that has been discussed so far (since the film did make good money for majority of it's investors), no distributor going on record about the losses only makes the claim further redundant.

Says Vipul Shah, the producer of the Anees Bazmee- directed Singh Is Kinng, "With movies like Singh Is Kinng, Ghajini and Golmaal Returns, distribution house Indian Films has become extremely strong distributor. So I would disagree if someone starts speculating that a bubble was being created with the entry of corporate world and is now getting burst."

Interestingly, his next release London Dreams was said to have been acquired by Indian Films for an astronomical 120 crores. Though trade believes that this figure has been pulled down now, an official statement on this is yet to be made. However, Indian Films is not the only corporate house that Vipul is working with as he has also signed a two film deal with 20th Century Fox which is looking at entering the Bollywood market. Buzz is that at least one of them would feature Akshay Kumar (with whom Vipul has earlier made Aankhen, Waqt, Namaste London and Singh Is Kinng) and would be set on a mega budget due to the ton loads of special effects that

- 53 -

it promises to carry.

Mukesh Bhatt, whose Raaz - The Mystery Continues, is releasing this weekend is expectedly vocal in his displeasure with the corporate world, "The bubble has certainly burst. There was so much of artificial hype that was created; things were being inflated. This had to happen at some point or time or another. People should get into reality check and it is introspection time for the whole industry. Everyone has to come together and the basics of economics have to be developed."

Vivek Agnihotri isn't far behind when it comes to being frank about his view around the changing scenario of Bollywood in today's world. He doesn't blame it all on the so-called 'corporate bubble' but insists that money instead of ideas was turning out to be focal point of movie making. "I don't know if the corporate bubble has burst but yes, a bubble has certainly burst". Not mincing any words, he goes on to add, "It was a cancerous bubble which emerged due to fictitious hype and lack of assessment of potential. A game of highly projected figures to lure investors gave impetus to organized scheming and manipulation."

Someone like Sajid Khan, who has worked with independent producer Sajid Nadiadwala for both Heyy Babyy and soon to get on floors Housefull, has his own point of view about the entry of corporate houses in Bollywood. He says, "Most corporates believe in producing a large number of films and releasing them on their own. Due to this, the loss or profit is greater. Off late, it is unfortunate because it is turning out to be 'loss' and more 'loss' because of the market crash."

Satellite revenue, something that was being looked as a goldmine, has considerably gone down as well (as per industry followers, it is as low as 30% of what was being in the offering till about 6-9 months) that has proven to be the final nail in the coffin. "That's exactly the case", asserts Sajid, "Besides audio market, which is anyways in the doldrums, the satellite market has crashed too. Since satellite is completely dependent on advertisers (which are mostly MNCs) and these companies are anyways facing the market heat due to recession, how could you expect them to shell out money? Their budget cuts are eventually affecting everyone, which down the line impacts the corporate world behind movies."

UTV (Ronnie Screwvala), Sahara One, Adlabs, Pritish Nandy Communications and Ram Gopal Varma's Film Factory are such corporatized producers. Corporatization is still in infancy and only an estimated 15% of Bollywood movies are "corporatized." But these production houses have brought about much needed professionalism. Movie scripts are pre-researched by market research groups who sample audiences upfront. Gone are the days when actors and actresses could walk into sets hours late or when producers were assasinated for not paying extortion money to Bombay gangsters. Big production houses today apprently have roadmaps for upto two years in advance. Satellite rights, radio, home videos, DTH, mobile services have also opened up new revenue streams when only one (theatre box office) existed earlier.

Most of the corporates are counting on the 1,000-odd new multiplexes that will spring up in the country in the next two years. Consequently, they're hoping it will put an end to the industry's lackadaisical and haphazard way of functioning.

- 54 -

YRF has scaled up its operations recently and the studio model that was embarked upon a couple of years ago is firmly in place. YRF takes prides in being part of every step of the value chain of a film from its conception to its delivery,” says Sanjeev Kohli, director and CEO, Yash Raj Films.

The seeds of corporatisation that were sown a couple of years ago are finally bearing fruit and most of the top players (read Reliance Entertainment, UTV, Eros International and TIFC) now want to be on all sides of the spectrum: Production, distribution and exhibition. Having said that, there are no set rules of corporatisation in the film industry and most of the players admit that “Bollywood is not all there yet”.

Some corporates, including the Singhanias and the Birlas have learnt it the hard way. For instance, according to analysts after producing Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black, Aditya Birla Group’s Applause Entertainment lost its way somewhat and is now reorganising its strategy to move forward.

But still, there’s ample reason for big corporates to knock on Bollywood’s doors and walk in.

Consider this: The Indian film industry, with over 3 billion admissions per annum, is the largest in the world. The industry, which is currently worth $2.9 billion as per estimates, is slated to grow at a CAGR of 16%.

- 55 -

BOX OFFICE COLLECTIONS

By now we have understood the relative importance of marketing a film in a proper

way. But all this is only done to achieve good box office collections. As is stated

earlier the fate of the movie depends on the initial weekend collections of the movie

so let us look at some of the box office collection report.

COLLECTION REPORT

NAME OF THE MOVIE COLLECTIONS

GHAJINI 100 CRORES+

PEEPLI LIVE 20 CRORES

RAB NE BANA DI JODI 44.5 CRORES

RAJNEETI 92 CRORES

MY NAME IS KHAN 72 CRORES

DABANGG 132 CRORES

DEV D 30 CRORES

LOVE AAJ KAL 70 CRORES

OM SHANTI OM 109 CRORES

SAAWARIYA40 CRORES

3 IDIOTS 200 CRORES

- 56 -

3 IDIOTS CASE STUDY

We spoke here about the way Indian movies marketing mantra is changing and how movie making has become more of a business. It is indeed becoming more and more professional way of money making. From being an art now it has become a business.

One film which is a striking example of the same, about which I cannot stop raving is 3 idiots. Mainly due to the man at helm, Aamir Khan this movie can be taken as an example in business of film making.Four months prior to launch of the film a 40 member team was put up for marketing of the film.The film was shown to all Reliance Mediaworks employees and all other stakeholders, weeks before the release on December 24, to ensure that everybody spoke the same language and kept the communication consistent. It was followed by a full 360-degree campaign.

Two weeks before the release, a huge splash was made online. A site called idiotsacademy.com was started to engage the viewer. Aamir Khan, the star of the film, travelled to various parts of the country in disguise to create buzz about the movie. We have seen 3 idiots modelled seats in major multiplexes around the country as a marketing move.

Character of Chatur Ramalingam, a major factor to the film’s success mainly because of the humour associated with the character was fully kept under wraps. “All is Well” campaign by Reliance was symbiotic gains to both Relaince insurance and the movie.This ad took TV and Radio by storm in a never before fashion.

Digital media was used strongly. One of the first things the company did was to launch an alternate reality game on idiotsacademy.com where actor Aamir Khan said that he will travel through India, leaving clues about his whereabouts, and participants had two weeks to find him.

The site had over 600,000 unique visitors in a matter of two weeks. Along with that, the marketers of the film used Facebook extensively to make a point.

- 57 -

Piracy problems were also effectively handled. A core group working from India, the United States and the United Kingdom tracked and attacked piracy — physical as well as online — by issuing trade notices, warning letters specific to prospective infringing sites and outlets across the United States, Canada and Europe. Raids were also conducted following the release of the movie.

And to add to all this, the good old methods of strong distribution were done. In India, the film was released across 1,850 screens; overseas it opened in over 360 screens, making it the largest opening thus far.

Though I may not be proud of the product 3 idiots is, I am definitely proud of the business model it is. It surely serves as a case study in the business of movie making.

- 58 -

MARKETING CASE STUDY: GHAJINI

Aamir khan as most of us as Bollywood Fans know is not only a brilliant actor but

also an intelligent marketer. In times when the success of a film hugely depends on

the business it does in the first two weeks the marketing genius leaves no stone

unturned to spread the word for his films and create a sense of rush among his fans to

watch the film as soon as possible. As expected he did the same for his latest movie

Ghajini. He promoted the film extensively all over the country. What’s noteworthy is

the fact that a major chunk of the promotion involved online promotion. Films were

never really involved in online promotion but post Ghajini its become a huge success

and majority of the producers are using this tactic to attract the crowd. The idea was

given by Hungama channel.

Let us list down the various tactics that went into the marketing of Ghajini and how

they were executed

1) The Look (Online & Offline):

When one thinks of Ghajini, the first thing that springs up in ones mind is the

haircut which aamir khan sported in the movie and also his tattoos. The haircut led

to creation of a new trend in the fashion industry. A lot of efforts were made to

create this unique look for aamir khan. And the efforts did pay off well. The

haircut sure did wonders for the film.

Online Tactics:

a) Aamir khan’s blog carried a full screen sized picture as on the film posters.

b) Two of the three websites related to the film also had a big bare chested picture

of his on their homepage.

- 59 -

Offline Tactics:

1) Aamir khan had the same Ghajini haircut for quite some time even after the film

was released and declared a hit.

2) Aamir and his producers tied up with leading multiplexes (PVR, BIG, Cinemax)

across the country to give all the ushers, ticket-sellers the distinctive “Buzz-cut” that

Aamir sports in the film.

3) Aamir personally gave the ‘buzz cut’ — the hairstyle the actor sports in Ghajini to

his fans in Delhi

2) Getting fans Involved (Online) :

Aamir & co got another important bit right i.e. “Interactive promotion”. Rather than

doing one way communication/broadcast through the film site or simply sharing

content they involved his fans in the film’s promotion.

Wallofsuspects: A supporting viral website for the film, whose aim was to replicate a

similar concept from the film. To checkout the wallofsuspects one needed to have a

code which could be obtained by uploading ones images. Users could also provide

their mobile numbers which were used to intimate if they win some prize.

Findghajini: Another viral website built around the film, was a viral gaming

application where the users could play the role of Aamir’s character in the film and

try to find Ghajini through the clues provided.

3D PC Games: on the 25th of Dec the film was released and also India’s first 3D PC

Game built around a movie. For the first time there was a complete game built around

a movie.

3) Getting Media Involved (Online) :

Once his fans got involved, the next target was the media. Aamir & co tried to engage

media persons and add a level of personal touch to the whole affair.

www.rememberghajini.com/media/ is the place where media people could upload

- 60 -

their pictures to which Aamir added notes based on their previous interaction(s) with

him. This repository helped him in remembering those media people more vividly and

those who registered got information kit on Ghajini along with Aamir’s personal note

about them. Ghajini’s marketing team shared movie stills with their site so that they

could be used for promotion.

4) Maintain Suspense and Throw Hooks (Online):

Unlike other film sites the sites for Ghajini did not focus much on the synopsis of the

film or the main plot (Which was out in open) they instead focused on certain events

of the film (finding the killers etc) and were leveraging them. In addition to this there

were some hooks which were meant to form certain associations and build mind

maps. Extending the theme from film after every 15 minutes the user got redirected

(forget everything) to the home page no matter what page they were at. Remembering

the date (Remember Dec 25) on which the film was to be released was another one,

quite prominent and common through the sites.

5) Associations/Collaborations :

They had a tie up with Tata sky and aamir khan featured in Tata sky ads along with

Gul Panag. Though Gul Panag was nowhere related to the film, the advertisement still

helped in promoting the film because aamir khan starred in it. Tata Sky also has a

contest specifically for the film and had chosen Asin as their new brand ambassador.

Not only this, there a splurge of videos about making of Aamir’s body for the film.

First the footage taken was of the course of his body building was shown on Tata Sky

and later it was all over the news channels, which gave people more and more reasons

to talk about the film.

- 61 -

Van Heusen launched a similarly-named collection for the super confident young

men who were inspired by the movie. Van Heusen to promote the new range also

organized a fashion show in which models sported not only Khan’s clothing style

from the film, but also his hairstyle.

Then there was “Tata Indicom’s outbound dialler service with Khan’s pre-recorded

voice. In this a Tata Indicom service user got a call in Khan’s voice, asking the caller

whether he was Ghajini and told the caller that the film was releasing on 25

December. Tata Indicom reached out to 10 million customers with those outbound

dialler calls. Tata Indicom also advertised on TV for mobile downloads of Ghajini

songs.”

Samsung launched special Ghajini edition of models L700 and M200 of its mobile

phones of L700 and M200 models. These handsets were pre-loaded with ringtones,

pictures and songs from Ghajini. Ghajini was the first Indian film to release a handset

as part of the film’s content. Aamir also tied-up with some leading sculptors who

created replicas of Khan’s Ghajini look. These sculptures were installed at various

multiplexes in the country. The first phase of Ghajini’s marketing life cycle was quite

active and promising. Ghajini was Made with a budget of around 50 Crore and

marketing expenses of about 14 Crores.

- 62 -

CASE STUDY ON DEV D

Lustline:

Before you go any further, pick up your phone and dial 022-61424800. Just dial it for

yourself and see what it is, trust me, it will be worth the call charges (if you are

dialling from India)

Welcome. To proceed, please certify that you are above 18 by pressing one. On

pressing one, you are greeted by a husky voice that says "If you want me in English

today, press one. Agar hindi mein chahiye toh do dabaiye." Though what happened on

pressing the next digit might have been disappointing for most callers as instead of

talking (or hearing) anything naughty, all they got to hear was "to get an autographed

cd of the film visit the website devdthefilm.com or "to get a movie poster visit the

website devdthefilm.com"

This kind of marketing is a brilliant example of something that had never been tried

before. If the lustline ever worked the way it was said to work it would have been

great but even if it never really worked that way it opened up a whole new world of

interactive marketing. The possibilities of using phone and sms lines for involving

masses was immense and hopefully, we would soon be seeing more being done on

these lines.

Website:

The user had to certify that he was above 18 to view the site, interesting. The lustline

was also available on film's website, where again the user needed to certify that he

was above 18 by and select a language to get going. Though only a few sections were

working, the all red site looked intriguing just like its trailers. The community links

section had links to 10 external web properties but the site could have been a lot better

and engaging (engagement was almost zero).

- 63 -

Videos:

The song, “Emosional Atyachar” was uploaded on YouTube under the official UTV

Motion Pictures channel three weeks prior to the release of the film and had got about

25,000 views while the official trailer uploaded two months prior had been seen more

than 59,000 times and had got about 117 comments, not bad at all. Not only this, UTV

folks had been regularly uploading a minute long video of the film songs every 7-10

days. Since the movie contained 18 songs, they could easily upload 10 songs without

worrying too much. These videos had got almost 1, 00,000 hits in total.

Audio :

The films music was also available via streaming at Bollywood Hungama. Anyone

who listened to the songs of the film definitely spoke about it and thus spread the

word. After having listened to the songs people started buying audio CD’S of the film

and the songs have been listened more than 25,000 times already.

(M)TV:

The MTV ticker was full of "Atyachar". What happens if you are pretending to be

working in office when you are actually playing games? Professional Atyachar etc. It

was another nice way to spread the word. There were film promos playing every 5

minutes across the news channels, even if anyone wanted they couldn’t miss them.

Facebook :

An active official group was formed which consisted of 920 members (2,020

members as of now), 7 videos, 86 stills from the film. The good thing about the group

was that it was regularly updated and the administrators were also participating in it.

There’s also an active fan page which is also heavy on content. The film has 686 fans

already (now 12,161 fans). There was also an event about Dev D's tattoo launch. This

was an interesting way of involving online audience into offline activities. Translate

the lyrics contest: There was also a contest to translate Emosional Atyachar into

English & get an autographed CD.

- 64 -

Other social networks (Fishing where the fish are):

The film had official groups/communities on Orkut (316 members), Perfspot (135

members), hi5 (42 members), Fropper (26 members), Bigadda (45 members) and

Goyaar (10 members). It's worth mentioning that despite the size of the

group/community the information and content was same across all these groups and

apparently there were profiles of some of the cast and team members also on most of

the platforms covered.

PFC :

Passionforcinema is the biggest platform for Hindi film buffs and lots of experts in the

field blog there. Anurag Basu being an active blogger at PFC had written a lot of the

film and engaged with his readers. There were lots of other posts written by other

folks about the film. These posts must have easily got more than 10,000 views. There

was also a deleted scene video from the film exclusively for PFC which was certainly

a great idea.

Controversy :

Nothing works better for making noise than a planned or accidental controversy. Dev

D also had its share of controversy in the claims the film had reignited the infamous

DPS mms scandal. Merchandise:

The marketing strategy for the film included both offline and online activities, while

Ghajini's online marketing was more focused on stand alone sites, it was focused

more on social networks in the case of Dev D and apparently it had got to do with the

fact that the producer of the film was UTV Spot boy. Apparently, they had a platform

and a methodology which was used to promote their films.

- 65 -

RAAVAN FAILURE

There has to be something really flawed about a film which is based on Ramayana, has Mani Ratnam at the helm of affairs, stars the Bachchan couple, boasts of music by A.R. Rahman and has the who’s who from the technical department. Still, Raavan hasn't worked with the audience. We analyse why!

Boring narrative?Everyone understands that Ramayana was about the triumph of good over evil. As an audience you are prepared to see what is going to unfold. But pray, why make it all so boring? This is where Raavan falters because a one-dimensional storyline just doesn't translate into a two hour film, which could hold your attention. All one gets to see is every actor in the film getting wet in the jungle and slipping or running through the rough terrain.

Abhishek's character - The weak link?

As for the lead actors, Abhishek Bachchan has definitely tried hard. In fact one can

clearly sense that he has followed Mani's directions to the T and done whatever was

asked of him. However, if the attempt was to bring the split personality side of his

persona out, than sadly, it fails totally. It's the character which fails here, not

Abhishek as an actor.

Aishwarya's character - Contradictory?

Aishwarya Bachchan's character is full of contradictions. Does she wish to end her

life? Or does she not? Is the Stockholm's syndrome catching up with her? Is she

falling for Raavan? Does she really get to her husband in the end? Well, you don't

- 66 -

quite get it.

Confusing plot?

One never knows whether the outlaw (Abhishek Bachchan) is a Naxal, militant, rebel

or something else? Yes, he the messiah of tribals but as it turns out, the entire drama

revolves more around the personal enmity that he has with the cop (Vikram). But

what about the bigger picture? Whatever happened to the entire Naxal angle? And if

personal cause was supposed to be the driver of this entire episode, why have a Naxal

angle at all? After all, the outlaw could well have been a corporate executive and that

wouldn't have made any difference to the film at all.

- 67 -

RECESSION AND BOLLYWOOD

As is happening in any other industry currently, Bollywood companies too are striving to curtail their cash outflow and increase cash inflow.

The budgets allocated to movies earlier have already been renegotiated, and now another prime area to come under the axe is the marketing and promoting expenditure of movies.

Some recently released movies already shrunk their promotional budgets and vast campaigns. Most other forthcoming movies of 2009 have readjusted their marketing and promotional budget to bring spends down by approximately 30 percent, point out marketing heads of various filmed entertainment companies.  

COMPENSATE LOW MARKETING BUDGETS WITH BETTER IDEAS

But the key here isn’t to reduce spends and get going, the problem is only half solved yet. If a movie’s promotion and hype is low, then it also becomes a point of worry, as it may not be effective in getting audiences in large numbers in cinemas and therefore hamper cash inflow.Yes, there are budgets cuts in marketing forthcoming movies, but one has to compensate it with better ideas,” says Dharma Production marketing head Arun Nair. In such a scenario, the way out is to couple your judicious spends with innovative marketing strategies. Every movie’s marketing strategy should comprise of two – three absolutely innovative ideas which catch people’s attention.

Intelligent TV and PR oriented campaigns can do a lot of good to a movie’s promotion. For instance, ushers at multiplexes posing Aamir Khan’s Ghajini hairstyle was low on cost, high on promotion.

“Approximately 70 percent of a movie’s revenue such as theatrical, home video and satellite are impacted by its marketing buzz, so the marketing has to undoubtedly be very effective,” says Studio 18 VP marketing, distribution and syndication Priti Shahani  

NON -CLUTTERED AD ENVIRONMENT

Since various brands, companies, movies are keeping low key on advertising; the environment isn’t cluttered now as it was at this time last year. This has therefore automatically reduced the requirement of noise a movie’s marketing should make.

Traditionally in the months of February and March movie release and promotions are low due to the school and college exams. This time last year, in March 2008 five movies released including Subhash Ghai’s Black & White, Race and One Two Three. In March 2009, more than 10 movies including Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge, 13 B, Little Zizou, Aloo Chaat, Aa Dekhen Zara etc. are slated to release. But even collectively these 10 movies may not make the same level of noise as last years movies.    

- 68 -

RATIONALIZED MEDIA BUYING

Movie marketers media planning and buying has definitely been impacted which various marketing heads call as a rationalized procedure now. Marketing heads are challenged to reinvent their strategies. Group M general manager Rajeev Berry says, “There has been a definitive change in the media buying habits of movie marketers and they are being cautious now due to the low sentiment in the market. Marketing focus will now shift back to the consumers from the film trade.”  

Even as low cost effective promotion is a priority, but no media in the country has slashed its advertising rates until now. “Full page ads in newspapers and outdoor hoardings do not translate into incremental revenues. These just act as two second reminders and build a movie’s brand, but may be avoided. Instead this money may be channelized to mass media through an effective ad which reaches out to larger number of audience. It is necessary to think intelligently on media planning and buying,” says Shahani.       

A focus on the use of above the line or below the line media differs from movie to movie and company to company. A smart mix of both will have to continue for the upcoming releases of this year.

Dos and Don’ts: Don’t be scared to do it

Even in times of slowdown, UTV promoted its latest film Delhi 6 across mass media in the country with few alterations in its strategy to suit the current marketing environment.        

Last year, Dostana was the only film that did not make its actors Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra appear in a number of reality shows on TV.

Studio 18 did not put up outdoor hoardings for its films Singh Is Kinng, it chose to redirect these spends towards mass media, such as TV.

In times like these, it is only natural for any marketer to rope in brands for co-branded partnerships in order to fill a void. But a brand that does not match a movie’s theme may do more bad than good. For instance, an otherwise suave marketer Shahrukh Khan roped in brands Tupperware and Century Ply for Billu’s co-branded promotions, both of which had no direct connection with the film.   

Have it, flaunt it. Kambakkth Ishq and Kites have been in news since the time the movies even went on floors. Unveiling the presence of actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh, Barabara Mori etc. in the film has helped the film gain great visibility across media for free.

The list of sectors afflicted by recession blues seems to be getting longer with Bollywood being the latest entry to it.

Leading film-making company, Yash Raj Films (YRF), is understood to have laid-off 20 of its employees recently as a part of its cost-cutting initiatives.

- 69 -

"The company recently asked 20 employees to leave, saying that it was not in a position to retain them any longer," an affected YRF employee said in Mumbai.

These employees had been working with the company for the past five years, the employee said adding, amongst those asked to leave include Executive Producers.

When contacted, the company declined to comment. YRF, spearheaded by ace film-maker Yash Chopra, is one of the leading film-producing companies in the country.

The production house recently released Shahrukh Khan-starrer, 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'. Its much-talked about film 'New York' featuring John Abraham and Katrina Kaif, is slated for release in 2009.

One of the signs of a slowdown in Bollywood was clearly manifest in the low-key promotions of several recent releases including 'Ghajini' and 'Chandni Chowk to China'.

A few film-makers have already slowed down on new projects while others have resorted to cost-cutting measures including renegotiating contracts.

- 70 -

FUTURE OF MOVIE MARKETING

From left to right Siddhart Roy Kapur CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, Neeraj Roy MD & CEO ofHungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., Colin Burrows CEO of Special Treats

Production Company UK ,Sandeep Bhargava CEO of Studio 18,Kapil Agarwal Joint Managing Director UFO Movies India Ltd.,Sanjeev Lamba CEO of Reliance Big Pictures

This session at FICCI Frames looked at new technology providing additional revenue to the theatrical release. Siddhart Roy Kapur CEO of UTV Motion Pictures said, "The size of our entire film industry is equal to the box office earnings of Avatar at 2.2 billion. We could grow our revenue if ancillary revenue could contribute 60%. Then the theatrical release would be like a trailer to sell other rights. However the reality is that theatrical contributes more than 60% of the revenue."

He then gave reasons for the limited revenue generated by ancillary streams, namely, pirated copies of a film out on the very day of its release, the recession, the way media companies purchase films in parts, the rise of home video prices and the decline of physical sales in music before companies have digitized. He also gave ways in which the industry could grow like creating content that has appeal outside South Asia, tapping the Indian diaspora more and increasing the number of functional theatres in rural India. Sandeep Bhargava CEO of Studio 18 said, "We are dependent on theatrical, whereas in the west, revenue comes from platforms that are more recurring." Sanjeev Lamba CEO of Reliance Big Pictures then contributed, "The Indian movie is under served internationally. There is an interest but no access to Indian films. Only 30-40% of movies have an international release."

He then spoke about how the markets of continental Europe, Africa and South America can be exploited with not only Bollywood blockbusters, but also with art house cinema on TV or even other mediums. He also spoke about how the focus of our films tend to be the stars, which presents a challenge since they are unknown in overseas markets. Colin Burrows CEO of Special Treats Production Company, UK and the moderator for the session said, "You need to popularize your stars abroad, they all speaking English, they all look fantastic. My Name is Khan is an interesting example, where Shahrukh Khan cracked the market open in Germany, but the subject opened the market in the Islamic world. So perhaps small budget subject based films can work abroad."

Advertisement

- 71 -

Sandeep spoke about increasing the strength of the overseas market through digitalization. He used the example of Striker, a smaller film which didn‘t have much of a theatrical market abroad, but was exploited by marketing DVDs on the day and date of the release of the film everywhere except in India, thus tackling piracy of the film abroad. Youtube quickly removed any part of the film that was uploaded. Speaking about the advantages of going digital Kapil Agarwal, Joint Managing Director, UFO Movies India Ltd. said, "By going digital you can achieve a widespread release and you don‘t have to invest upfront in print costs. This also curbs piracy." Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. spoke about the many devices that have an increasing download speed and memory capacity and lowering costs and the exciting film revenue opportunities they offer.

Neeraj added, "Don‘t restrict yourself to thinking, who will watch this on such a small screen. Devices can project on up to a 40 inch plasma screen, plus you can attach speakers, which can be your home theatre in the jungle. Even video players are coming with social networking immersive interactive features like film trivia appearing in a bar after watching a movie. Siddhart said "We are looking at taking our films to different platforms, but there maybe so many ways of exploiting the rights we already have that we may not think of. Like audio cinema - listening to the films dialogues from beginning to end, we never thought people would want to do that." Answering a question about independent films Sanjeev said, "Technology exists to let you enjoy films in different ways. Theatrical cinema has become an event, where bigger films with bigger marketing budgets do better; I think independent films will gravitate away from theaters"

Sanjeev mentioned there were only 9000 screens that were fully functional in India, the rest being tea stalls with a small screen, among functional theaters more than 50% are in the Southern States, which are dominated by regional films. Siddharth said, "The exhibition sector will need to see returns to create digital screens and refurbish old screens. We talk about cross over films, but the only films that have crossed over even to south India are the films with visual delight where language isn‘t very important." Kapil said that in a year from now we could expect to see 500 plus digital screens in India. He also spoke about having at least 20-50 screens in more countries and mentioned the13 screens in the US that are screening IPL matches.

Speaking about merchandising in India Sanjeev said, "Film merchandising is important for 6 to 12 year olds, because then you want to wear your favorite film and for kids under 6 it‘s the mothers choice and after 12 it‘s more about collectables than anything you would use. The problem is the main source of merchandising, animation films and sequels haven‘t taken off. The toy and apparel industries are unorganized. So there are problems in logistics, infrastructure and content."

- 72 -

RECOMMENDATIONS

As the current position of the economy is not hidden form anybody, it is very much

obvious that bollywood industry too is facing the brunt. Producers are trying to curtail

their budget and thereby trying to increase their profitability. But this is becoming

difficult day by day because of increasing no of films being produced in a year. Every

producer is trying to attract the crowd to watch their film and so they are incurring a

lot of money in marketing the movies. Sometimes this marketing helps the film do

good business and sometimes it doesn’t. There have been cases wherein the films

built in a lot of expectations and failed to deliver at the box office. And these were the

films which actually overshot their marketing budgets.

So today if a film wants to stand out amongst the others then it has to have a very

effective marketing strategy and the focus here should lie on reducing the cost of the

marketing activities. It is alright if there are less no of marketing activities but these

few should be so innovative that it hits the target completely. But along with this it is

very important that the film has a good script which appeals to the masses because

people today demand quality and this is one aspect which should never be ignored by

filmmakers. That’s the reason why some of the low budget movies even though not

having a huge star cast work well just on the basis of a strong story line.

- 73 -

CONCLUSION

Marketing of movies is surely a new concept in bollywood but it is really catching

pace now. With each and every movie being released new and innovative marketing

strategies are being introduced which are proving beneficial for them and are helping

them in generating great revenues.

Theatrical release of films now has a shortened life span. Also with the amount of

noise and clutter, films loose their “newness”. Correct positioning and communication

helps to maximise earnings throughout the lifecycle of the project, which is carried on

to other delivery channels (DVD, TV, etc.)

The only focus now is to introduce new and new strategies which would break all

records and generate revenues for the industry as a whole thus benefiting our country.

Thus in the coming years the industry will witness films which would be marketed in

a very innovative way and also having an appealing story line and a blend of talented

actors and not necessarily big and established stars because they are not the sole

reason of a films success.

- 74 -