f Ghajini secured the honour of the best marketed film of 2008, Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 3 Idiots qualifies for the title this year. Releasing this Friday, the movie is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone, a light hearted and entertaining journey of three friends who try to figure themselves out and share unforgettable experiences.

To promote the movie, the makers have come up with some unusual marketing ploys.

To begin with, each promo of the movie was unveiled in an event attended by three people associated with the movie, including the star cast comprising Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and director Rajkumar Hirani. Also, press conferences were beamed in seven countries.

The music launch of the movie was broadcast on idiotsacademy.com, marked by the absence of media. Users visiting the site on the day of the launch had the option of chatting with the stars present there.

Future Group's Pantaloons India has collaborated with Vinod Chopra Films to launch the 3 Idiots apparel and accessories collection. In his spare time during the shooting of the film, Khan was in the habit of scribbling. The designers at Pantaloons were handed over the pages on which Khan scribbled and the designs were executed on T-shirts. Starting at Rs 399, the T shirts are available in 45 Pantaloons stores across the country.

Besides, the collection also includes replicas of T-shirts, garments and jewellery worn by Khan, Madhavan, Joshi and Kapoor in the film.

Zahid Shaikh, head, marketing, Pantaloons shares that the retail company has been selling movie merchandise for a long time, including recent movies such as Tashan, Bachna Ae Haseeno and Dostana. "The range will cut across age groups and the best part is that it is reasonably priced," he says.

Reliance Life Insurance has entered into a tie up with the movie and is using the thought 'All is well', which is one of the mainstay themes in the communication of the film. The campaign, spanning television, radio and outdoor, talks about Reliance Life Insurance's assurance of taking care of its consumer's financial worries and enabling them to live life to the fullest.

Outdoor for the campaign includes innovations on hoardings, bus shelters, bus backs, platform signages and mobile vans. Primesite has executed the outdoor campaign by creating cut-outs of the star cast, which have been put up across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and 500 towns across India.

As part of another innovation, stickers reading Capacity: 3 Idiots were pasted on the back of 10,000 auto rickshaws that moved in cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kota, Lucknow, Kanpur, Patna, Kolkata, Bhopal, Indore, Bengaluru, Chennai and some cities of Gujarat. Speaking on the efficacy of auto rickshaw branding, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra tells afaqs!, "Auto rickshaw is the

most popular mode for commuting and works as a wonderful reminder medium. We have used this sticker in all the cities where rickshaw is one of the common modes for commuting."

Besides, activation in multiplexes included messages on the walls of washrooms, saying 'You are the fourth idiot'. Also, chairs shaped like hips placed in the lounge area of multiplexes caught many eyeballs and users. Chairs of the same design appear in the film and have been used in posters of the film, with Khan, Madhavan and Joshi sitting on them.

In early December, Zapak, the online gaming portal, created an alternate reality game on idiotsacademy.com. As part of this, Khan said (through a video message) that he will travel through India, leaving clues about his whereabouts and participants of the game got two weeks to track him down. Varanasi was the first place Khan visited, disguised as an old man locating the house where his mother grew up.

Next, accompanied by Kapoor, he visited the weavers of the famous Chanderi sarees in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh. Both actors shared meals with the weavers, bought saris and discussed problems of the weavers. Later, Kareena attended a press conference clad in a Chanderi sari gifted by Khan and spoke about her experience with the weavers. After this, Khan landed up outside cricketer Saurav Ganguly's house in Kolkata, again in disguise.

Other places he visited included a school in Gujarat, where he spoke to kids on what they want to do in life, before heading to his final destination, Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.

The idea for Khan's nationwide journey came from the story of the film, where his friends go in search of him. The difference here was that media and fans were trying to spot Khan. Obviously, this journey was captured by many news and entertainment channels and became free publicity for the film.

On Facebook, a profile called Pucca Idiot has been created that has more than one lakh fans. The profile has videos and pictures of Khan's journey.

While it gets full marks for promotional tactics, it remains to be seen whether the movie lives up to the hype created around it.

THE INDIAN film industry has travelled a burgeoning journey from its first feature film in 1913 to huge budget films like ‘3 Idiots’ and ‘My Name is Khan’ today. As the nation developed, so did the Indian Cinema. 

With the passing times, the commercialization of this art gained importance and promotion of film became as significant as the story of the film. Over the years, the film industry has evolved enormously with adoption of new ideas, techniques and strategies that completed a movie. 

Promotional and marketing activities revolving around a film also witnessed drastic changes. Earlier when a film was made, what was important was a good distribution system for the maximum availability of the film to the people. But today it has gone steps ahead and the awareness and marketing of the film has become one of the major factors of its success. As a matter of fact, this showbiz business is one of the biggest money minters in the country.

In the last few years the movie industry in India has metamorphosed itself into a fully grown professional business unit and with new innovative techniques of film promotion, it is developing at a faster rate to mint more and more money. With almost two to three releases every Friday, a movie has to fight this clutter and create a distinct place in the audience’s mind to attract it to the theatre first. More importantly, Marketing of a movie is all about creating instant brand identity. As films have limited distribution window and therefore a limited shelf life, the marketing has to happen at absolutely the right time to get audiences into the cinemas.  

The film makers have adopted newer techniques from time to time to promote their film. One of the very common forms of marketing is the in-film branding. Mutual in nature, in-film marketing not only helps the product get a mention and visibility in a film to an audience but it also benefits the film to a large extent. Apart from monetary benefit to the production of the film from the brand owners, the commercial ads of these products promote the film throughout. The best example of this promotional technique is the film ‘Ghajini’. Its tie-up with Van Huesen became a huge success and strengthened the promotion of the film. Apart from that, one could find its presence across all mediums, be it TV, print, outdoor, Internet, mall activation or cinema activation.  

Moreover, to become the primary choice of the audience on the weekend, the film-makers are trying out more scientific and innovative techniques like

the interaction based strategies. The promotion of ‘3 Idiots’ by Aamir Khan’s unique tour across the seven cities of India was an outstanding idea to connect with the people and create curiosity about the film. And with this trend, now even the film stars have become very conscious about marketing. They are now actively involved. There is so much the marketers do when the star gets involved like specials, radio contest, integration and online chat. However one of the major mediums of marketing these days; the digital medium is not being utilized to the best for film promotions in India. There are very few producers and studios which understand the medium well. Moreover, even though the focus is on the consumers now, B2B marketing will never take a backseat. The big banner production houses are still focused on the distributors. Online is more for the consumers and not for the distributors. So, when it comes to them, online takes a backseat.

In another interesting marketing move by Aamir Khan, autorickshaws are being used to promote his

upcoming movie 3 Idiots. Nearly 10,000 rickshaws can be seen plying in various cities like Mumbai,

Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhopal, and many more with printed stickers on

them saying “Capacity: 3 Idiots”.

Being a creative marketer himself, Aamir realizes the importance of digital medium and uses every

platform to capture his audience’s interest. For the movie 3 Idiots, Zapak Digital Entertainment is

managing and executing the entire digital marketing strategy. A whole bunch of creative and

interesting stuff has been created – online games, social networking and mobile applications that fits

with the theme of the movie and connects well with the youth.

The official website of 3 Idiots – Idiots Academy and its logo are interesting. The website

takes visitors to different rooms of the Academy – each of these – the Director’s office,

Hostel, Classroom, Lab, Canteen and Toilets that has something interesting to offer.

An interesting game, “Track Aamir” was started on the website when Aamir went missing

and time to time people were given clue to find him. People were kept updated about the

hunt through Twitter and Facebook groups.

Music of the movie was released online, instead of any grand location. After the music

release, fans were invited for a video chat with the cast and crew of the movie.

A number of online videos of trailers, promos, interviews about the movie were released

on YouTube and are getting huge popularity. The official trailer of 3 Idiots has received

nearly 452,953 views.

As a part of promoting the movie 3 Idiots, Film makers painted walls of washrooms in few

cinemas with slogans like “You are an idiot”. For the movie promotion of his last movie,

Ghajini, the entire staff of PVR cinemas got Ghajini cut hairstyle.

Another promotional gimmick is the launch of a campaign “Sabse Big Idiot” in collaboration

with Big 92.7 FM to find the fourth Idiot, where listeners are invited to showcase their Idiocy.

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.

For decades it has been alleged that the Indian movie industry aka Bollywood dishes out formulated

content. While this trend has sure shown signs of reversal in the past few years, the real surprise

has been the focus on marketing the movies in innovative ways. R. Arvind, a member of “The

Marketers” team and a PGDM student at IIM Calcutta looks at two recent movies both as a

consumer and a prospective marketer)

Aal Izz Well… I’m sure you would have heard this a hundred times by now. “3 idiots” has seen a

grand opening and is running to packed houses across the country. The man behind the magic is

none other than Aamir Khan, Bollywood’s very own Piyush Pandey. But the real magic he has

weaved is the innovative marketing campaign, which has managed to grab eyeballs and draw the

attention of Tom, Dick and Harry. From butt chairs to innovative stickers, unconventional trailer and

music releases to Alternate Reality Gaming (that’s right!), the “3 idiots” promotional strategy has it

all.

The other day, I decided to kill some time by watching a movie at a nearby multiplex. As I waited for

my cab, I saw an auto rickshaw with a sticker which read “Capacity: 3 idiots”. I wondered who would

board  an auto with such a sticker but the very next moment I saw the auto-

wallah drive off on a loaded trip, grinning from ear to ear. Thoughtful, I proceeded to the multiplex.

Here was another surprising sight. I saw 3 butt-shaped chairs placed right in the center of the atrium.

And what’s more, I saw children and grown-ups alike having fun, clicking pictures and getting quite a

laugh from sitting on the butt-shapes. I was surprised to see the kind of attention this was grabbing,

with everyone pointing to them or at least noticing all the commotion surrounding them. Not one to

be left behind, I managed to drag my friend along and clicked a picture as well.

Well, the movie I sat through was quite an eye-sore but there were more surprises lined up for me

that day. In the washroom, I looked up to see a painted sign that quietly affirmed ‘you are an idiot’. I

wondered how the entire world had got to know of this so quickly. Anyways, I went back home and

decided to check my mail. There, I noticed a link which led me to an interactive website launched in

association with Zapak.com to promote the “3 Idiots”. I had a fun time on the website, which was

highly interactive and entertaining as well.

Just as I was beginning to appreciate the movie’s marketing campaign, I read about a reality game

which Aamir Khan was hosting. It was an effort to promote the film though Alternate Reality Gaming,

whereby he would disappear for a period of time and surface occasionally to provide clues to his

location. The challenge was to identify his whereabouts within a fortnight.

Add to this the tie up with Reliance Life Insurance for communicating the “All is Well” message and

the alliance with Pantaloon for selling t-shirts and merchandise; you end up with a truly innovative

campaign. A key point to take note of is the simple yet effective nature of some of the initiatives. The

innovative stickers and signs and the fancy chairs were designed to grab the attention of the city

youth and families – the target audience. A second key feature is the extensive use of the digital

medium. The music for the film was launched online, followed by a video chat session with the entire

cast. Add to this the interactive website and we have an effective digital marketing package, a path

that is sure to be taken up by other production houses in the future. Shot on a budget of 45 crores,

the film has managed to break all records and gross more than Rs. 100 crore in just four days.

Now, this prompts me take a look at another interesting strategy, followed by the makers of “Paa”.

Generally, movies featuring the Big B attempt to leverage his star presence and brand equity in a big

way. However, in an unusual move, the makers of “Paa” decided to promote the character played by

Amitabh Bacchhan ‘Auro’, rather than using the Big B’s star power. In fact, in the initial stages, the

fact that Amitabh was playing a 13-year old was kept tightly under wraps. Ads featuring a bald head

in a cardboard box succeeded in arousing people’s curiosity. An interactive website along the lines

used for “3 idiots” was launched in an attempt to tap into the potential of the digital marketing

medium.

“Paa and I” relationship activities were conducted to establish an emotional connect with the

audience, with fathers and children engaging in various fun activities. Also, Big B took time out to

visit schools and increase awareness about Progeria.

A wholesome campaign, it certainly succeeded in creating a lot of excitement and hype around the

film. However, the campaign has not been able to replicate the “3 idiots” success. Maybe the plan to

promote “Auro” rather than banking on the Big B failed. Maybe the audience failed to establish the

connection between Amitabh and Auro.

However, both “3 idiots” and “Paa” go on to emphasize the importance of marketing in Indian cinema

today. Gone are the days when posters and billboards could bring people to the theatre. Producers

and film makers now need to constantly innovate and experiment to sustain audience interest.

Terms such as “digital marketing” and “viral marketing” are now as applicable to movies as they are

anywhere else.

And to wrap up the story, sure enough, I ended up watching both “3 idiots” and “Paa” on the very

first day. And I had a great time too.

(Arvind Ramachandran is a PGDCM (2011) student at IIM Calcutta. Write to him

atarvindr2011@email.iimcal.ac.in)

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BOLLYWOOD MARKETING

Introduction

One of the largest money churners in India is Bollywood: the business of making

movies. Marketing for Bollywood once meant putting up Eastman Color posters

across the streets of Mumbai, but since then it has evolved dramatically.

Bollywood producers and filmmakers have realised that their movies are

products that need to be branded, positioned and targeted at the right

audience. The recent Salman Khan starrer, Dabangg that was made on a budget

of 30 cr. had a marketing budget of 12 cr. That is a whopping 40% of the movie

budget. The high marketing budgets are not just the norm for big budget films;

Peepli Live a film made on a budget of Rs. 10 cr. had a marketing budget of Rs.

4 cr.

While Bollywood scripts have far from evolved, with the same stale movies

being churned out day in and out, the way Bollywood is marketing its movies,

would make Kotler proud!

The 5 P’s of Bollywood Marketing

• Product: The entire cinema experience is the product that you as a filmmaker

are trying to sell. When a middle class worker spends Rs. 200 to watch a movie,

he is paying more for the experience than for the movie itself. Bollywood

marketers realise that marketing movies means selling the entire experience of

watching a movie to its end consumers. Moviemakers need to understand which

category their movie belongs to it and which audience it aims at targeting.

Hence, the marketing strategy for a Dabangg and a Peepli Live would be poles

apart. While Dabangg was targeted at the masses and single theatre screens,

Peepli Live was targeted at the multiplex audience. Hence Dabangg’s promos

reflected the masala experience that the masses will relate to while Peepli Live’s

promos had sarcasm and black humor which would generate interest among the

multiplex audience. UTV Motion Pictures Marketing VP, Shikha Roy says, “Most

of the promos were shot separately and not as a part of the movie, to generate

a kind of viral campaign and to have the people talking”.

Marketing is all about catering to the needs of the consumers and making profits

by satisfying those needs. Who better to know this than filmmaker Mahesh

Bhatt, most of the recent films made under his banner Vishesh Films revolve

around recent controversies. Vishesh Films’s latest offering, Crook, is centred

around the racial attacks on Indian students in Australia. Such subjects which

the public relates to help gather enough interest and curiosity amongst them.

Bollywood makers are also giving a lot of thought to the naming of their

products (movies). Like other products, movie names too should reflect the

spirit, genre and feel of the movie. Gone are the days when a name like “Vijay”

would sell, Innovative names are the order of the day. Dibankar Banerjee is one

filmmaker who gives a lot of thought and importance to the naming of his films.

His last offering “Love, Sex And Dhoka”, made on a shoestring budget of 2 cr.

caught the eye balls of the youth just on the power of its unique name. The

name of the movie was enough to generate curiosity in the minds of the public

and attract them towards the movie screens.

• Placement: The timing of the launch of a product is a crucial factor in

determining its success. Similarly, the release date of a movie is a significant

factor in determining the success of the movie. Over the past few years, the

biggest blockbusters released during the Diwali season or during the Christmas.

What is the common link between Taare Zameen Par, Ghajini and Three Idiots?

Apart from the fact that all these blockbusters star Aamir Khan, the movies have

their release date as 25th December. Filmmakers nowadays invest a lot of

thought in deciding the right time for releasing a movie. Even a good movie

released during the exam season of students or if it is clashing with a major

event such as IPL cricket extravaganza may get a dismal opening. Film makers

also watch out if any big banner movies are being released during the same

time as theirs and accordingly postpone or pre pone their release. Karan Johar,

on his show Coffee with Karan once asked filmmaker Farah Khan what she

would do if she realised that a Himesh Reshammiya movie was releasing at the

same time as her’s. Farah replied with a smile, “I would postpone my movies

release date”. That was the time when Himesh had the Midas touch.

• Promotion: No longer are promotions restricted to showing trailers and

painting the city with posters of the movie. Bollywood movie promotions have

come a long way. The small budget movies try to get referential power for their

movies by participating in international film festivals. Winning awards in the

international circuit helps in increasing the brand equity for the film, and the

audience perceives that it will be a good product. Vikramaditya Motwane’s

debut film Udaan created enough buzz and the multiplex crowd was waiting

anxiously for the movie to release long before its promos started appearing. All

thanks to the many awards and critical acclaim the movie managed to get in the

international film circuit.

When it comes to marketing, Aamir Khan is one of the most innovative

marketers out there. The way he promotes his movies is a lesson for all budding

marketers. During the promotion of Ghajini, Aamir donned the role of a barber,

giving Ghajini haircuts to his fans. For Three Idiots Aamir Khan went step further

and came out with his own collection of hand drawn Doodle T Shirts, which

reflected his own style and the soul of the movie. The T-shirts became a rage

among the youth. In addition, the rickshaws in Mumbai were used as an

effective way to market 3 Idiots. Aamir had painted stickers of “Capacity: 3

Idiots only” on the back of the rickshaws. The unique strategy created a lot of

buzz for the movie at a very low cost.

Seeing the craze that youth of today have for playing games, Bollywood

marketers have taken the route of combining movies and games to help

promote their films. Yash Raj Films for their latest offering Lafangey Parindey

has come out with two games: One a boxing game that reflects the spirit of Neil

Nitin Mukesh and a skating game for Deepika Padukone fans. These games help

movie fans to relate to the characters of the movie more closely.

Bollywood does not want to be myopic in its view, instead of looking at the

television industry as a competition; they have taken it as a facilitator to

promote their films. Reality TV shows are used by filmmakers to promote their

movie. A few weeks before the release of a movie, you will have the stars of the

movie making appearances as judges, hosts, participants on TV shows. John

Abraham will be using the popular youth reality show MTV Roadies to promote

his upcoming film, Jhootha Hi Sahi. Similar to the character he plays in the

movie, John would lie to contestants but provide them with clues to help them

win Roadies

• Personalisation: Today’s film makers realise that while marketing a film, they

cannot follow a particular template for all films, but need to customise the

marketing strategies for each, treating each film as a separate brand entity. So

you had an Amitabh Bachchan poster telling you in theatres that, “Do not dirty

the theatres or I will tell Paa” to “Switch of your mobiles or I will tell Paa” for the

promotion of his film Paa where he played a 13 year old progeria patient. While

for Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D you had customised tattoos being done at select

parlors and condom shaped passes being distributed for the premiere of the

movie. Ashutosh Gowariker’s movie What’s Your Rashee which had Priyanka

Chopra play 12 different characters had 12 different flavours of popcorn being

sold in movie theatres each corresponding to a different Rashee. The marketing

team of Aladdin teamed up with Baskin Robbins to launch three delectable

flavours on the characters of the movie: Ringmaster’s Whip, Princess Delite and

Choco Aladdin. In another smart marketing move, ticket counter boys, ushers,

and the popcorn boys sported the Ghajini haircut look during the release of Shah

Rukh Khan’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Therefore, although cine-goers went to watch

SRK’s flick the anxiety to watch Ghajini, which was releasing two weeks later,

increased manifold.

• People: The filmmakers have now begun to use actors for promotion rather

than just using trailers and posters. They want the stars to be closer to the

people. So be it Salman riding a horse in the Mahalaxmi race course to promote

his action film Veer or Abhishek Bacchan creating a Guinness record by

travelling to 5 different cities in a span of 24 hours to promote Delhi 6, the

people connect is clearly visible. Bollywood marketers realise that people will

feel for the movie and relate to it only when they are able to relate to the stars

of the movie. Aamir Khan to promote Three Idiots, went on a disguise marketing

trip, in which he went to various parts of India, incognito and understood the

people’s problems, aspirations and dreams. The entire campaign did not take

long to become viral and created a lot of hype for 3 Idiots.

Actors have also taken to blogging and tweeting to promote their films and to

break barriers that exist between them and their audience. From Shahrukh Khan

to Genelia D’Souza, you can find them all present on the social media circuit

trying to develop a connect with their audience.

Imtiaz Ali, director of the romantic comedy Jab We Met, who has done a course

in advertising and marketing from St. Xaviers, believes in the idea of inclusive

marketing. He believes that the opinion of the public is very important for a

filmmaker, as they are the final consumers. So when he was confused on fixing

a title for his Shahid-Kareena starrer, he held an all India poll, asking people to

vote from amongst 3 titles (Ishq via Bhatinda, Jab We Met and Punjab Mail). Jab

We Met got the most votes and was chosen as the title for the film.

YouTube is also being effectively as a medium to connect to movie buffs.

Recently the critically acclaimed film, Udaan had the lead actor asking the

public to share with him their college moments on Udaan’s Facebook fan page.

Also, Udaan had a contest in which the audience was asked to share their first

adult film experience with the Udaan team on YouTube.

Anjaana Anjaani has a promotional campaign on YouTube in which movie fans

can directly ask questions to its stars Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra and

get them answered.

Conclusion

The aggressive marketing followed in Bollywood could well be due to the influx

of companies like UTV Motion Pictures and Yash Raj Films that work in true

corporate style in branding movies. In today’s time, a movie might be great but

sans an aggressive marketing campaign, it would be very difficult to have it

make an impact at the box office. I would like to end here by quoting a few lines

that super star Amitabh Bachchan has written on his blog, “Good marketing has

produced good results at the box office. That old belief that the merit of the film

shall eventually emerge victorious has long since been overridden. By the time

you wait for the merit to show its face, five other films have shown their merits.”

AT 10:41 AM

LABELS:  BOLLYWOOD ,  MARKETING ,  PEOPLE ,  PERSONALIZATION ,  PLACEMENT ,  

PRODUCT ,PROMOTION ,  STRATEGIC ANALYSI

I continue to be surprised at how many companies keep the Market Research department in

some back hall closet collecting dust and reams of paper reports.  It happens in all

industries, but lately I’ve seen retail companies keep their “Consumer Insight” group

focused on traditional insight like mall traffic patterns and planograms. Consumer

segmentation models are typically owned in these groups, and often they are leveraged for

behavioral patterns that help with the proverbial 4 Ps – Product, Price, Place and

Promotion.  That stuff is important to the business, no doubt.  But those same companies

need to leverage, not ignore, that insight available when fusing social media into the

marketing mix they already have.

Brian Solis has a terrific series starting this week on the changing marketing, advertising

and communications, where he adds a 5th P: People.   People are the fuel behind social

media, which is really just tools and tactics. Here is a quick list of reasons to get Market

Research engaged early in order to give social media (People fueled) initiatives the best

chances of long term success.

10.  Knowing Customer Behaviors

What internal group knows more about your customer’s behaviors and acts?  The web

analytics team knows about what customers do with your own web assets, not about what

customers do – in the real world and in online social channels where you don’t own the

assets.  Do they share opinions?  Do they care what kind of car they drive?  Are they fickle

with the brand of toothpaste they buy?  Do they use social platforms and if so, how often

and why?  While we’re at it, how do our customers use social media vs. the mainstream

population?

9.  Understanding the Effectiveness of Current and Historical Marketing

This applies to branding initiatives too. They (should) know how effective every ad,

campaign, point-of-sale item, direct mail, email, tagline, product and other marketing

investment has performed.  Wouldn’t you want to leverage that insight to avoid a

misdirection in using social media?

8.  Tried and True Methods to Solicit Customer Feedback

Industries are changing rapidly, and the need to conduct focus groups, surveys and gather

feedback is too.  The more traditional/offline methods still apply, though – and chances are

market research departments are already exploring alternatives to get those things

accomplished more quickly, more effectively and cheaply.  Either way, the market research

team should be established pros at getting feedback from existing and target customers.

7.  Understanding the Current and Future Market Conditions

Market research is a core part of any business strategy – in this case meaning researching

markets.  Will there be future demand for products?  How is our market share today vs. a

year ago, and how will a new program help influence that?  It’s this team that businesses

leans on to get hard data on what will happen.  Talking to customers in these markets in

social channels increases the need to understand the market overall and correlate initiatives

to marketing directives.

6.  They Have the Ear of the CMO

There are many arguments on who should own social media, but the research arm of the

company usually rolls up to the CMO.  The CMO is the one managing brand perception,

and if you believe social media initiatives impact branding, marketing or communications,

the CMO will want to hear about it.  The CMO will also want to know the data.

5.  Understanding Customer Needs and Wants

Customer needs are different than behaviors.  Do your customers have a need for

community, convenience, or collaboration?  A customer who is ill needs and wants a safe,

effective means to get relief – understanding that need will lead to understanding that

customer’s motivation.  Social media tools provides customers new ways to hear about,

research and talk about their needs.  Market research teams can share that insight and

inform the folks “doing the talking” on what content makes sense to share and discuss.

4.  They Have the Best Contextual Insight

Bruce Temkin, former Forrester Research analyst on customer experience, wrote a post a

few months ago about how market research needs less statistical analysis and more

contextual analysis.  He shared this formula:

“Actionable insight” is one of my all-time favorite terms, and if market research can provide

that, they need to be in the mix and weighing in an any new initiative.

3.  “We’ve got data!”

New businesses are being formed to help fuse social media into more traditional business

intelligence disciplines.  Market research has a P&L that includes funds to buy that data,

and the skills to sift through it to make meaningful hypotheses about it.

2.  Understanding the Competitive Landscape

When deciding to build a strategy for social media, it’s clearly important to know what your

competitors are doing.  The market research team is typically the best equipped, since they

a) know who your competitors really are, and b) likely keeps tabs on them already for other

campaigns, pricing, promotions and events.

1.  Insight is Critical Before Starting Anything New

Simply put, many types of social media (as emerging technology) are rapidly moving

past the Trough of Disillusionment and into the Slope of Enlightenment.  More and more

case studies of successes in social channels are popping up.  Social media may still be new

– and perhaps some approaches will be new to even the biggest organizations. 

When Pepsi put big budget dollars to social media, I think many people in the industry

finally woke up.  I guarantee that Pepsi didn’t make this decision without their market

research team in the mix.

Social media tactics touch many other parts of the organization too, but having Market

research up front in the design and decision process will help make initiatives more

effective.  What did I miss?

Photo credit: pagedooley via flickr

 

The controversy involving the makers of 3 idiots and the author of the book five point

someone Chetan Bhagat has been going round for quite a while. Before we take a

stand on the issue, it is better to have a look at what has transpired. So, here goes

the story.

3 idiots is one of the biggest hits of the year and is touted to become one of the

biggest hits of all time. It is apparently loosely based Chetan Bhagat’s five point

someone. According to the director and makers of the movie, only 5% of the movie

is based on the novel and the rest has been penned by the writers of the movie.

However, those who have seen the movie including me feel a lot has been taken

from the novel and it is definitely higher than 5%.

If one looks at the business side of the whole episode, the makers of the movie

claim to have bought the copyrights of the novel before making the movie. But what

Chetan Bhagat’s complaint is not about the percentage of inspiring from the book.

He is claiming that he hasn’t been given proper credits for the story of the movie.

The makers however claim that as per the agreement he was given the payment

and also the bonus promised if the movie turns out to be hit.

As per the copyright laws, one can use the product he or she has brought

the copyrights for, but there is no clause about giving credit to the author. It is purely

based on one’s ethics about giving credit for the original work. Hence, we feel the

makers of the movie should have given more credit to CB for the story department.

Having said this, CB took more than 3 or 4 days after the premiere show to vent out

his anger and that too he claims was started only when he started getting fan mails

to his inbox.

We feel it is irresponsible on the part of CB to not have raised this before , during the

filming of the movie and discussing about sharing credits during the agreement

phase itself. Also, if we look at the fact that CB is a MBA from the country’s top

engineering college, it is disheartening that he himself has not taken the copyright

laws seriously and not ensure proper justice for himself. This tends to show the way

Indian look at the copyright laws. Overall, we feel 3 idiots team have done injustice

to CB, but CB himself could have avoided that. It is high time , the media and the

film industry become more professional and take copyright laws and its agreements

seriously like Hollywood does. What do you feel? Let us know.

By the way this is what we feel about the movie. Movie Review.You may be interested in these articles:

Download 3 idiots movie legally  : The latest movie making all the noise in bollywood has adopted a unique way to kill video piracy. The makers of the film have decided to release the film legally on internet and youtube for people to download. This after numerous complaints of higher ticketing prices being charged for the...

3 idiots business mantra for success  : 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...

Business Standard 

3 Idiots happens to be the biggest grosser of all times in Bollywood. Sample this: the film has so

far made Rs 335 crore (Rs 3.35 billion); overseas, it has grossed $16 million (Rs 71 crore).

Meanwhile, the budget for the film, which released in December 2009, was Rs 35 crore (Rs 350

million). The investors have multiplied their money more than ten times.

Not surprising then that the film topped the 2009 Brand Derby. The makers attribute the film's

success to its script.

What makes powerful brands stand apart from the others? Is it a combination of savvy marketing,

brilliant advertising and groundbreaking design?

At the Business Standard Brand Derby 2010 summit, some of the country's top marketers explored

how branding is evolving with the fast-changing consumer mindset. Brand-building is undergoing a

tectonic shift in the changing socio-economic milieu of the country; conventional tools will no longer

work.

This was the central message of the Business Standard Brand Derby 2010 Summit held at the Leela

Kempinski hotel in Gurgaon on July 16. The Brand Derby, an annual survey, ranks the top brand

launches in a year. In the 2010 Derby, 3 Idiots had won the Derby. The survey is published in The

Strategist, a weekly supplement of Business Standard.

Click NEXT to read what went behind the marketing of the film. . .

Anil Arjun, the CEO of Reliance Mediaworks, which produced and distributed 3 Idiots, outlined how

four months prior to the launch of the film, a 40-member team was put in place to market the film.

There was clutter in the market -- 36 films, Hollywood as well as Bollywood releases, had also hit the

theatres around the same time. Also, the campaign had to be crafted in such a way that it appeals to

all category of viewers -- those who go to multiplexes in metros as well as those who watch films in a

single-screen theatre in a small town.

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.

"To ensure that people come to the theatres to watch the film, we destroyed 2.1 million illegal

downloads," Arjun said.

And to surprise the viewer when he came to the theatre, the character of Chatur Ramalingam was

kept under wraps right through the pre-release campaign. At the end, he proved as much a crowd-

puller as Khan.

"I truly believe that it's the script of the film that's most important. 3 Idiots was an inspiring script and

finally a well-made film," says the film's producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Still, it takes more than that

for a film to transform itself into a brand.

Indeed, confidence in a product is a pre-requisite. But planning ahead was the key, and the makers

of the film spent a good four months doing just that. From that emerged consistent communication.

Here the 3 Idiots team gave equal importance to Tier-II cities, overseas markets, where full 360-

degree campaigns took off covering digital, outdoor, brand partnerships, public relations and

merchandise.

The All Is Well-Reliance Life Insurance campaign broke across television channels, radio stations

and hoardings featuring the lead actors of the film. The ad used the proposition, 'Jab hai saath

Reliance Life Insurance, All Is Well', to convey its messages to the masses.

This first of its kind initiative covered 50 television channels and 19,000 spots in a matter of five

weeks. On the radio, it took up 11,000 spots over 50 channels covering 35 cities. In addition to that,

All India Radio was used to reach out to 195 towns that are not covered by private players.

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. A profile called Pucca Idiot was created that

today has over 100,000 fans. Meanwhile, each promo and song of the movie was unveiled at

separate events with the entire star cast. This added to the buzz.

Likewise, the overseas market too was given major attention with the focus on the top six markets:

North America, United Kingdom, West Asia, Australia-New Zealand and South Africa. Together,

these markets make up 85 per cent of the first-run theatrical collections.

For this, Anil Arjun and his team first did a thorough population study and mapping of the region.

Click NEXT to read on . . .

Image: (L to R) 3 Idiots director Raju Hirani with Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Vidhu Vinod

Chopra.

In California there are over 400,000 South Asians in certain pockets of the state; we therefore

decided to penetrate theatres where the South Asian population was particularly strong," says Arjun.

Following this, the movie was released in far more theatres to match penetration. For instance, 3

Idiotsmade it to 26 locations in California (as opposed to three or four) as against the traditional 10

and 11 locations in Florida.

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.

Finally, the makers of the film knew that a large opening would be its trump card. Thus distribution

was given equal importance.

In India, the film was released across 1,850 screens; overseas it opened in over 360 screens,

making it the largest opening thus far.

"We made sure the domestic market was fully penetrated with the maximum number of shows at

multiple timings. But what really worked for us was the fact that of the 50 million people who watched

the film first, about 15 million came back to watch it the second time," says Reliance BIG Pictures

COO Kamal Gianchandani.

So, 3 Idiots released on Wednesday nights in select theaters. I am going to see the movie today, but then I see all movies of a key figure in the movie – and that figure isn’t Amir Khan. But then, thats beside the point. 3 Idiots went for some interesting promotions, with some illustrious corporates piggybacking on the hype of 3 Idiots as well. I try to put my views about the promotions of 3 Idiots in this post.

One of the most interesting ways of promotions I have seen for this movie is the use of Auto-rickshaws. What they have done is very simple – Every auto has a sticker – ‘ Capacity – 3 Passengers’ . They have made it into ‘ Capacity- 3 Idiots!’ Check the autorick in the adjoining picture to know what I am talking about. Not only does this promotion brings an instant smile on the face of their target audience, but its an instant recall as well. I would say per auto per day, this sticker must be viewed by atleast 1000 people on the streets of Mumbai. Assuming the sticker is on 1000 autos, a million people view this sticker everyday, hence a potential reach of 30 mn over a month – fantastic, isn’t it?

Another way in which promotions happened was the campaign of ‘Amir ki Khoj’. The idea was to find Amir Khan . He used to periodically figure on news channels in different parts of India. Even Sachin Tendulkar gave clues about the whereabouts of Amir Khan. While, I don’t think this kind of promotions would have been possible for any newcomer’s movie ( press/TV wouldn’t give so much footage) , the fact that 3 Idiots had star power is benefitting the movie in this aspect of promotions. Another instance of Amir Khan figuring in North India and getting covered by a news channel can be found here.

The biggest surprise of the campaign though has to be Reliance Life Insurance associating ‘All is well’ slogan of 3 Idiots with its products! Quoting the Chief Marketing officer of Reliance capital, Sanjay Jain -

“‘All is well’ is a brand promise. It is a way of saying that if someone has our policy, his financial needs in the various milestones of his life would be covered by our plans.

While the slogan fits well with what Reliance Life insurance is doing, 3 Idiots is a beneficiary too. This deal gave unprecedented scale to the promotions with 50 TV channels, 37 radio channels and hoardings in 500 towns. Simply amazing isn’t it! I travel for hardly 5 kms to office, and on my way, I came across the hoarding twice. You can imagine the scale of promotions that 3 Idiots has got by this deal! Kudos to the marketing decision makers of both teams, I must say!

All in all, while this kind of promotions aren’t possible for every movie, this promotions campaign was innovative and path breaking in terms of the scale they achieved – right from Autos to the corporate tieup! I am sure the 3 Idiots team would be singing ‘All is well’ on New Year day!

(Image credits: 1 2)

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When Aamir Khan, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and director Rajkumar Hirani, sat

down and watched the first half of the first cut of 3 Idiots together, they knew they

were watching something that had the potential to go “big time”. A boisterous drama

about three friends dealing with the pressures of engineering school, and one friend

teaching them how to dream, was a story they knew would stick. They guessed

multiplexes in cities would overflow. They figured they had a fair chance at

beating Ghajini, an Aamir Khan starrer and the biggest grossing Hindi film of all time.

But something bothered them. In smaller towns, regional cinema was still king and

Hindi cinema just a joker. In Gujarat, a star like Vikram Thakur at his peak, could

bring in close to Rs 7 crore. A top grossing Hindi film on the other hand could hope

to rake in just Rs 3 crore.

“We felt we aren’t connecting enough with our audience… There’s a business

capacity of seven, but we are only doing three. So there’s a lot of business we aren’t

reaching out to,” says Khan as he talks to us from his Pali Hill apartment in Bandra,

a Mumbai suburb. He’s wincing from a leg injury sustained earlier during the day,

but is intent we hear what he’s saying.

“Do they want to be entertained? Yes. Do they like watching films? Yes. But are they

watching our films? No. They’re watching regional films.” It could only mean two

things, he reasoned. One, Hindi films aren’t marketed well. And two, film makers

from Mumbai don’t understand small town India. Khan was determined to figure out

both answers. But how?

The ball begins to roll

When a team of 25 marketing people met in August 2009, led by Prabhat

Choudhary of Spice PR, who helped market four of the top five all time hits of Hindi

cinema, the team didn’t know what the central idea to market 3 Idiots could possibly

be. Khan’s brief though was clear. Whatever they did, they had to get to the man in

Bhopal, and the man in Varanasi.

For a while, Khan had been toying with a rather vague idea. The movie starts with

Aamir Khan, who essays the role of the central protagonist, having disappeared into

oblivion. The rest of the flick is about his friends looking for clues to find him. How,

Khan wondered, would people react if he disappeared in real life? Would people

wonder where he was? Would the media write speculative stories on Khan’s

whereabouts? But more importantly, how could the whole thing be orchestrated?

Through all of August last year, they debated on the plan. They tied up with online

gaming firm Zapak. And that was where they found the answer: A-R-G, or Alternate

Reality Gaming. Participants in these games interact directly with characters in the

game, work with other participants to solve challenges, analyse the story and stay

connected on email, telephones, and the internet. The main narrative for this form of

gaming is usually based in the real world.

By September, ARG took over 60 percent of 3 Idiots’ marketing efforts. A Facebook

profile “Amir the Pucca Idiot” was created, a page that would be controlled and

updated entirely by Khan. It became a talking point because it was the first time an

Indian celebrity had done this. People wondered whether it really was Aamir Khan’s

page. His status updates appeared in the papers. “Aamir the Pucca Idiot” would be

an instrumental part of Khan’s disappearance to remote B towns, too.

By October, the 3 Idiots team had to activate the game. Before that, teams needed

to be dispatched to do a recce of all the places Khan would visit during his

disappearing act. They would be dispatched to small towns in Gujarat, Punjab,

Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, among others. It would be expensive and logistics

would be a nightmare. “We’d only marketed to 6-8 metros,” Chaudhary told Khan.

“But there are 80 towns with at least one multiplex we had never even marketed to.”

Of doodles and bum chairs

By October, two months before the release of 3 Idiots, no one knew much about the

movie. There were no hoardings. No signs at theaters. And to build the suspense,

multiplexes were sent bum chairs (like the ones the 3 Idiots sit on in the film);

stickers that read “You are the 4th idiot”. No one knew what it all meant.

But on October 30, the 3 Idiots team made their first break of communication. They

launched the film’s trailer to a gathering of trade people, multiplexes, and media.

Ghajini was in the media for a year and a half before it released. 3 Idiots would only

be in the media for two months.

In December, Khan was also busy designing T-shirts. “I said I can’t design, I’m not a

designer, but I can give you my doodles,” says Khan. Pantaloon created a T-shirt

line with the doodles, and 3 Idiots Converse sneakers.

Featuring Khan’s doodles instead of just replica merchandise worked. Pantaloon

sold more than 1000 pieces per day in its opening week, and then sold out of the

merchandise twice. The doodle T-shirt was also created as a gift friends could send

to one another on “Aamir the Pucca Idiot” Facebook page, whose profile now had

almost 2 lakh fans.

BusinessofCinema (BoC), who did the digital marketing, launched the Pantaloon

gifts on Facebook, plus ticketing applications, and 3 Idiots videos and songs. Most of

all, BoC readied themselves for the launch of the ARG game. And then, on

December 12, Aamir Khan disappeared.

Director Hirani and Producer Chopra claimed not to know where he was. All that

was left behind was a video on the film’s website, idiotsacademy.com. “I shot a

video, and I said, ‘If you want to be a part of this of game, well... For two weeks, I will

be traveling around the country. I will appear seven places, will give you seven clues

to find me. For the first clue you need to get it from Sachin Tendulkar.’ And then I

kiss my wife goodbye and walk out the door,” says Khan.

I am not here

Khan first reappeared in Varanasi, disguised as an old man. “I couldn’t tell anyone

who I was,” he says. The 3I team shot footage of what he was doing, but no TV

stations could find him. Choudhary worried, “How will media take it? Will they think

it’s a gimmick to ignore?” And at every stage, someone on the team said this would

not work.

It didn’t help that a lot of the 3I recce team’s planning didn’t work out. Choudhary

broke his collarbone in a rickshaw accident. Instead of spending the night at

Varanasi station as planned, Khan decided to find his mother’s home in Varanasi.

“I really went to Varanasi to make friends over there. It had to be a genuine process.

I didn’t know who I would meet or how they would react to me. It was happening

organically,” explains Khan. He talks for more than an hour about Varanasi,

recounting the story of a rickshaw driver he calls “damn funny”, and the four men

who help him find his mother’s house.

After Khan left Varanasi, he let it be known he was there. 20,000 people trampled

the tea shop where Khan had just been. The local media went crazy. “They found

the story fascinating because they saw how unplanned the whole thing was. The

English media picked it up only four times in those two weeks, but Hindi news

channels and local print and TV media went ballistic. I was on the front page. They

would report every new clue we announced, and interview the people I had met,”

says Khan.

Khan not only evaded the media, but also goaded them. “I had been given the

names of 15 editors in each city. So when I left their city, I wrote each of them

handwritten letters on my letterhead that said ‘I was passing through your city and

felt like having sweets. So I bought some mithai and got you some as well. Love,

Aamir’. It was a like a tease,” Khan says and smiles.

Khan gave only four interviews to TV stations during the entire tour, all to regional

TV stations. Regional stars were selected to interview Khan. On Mahua TV in UP,

for example, Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishnan interviewed Khan. “Other than those four, I

thought TV stations shouldn’t get me. All they get is what I shoot and send to them. I

don’t have a deal with them, so I don’t know if they will bite. But I had not been

available, so I knew they were thirsty for me,” says Khan.

The strategy was deployed for the print media as well. He stayed clear of

mainstream English dailies and spoke very selectively to regional newspapers. For

the first time in recent history, B towns were clamouring for an upcoming Hindi film.

Final notes

When they started, the ARG game was just a small part of Khan’s disappearance. It

was more like a contact program, “something like what Obama would have

undertaken,” explains Choudhary. But soon, many fans found out about

idiotsacademy.com. They learned to play the ARG (a first ever for a Hindi film),

competing against one another to find out where Khan was. Fans played other

games on the website, too, racking up around 4.5 million plays, says Rohit Sharma

of Zapak, which designed the game.

And not once during Khan’s journey was 3 Idiots mentioned. When he went to a

girls’ school in Palanpur, Gujarat, to highlight the importance of the girl child’s

education, Khan asked the girls to shout their message to TV cameras. “The girls

didn’t say ‘3 Idiots releases on December 25!” Khan laughs. Instead, they said girls

need as much a chance to go to school as boys do. “Now people will either connect

to that or say the guy is bullshitting. I think we made a strong emotional

connect.”While Khan was in the middle of this journey, and excitement was at a

peak, “Aamir Khan the Pucca Idiot” decided to hold a Facebook live chat with fans.

Khan would be on video, and fans could type in from Twitter, Facebook, and

Youstream.

The BoC guys expected Khan’s live chat to happen from Mumbai. At the last minute,

they were told to take their hi-tech equipment to Delhi and then set it up in a small

village outside.

On December 19th, without a single hitch in streaming, more than 1 lakh users

chatted with Khan from Pakistan, Bangladesh, the US, and cities and many B towns

in India. It was the first time an Indian celebrity had done something like this. Over

300,000 status updates were shared that day, according to Facebook’s international

communications team. On Twitter, #AamirKhanLive was the sixth most buzzed

keyword in the world.

Six days after the chat, 3 Idiots was finally released.

How much could all of this have worked? The biggest opening any film had ever had

was Ghajini, with a first day collection across India of 9 crore. 3 Idiots’ collected Rs.

13 crore on the first day. Over that weekend, the collections added up to Rs. 100

crore. The film was watched in 40 countries. Nineteen days after release, the film set

a box office record for the industry, grossing Rs. 315 crore worldwide. It is the

highest grossing Bollywood film of all time, not adjusted for inflation. As we go to

print, 3 Idiots had grossed Rs. 365 crore.

Khan didn’t forget Vikram Thakur and his magic number: Rs. 7 crore. 3 Idiots beat it

by a mile at Rs. 9 crore. Choudhary says from Ghajini to 3 Idiots there’s been a 30

percent jump in collections in B towns like Benares, Bhopal, and in Faridkot.

Last weekend, Chance pe Dance was released. Its net collections on the first day

release were 2.15 crore for all India. 3 Idiots got 2.75 crore that day, meaning it’s still

number one three weeks after release.