PROMOTION

Promotion for films takes many forms:

Print advertising (posters and ads in newspapers & magazines)
Trailers (screened at cinemas and on Television/radio)
Internet sites (including Facebook 'fan' pages)
Viral Videos
Merchandising the list is endless books, t-shirts, food, soundtrack CDs, computer
games, toys, cars, mobile phones, anything that can be associated with the brand of the
movie

MARKETING AND BOLLYWOOD

Marketing in movies always existed but never in such a big way as today. Everyone in the
marketplace wants to be seen and heard but the person who manages to do that better than others
walks away with the success. There is a new breed of film makers and production houses who
want to ensure high possibility of making a movie a hit and get maximum footfalls. Consider the
following examples:
5 lakh rupees for anyone who can watch my film alone in the theatre without getting frightened
echoed Ram Gopal Verma for his movie Phoonk.

Ghajini promoters have tied up with leading multiplexes in Mumbai where multiplex staffs have
volunteered to sport the famous Ghajini hairstyle from 9th Dec 25th Dec08. They actually
have gone bald like the hero Aamir Khan.

Publicity of Movie
At producer level
At distributor level
At producer level the publicity is done at a large scale with a national or international audience in
mind. The budgets are usually high and the media used are film teaser on TV channels and
cinema halls, radio, digital medium that includes Internet and mobile platforms, national
magazines etc. The star cast of the movie is also associated with publicity at this level. They
participate in chat shows, interview, and reality shows on national television and make
appearances at public places like shopping malls etc. This kind of publicity primarily aimed to
create a buzz about the movie. The "making of" a saga which is couple of hours long shown on
the TV gives an insight into what went into the production of the movie. It helps generate interest
in the movie by giving away parts of the story and some scenes, making the viewers curious to
know about more.

At distributor level the publicity is mainly for making the target audience aware about the
theatres where the movie is playing and the timings of the movies. Also, this publicity tries to
reach the audience who may not have access to cable TV or radio. The scope of this publicity is
limited to the distributors territory. The budgets allocated for such publicity is less. The media
used at this level are posters, hoardings, local newspapers or SMSs sent to the registered and
frequent visitors etc.
Since very beginning songs are the essential part of the Bollywood films and used to generate
interest in the movie. The recent years have seen use of a special category of songs called "item
songs", which are included in the movie as a hot property to pull the crowd to theatres. Now a
day, these item songs are aired on TV frequently to publicize the movie. Interestingly in most of
the cases these songs have no direct relation with the movie's storyline.

Different media for publicity of movies

Radio
Statistics suggests that there are 260 radio stations on air across 91 cities. There are 250-300
million radio users today. Also, the consumption time of radio has moved ahead of television. It
is 145-150 minutes per day as compared to the television, which is approximately 140 minutes
per day according to L V Krishnan, CEO at TAM Media Research. Today, 80-90 per cent of
mobile users exercise radio accessibility. And, this mobility of the radio has increased the usage
of the medium.
Tie-ups with radio channels for film marketing are becoming increasingly common. Common
promotional activities include on-air contests, interviews with film stars and music composers,
shelling out complementary movie tickets, an option to meet the stars in person, music and
movie premiere coverage, etc.
Mobile phones
Bollywood is harnessing the latest technology to reach their audiences. India is the world's
fastest-growing cellular market and has the second largest consumer base after China. According
3

to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, there were 752.2 million mobile phone subscribers
as of December 31, 2010. The research company Gartner Inc. last year predicted that 82 percent
of India's 1.2 billion populations would have a mobile phone by 2014. Bollywood have used
mobile phones before to promote films, but this has mainly been restricted to music and ringtone
downloads or simple text message alerts. In the first move of its kind, Film studio Excel
Entertainment has tied up with one of India's leading mobile phone companies, Aircel, to push
two three-minute trailers of film "Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara" for free to its 55 million
subscribers.
For mobile movie marketing there is a large scope of innovative services. Consumers want SMS
short reviews as well as schedule of theatres on the mobile. There is also scope for television
channels to send out SMS alerts half an hour before a movie is going to be aired. A substantial
segment of the population is favourable to games related to films. More importantly, a large
population prefers to read a films review before seeing it. So television movie channels and film
distributors need to place reviews in WAP portals that are frequently accessed. Contests and
dynamic updates available on cellular networks generate repeat look ups. This way, a buzz about
the theme of the movie marketed is ensured.

Internet Marketing
Bollywood has started increasing its spending on digital marketing. Typically, total marketing
budgets of a Bollywood movie comprise 30-40 percent of entire production cost of which 20-30
percent is spent on digital marketing. 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. Jyoti Deshpande,
Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Director, Eros International, says: "Internet viral
marketing is less about how much you spend and more about how effectively you spend." Today
its almost a norm to launch the website as well Facebook fan page of a movie simultaneously.
Promoting movies through social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, blogs like blogger
4

and micro-blogging sites like twitter etc. helps to build a reputation, create real time
conversations, connect and at the same time engage the target audiences in the online world.
Teasers and Promos
Teasers are meant to tease. A teaser is a short duration promo of a film that creates curiosity
among viewers before the release. It is one of the oldest forms of movie promotion. Besides
theatres, teasers also aired on TV.
Co-branding
Co-branding is the use of one or more trademarks from two or more companies for the
marketing of specific goods, services or events". Co-Branding of movies is a recent practice in
Bollywood.
In-film advertising
It helps a brand to be present in the content itself and hence becomes inseparable from the
storyline. Such integration of the brand within the script of a film helps in delivering the brand
message in an entertaining and engaging way.

Merchandising
Film producers and distributors rarely manufacture film-related products themselves, but license
the right to sell these products to other companies, who manufacture related merchandise and
share the advance payment as well royalty of gross revenue with producers and distributors. For
instance, actor Dino Morea's film and celebrity merchandise website, www.coolmaal.net had an
entire collection of tees, watches and shades, the Chulbul Pandey line during the release of
Dabangg. The website also tied up with a multiplex chain so that the merchandise could be an
extension of the viewers' movie going experience.
Music
5

Music in Bollywood cinema has always been one of the major entertainment sources, so much so
that Indian movies are recognized because of their music. Its reach is universal and hence
promoting top chart busters through music videos, teasers etc. becomes instant hit to a wider
section of the target audience.

Emergence of higher marketing threshold

With all this 100 Crore battle, aggressive marketing and innovative promotion tactics became a
commonplace in Bollywood. Over the past three years, the average marketing cost of a film has
more than doubled due to the diversity in methods for promotion, rising advertisement rates and
the pressing need to create sufficient weekend hype and publicity just prior to release. Even to
get a word of mouth campaign going, a film must have a good opening at the box office since
theatrical revenues usually halve with every successive week after release. As such, producers
are forced to invest a minimum amount of INR 3-5 Crore to make their product visible and

attractive in the market place even for small and medium budget films. For high budget films,
this number could be much higher reaching upwards of INR 10 Crore.
Industry participants believe that Print and Advertisement (P&A) costs for small budget films
may be equal to or even greater than the production cost. A concerted effort is underway by the
industry to utilize marketing budgets more effectively through cost effective channels to reach
the target audience of the film.

Source: Digital Dawn: The metamorphosis begins, Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) Industry Report 2012, by FICCI-KPMG

Case Study: Ghajini

The 100 Crore club of Bollywood was the term coined by the super success of Aamir khan
starrer movie Ghajini. It was a remake of 2005 Tamil psychological thriller film directed by A.
R. Murugadoss. The movie had released within the country with 1400 prints. Reliance Big
Pictures had released 213 prints overseas to earn maximum revenue in initial weeks of curiosity.
On December 25, 2008, the much-awaited Hindi film, 'Ghajini' (a revenge drama) was released
and it went on to become an instant hit. It opened to packed houses and grossed Rs. 32 Crore in
one day worldwide. Its first week collections amounted to Rs. 100 Crore in India. According to
trade observers, it had broken all records set by earlier Bollywood films.
The success of the film was widely attributed to aggressive promotional strategies adopted by the
film maker in conjunction with the lead actor of the film, Aamir Khan, who played a vital role in
the promotion of the film. The promotional strategies included viral marketing, ambush
marketing, television advertising, multiplex promotion, tie-ups with several well-known brands,
and merchandising. In addition to this, a 3D PC game based on the film was also launched.
The distribution strategy was also unique. Experts felt that the makers of Ghajini had raised the
bar for film promotion in India. They felt that the rules of film promotion have changed as film
makers were becoming more and more aggressive in their marketing strategies in their bid to
ensure that the movie was viewed by the maximum number of people.
8

E-Marketing strategy of Ghajini

The marketing strategy of Ghajini has tried quite some different online marketing strategies for
promoting the movie.
Now having a movie website is quite common these days, but in case of Ghajini, not one
or

two

rather

three

websites

were

launched,

www.rememberghajini.com,

www.findghajini.com & www.wallofsuspects.com. While the 1st one is the official

website of the film, 2nd and 3rd links are quite interesting properties around the movie that
raised curiosity and created excitement amongst the users over the story of the movie.
Rather than doing one way communication/broadcast through the film site or simply
sharing content Ghajinis promoters involved his fans in the films promotion.
www.wallofsuspects.com: A supporting viral website for the film aims to replicate a
similar concept from the film. To checkout the wall of suspects one needs to have a code
which can be obtained by uploading either self or friends images. One can also provide
their mobile number which can be used to intimate if they win some prize.
www.findghajini.com: Another viral website built around the film. Its a viral gaming
application where the users can play the role of Aamirs character in the film and try to
find Ghajini through the clues provided.
The movie tied-up with all famous entertainment portals and run some or other contests.
The movie contests like these were not new but the difference was the one running on
Business of Cinema. This contest was the kind of post-release contest and asks for
feedback about the movie and lucky winners to get a chance to meet leading actor Aamir
Khan.
3D game CDS were launched based on Ghajini theme and one of the Indias famous
entertainment based social network http://www.indyarocks.com/ was running a contest
where the winners were to get 3D game CDs.

 Aamir Khans own website http://www.aamirkhan.com/ was totally donned in Ghajini

look, and as Aamir is quite active on his blog personally, he had written some posts on
Ghajini and his feelings around the release of the movie.
After getting involved the fans of Aamir Khan, a strategy was devised to involve the
Mass-Media for the promotion of film. In order to engage media persons and to add a
level
of
personal
touch
to
the
whole
affair
a
web
page,
http://www.rememberghajini.com/media/
was created where media people can upload their pictures to which Aamir can add notes
based on their previous interaction(s) with him. This repository will help him in
remembering those media people more vividly and those who register will in turn get
information kit on Ghajini along with Aamirs personal note about them. Ghajinis
marketing team also shared movie stills with their site so that they could be used for
promotion.
Unlike other film sites the sites for Ghajini had not focus much on the synopsis of the
film or the main plot; instead they focused on certain events of the film (finding the
killers etc) and leverages on 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 gets redirected (forget everything) to the home page no
matter what page they were at. Remembering the date (Remember Dec 25) on which the
film will be released is another one, quite prominent and common through the sites.
A viral campaign for Ghajini; Worldwide premier of Gajodharbefore time was
launched through www.oktatabyebye.com (travel community of Makemytrip) and done
by Webchutney.

10

The film shows a character Gajodhar who is out on a holiday and has a very different
rather weird way of noting down all his experiences. Whatever he experiences like room
achcha hai, food is good etc. he gets those tattooed on his body in a nearby tattoo
shop. At the end of his holiday, he comes back and copies all those experiences on
www.oktatabyebye.com.
The unprecedented success of Ghajini makes it a case study of how to create a buzz around a
movie with innovative and aggressive promotional strategy. It is said that 30 percent or 15 Crore
of the 50 Crore cost of the movie has been spent on promotion. The well crafted e-marketing
strategy gave edge to the movie and engaged the audience like never before.

11

Case Study: 3 idiots

3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian comedy-drama film directed by Rajkumar Hirani, with a screenplay by
Abhijat Joshi, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It was loosely adapted from the novel Five
Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. Upon release, the film broke all opening box office records in
India. It was the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend in India and has the highest
opening day collections for a Bollywood film. It made the record for highest net collections in
the first week for a Bollywood film. 3 Idiots has also become the highest-grossing Bollywood
film of all time in India.
The film initially opened up on 1800 prints worldwide. As of February 2012, the film grossed
roughly 385 Crore. Box Office India declared the film an "All time Blockbuster". 3 Idiots is also
the highest-grossing Bollywood film in overseas markets.

12

After two back to back landmark films of Hindi cinema Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho
Munnabhai, expectations from Rajkumar Hiranis 3 idiots had been very high. Added to that, was
the combination of producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Hirani and Aamir Khan coming together for
the first time. After its release the film sustained all its hype and becomes the highest earner till
date in Bollywood.

E-Marketing strategy of 3 idiots

Being a creative marketer himself, Aamir khan understands the importance of digital medium
and uses every platform to capture his audiences interest. For the movie 3 Idiots, Zapak Digital
Entertainment managed and executed 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.

13

3 idiots is an example of a very successful 360 degree marketing campaign. Its success story is
written with their innovative techniques and all inclusive marketing strategy. The film managed
to explore multiple touch points and reach out effectively through digital media and experiential
marketing techniques. Zapak, the online gaming portal, created an alternate reality game on
http://idiotsacademy.zapak.com/idiotsmain.php As part of this, Aamir khan traveled through
India, leaving clues about his whereabouts and participants of the game got two weeks to track
him down. People were kept updated about the hunt through http://twitter.com/trackaamir and
specially created Facebook account. 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. Varanasi
was the first place Khan visited, disguised as an old man locating the house where his mother
grew up.
The official website of 3 Idiots http://idiotsacademy.zapak.com/idiotsmain.php and
its logo were interesting creation. The website takes visitors to different rooms of the
Academy each of these the Directors office, Hostel, Classroom, Lab, Canteen and Toilets
that has something interesting to offer.

14

 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
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=3+Idiots&search_type=&aq=f and are getting
huge popularity. The http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvszmNXdM4w&feature=channel
has received nearly 3160507 views.

15

Case Study: Dabangg

Dabangg was home production film of Salman Khan and produced by Arbaaz Khan. It was
released on Eid, 10 September 2010 across nearly 1800 screens in India and abroad. The fil m
broke ma n y records at the box offic e w ithin the firs t w eek of its rel eas e. It
w ent on to beco me the highest opening day grosser as w ell as the hig hes t
w eekend gros s ing Bollywood f i l m o f a l l t i m e , b r e a k i n g t h e rec ord s ear lier
hel d b y 3 Idiots . T h e f i l m s e t a n o t h e r b o x o f f i c e r e c o r d , grossing 80.87crore
i n i t s f i r s t w e e k , t h u s b e c o m i n g the highest opening week grossing Bollywood
film, overtaking the previous rec ord of 3 Idi ots . M a d e o n a b u d g e t o f 4 2
C r o r e , t h e f i l m w e n t o n t o collect 212 Crore worldwide.

Box office India declared the film an all-time b l o c k b u s t e r i n t h e s e c o n d w e e k

o f i t s r e l e a s e . I t i s c u r r e n t l y t h e second highest-grossing Bollywood film of all
time and the fourth highest grossing Indian Film of all time. It is also the highest-grossing
Bollywood film of 2010. The fil m als o w ent on to w in s everal aw ards , w inning s ix
Filmfare Awards, inc luding th e F i l m f a r e B e s t F i l m A w a r d , seven S t a r S c r e e n
A w a r d s and nine Zee Cine Awards. It also won the National Film Award for Best
Popular Film P r o v i d i n g W h o l e s o m e E n t e r t a i n m e n t .

16

Khan Brothers knows it very well that marketing a big product like a movie can be very
expensive business, when the product has limited shield life. After spending Crore of money on
making a movie, the Production House spends more on letting audiences know about it. Movies
have to be a hit on their opening weekend, often on their opening day, otherwise they tend to
disappear very quickly, and the Producer stands to make a loss on their investment.
Though after the success of Wanted Salman Khan was already on the demand, it was Dabangg
that secured his entry into the elite club of 100 Crore grosser. Dabangg sells a character to its
audience - a character that is made up of all the clichs one can associate with this genre.

E-Marketing strategy of Dabangg

Dabangg which was made on a budget of 30 cr. had a marketing budget of 12 cr. That is a
whopping 40% of the movie budget. T h e f i l m ' s t h e a t r i c a l t r a i l e r w a s r e l e a s e d i n
c i n e m a s o n 2 3 J u l y 2 0 1 0 , alongside Priyadarshans Khatta Meetha. The tw o and
a half minu te tra iler w a s a n i n s t a n t h i t . F e w i n d u s t r y v e t e r a n s s u c h
a s Taran Adarsh, Anupam Kher, Ritesh Deshmukh c l a i m e d i t t o b e b e s t t r a i l e r o f
ye a, with Adarsh d e s c r i b i n g i t a s , " R o c k i n g ! , S a l m a n K h a n l i k e
n e v e r b e f o r e , e x p e c t a hurric ane like s tart at th e box office. Box office
India des crib ed it as the most anticipated film of the year. Several short dialogue promos
and trailers featuring the film songs were subsequently released.
In the last few years, web sites have increasingly become part of the marketing mix for
movie c o m p a n i e s .
of M o v i e ,

From

producers

the
make

official
use

release
of

of

video

the

First

uploading

Trailer
sites

l i k e YouTube as source of Viral Marketing. But this movie was made for mass people and to
make it a big hit they have to come up with new strategies.
A rb aaz ado pted a new ma r keting s trate g y fo r D aban gg. H e believ es tha t his
fil m can do bus in ess for more than Rs . 200 Cro re if th at fi lm rel eas ed in nonmu ltip l ex theatr e for mas s people. The ticket price in multiplex hall is more than
Rs. 300w h i c h i s v e r y h i g h f o r a c o m m o n m a n . S o , c o m m o n p e o p l e watch
movie by pirated CD/DVD which comes in Rs. 10-20. But if a new film is available in theatre
17

for Rs. 20, 30, 40, 50 then any common man will like to watch film in theatre. So, movie
was r e l e a s e d

across

1,584

single

screen

theatres

for

common

people. This strategy worked against the piracy also, as tickets were cheaper, and number of
people came to watch the movie. Post-release promotion plays significant role in the success o f
t h e m o v i e . Wo r d - o f - m o u t h h a s a l w a y s b e e n a f a c t o r i n a mov ie' s s uc ces s
or failure , but in to da y's soc ial l y netw or ked world, it has become vitally important.
Because of big fan-base of Salman Khan People tweet, post status updates and blog reviews as
soon as they leave the theatre, and their reactions spread globally and instantly.
Reliance Big Home Video have released Hindi blockbuster Dabangg on YouTube. The full
movie has been put on http://www.youtube.com/user/DabanggTheFilm and will be available for
free viewing to audiences in India. Users can also view popular scenes, songs and footage from
the making of the movie. Till date it has been subscribed by 1,929 users and viewed by 780,883.

18

Dabangg on YouTube Fast Facts

1.33 Million views to the Dabangg Channel
Over 430,000 video views of the movie and related video clips
An average of 5000 views every day
250,000 full movie views
1800 + subscribers on the channel

2000 community engagements in the last 1 week in the form of ratings, comments and
favorites

The marketing team at Google also has also set up powerful marketing campaign (across Search,
GDN, and YouTube) to create awareness about the film. In addition, Big FM also promoted the
movie on YouTube.

Dabangg is the first Indian blockbuster to be released on YouTube in India on an advertisementsupported model. Hindustan Unilever is the exclusive sponsor for the movie on YouTube India.
19

The channel is only available to users in India and will be IP-blocked in other markets of the
world.
Sweta Agnihotri, COO of BIG Home Video, was quoted as saying, We realize that the Internet
is the new TV for the ever-connected youth today. Our vision is to make our content available to
Indian consumers across any screen, any where and at any time of their choice.
According to Gautam Anand, Director, Content Partnerships (JapanAsia Pacific), Google, This
initiative marks a major shift in the way movies have been traditionally distributed and opens up
a new business opportunity for movie producers and distributors alike.
Over 30% of the views come from discovery - related videos and YouTube search. A good 12%
also comes from embeds from external sites. While, the attention span for the full videos is high
incase of movies like Dabanng (50% attention span), the attention span for short clips (average
length 2 minutes) is above average for Dabangg clips.
Source:http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.co.in/en/in/intl/en/adwords/wat
chthisspace/pdfs/YouTube_Case_Study_Dabanng.pdf

20

Case Study: Golmaal 3

Golmaal 3 is a 2010 Indian comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty and the sequel to the 2008
super hit Golmaal Returns and the third film in the Golmaal series, which became the first ever
Indian trilogy film series. The film was eventually declared a blockbuster at the box office and is
currently the ninth highest grossing Bollywood film according to worldwide gross collections.

Golmaal 3 released in India and internationally on 5 November 2010 to coincide with the Diwali
weekend, usually considered a profitable time of the year. The film's opening collections on the
first day reached 8.32 Crore and opening weekend net collections stood at 33.5 Crore. Opening
week gross collections were around 62.25 Crore in India and 10 Crore overseas.
The film had a strong second weekend in theatres, grossing 19 Crore. During its second and third
week at the Indian box office, the film grossed 31.75 Crore and 9 Crore respectively, therefore
increasing the film's total to 103.50 Crore. Meanwhile, the film earned $1,132,192 in United
States and Canada, 638,496 in UK and $352,063 in Australia.

21

E-Marketing strategy of Golmaal 3

To promote the movie Golmaal 3 a unique game with Hungama Digital Media Entertainment
Ltd. was launched on Internet. The game is an excellent example of how Bollywood can leverage
the digital medium and that too the gaming industry to tap onto its audience. Hungama has been
responsible for the game right from concept phase to development. 60 exclusive videos of
Tusshar Kapoor have been integrated into the game.

The game is the classic dumb charades game where the users are expected to guess the movies
enacted by Tusshar. Movies like 3 Idiots, Dabangg, Tohfa, Jeet and obviously Golmaal have been
enacted by him. The game promises a high degree of interactivity and engagement with the
consumer and thus would lead to a high brand recall. Social networks are also being used to
increase the games popularity. Bollywood Hungama boasts of 60,000 unique visitors who have
enjoyed the game. Hungama Digital, has bagged bronze in the best use of social marketing in a
promotion marketing campaign for Golmaal Charades a dumb charades game launched for
the movie Golmaal 3, at the coveted promotional marketing awards of Asia The Dragons of
Asia.
22

Case Study: Ready

Ready is a romantic comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee, starring Salman Khan and Asin in
the lead roles. The film is a remake of the 2008 Telugu film, Ready directed by Sreenu Vaitla.
The film was released on 3 June 2011. Upon release, Ready became the second highest opening
day grosser, as well as the second highest weekend grossing Bollywood film, after Dabangg,
another Salman Khan-starrer.

23

It also held records for the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2011 and the third highest
grossing Bollywood film ever domestically. It became the first Indian film to release on at least
1000 UFO digital prints and almost 1900 prints in all. As of 2012, the film is the eight highest
grossing Bollywood film ever worldwide.
The film collected 13 Crore net on its first day of business, thus becoming the second highest
opening day grosser across India after Dabangg. The film held the record for the third highest
grossing Bollywood film ever made domestically after its theatrical run. Box office India
declared it to be a Blockbuster, while Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama called it an all time
blockbuster.

E-Marketing strategy of Ready

3rd Rock Entertainment has promoted T-Series' film Ready' through four events: a press
conference, a flash mob, an initiative for underprivileged children and a Ready Live Mad
Concert'. 3rd Rock Entertainment has organized a flash mob at InOrbit mall in Mumbai. The
activity will involve a dance performance by the movie's actress Asin. The actress will also hand
out merchandise and visit a Provogue store at the mall while promoting the movie.
In another effort to promote the movie, 18 auditoriums with the capacity of 350 pax each have
been arranged to screen the movie for underprivileged children. Sponsors, Hippo and Bailey, will
provide the children with refreshments.
Ready Live Mad Concert' featured performances by live band Superstar SOQ. It also acted as a
platform for new talent among other performances. Salman Khan also performed at the concert.
There was a Provogue fashion show with 60 models at the concert. Planet M, Loop Mobile and
Agni Jewelers were also on board the sponsor wagon.
Hungama digital media launched an online official game for the movie ready that was accessible
through http://www.thegamebox.com/games/ready---the-official-game/play/132, the game was
played by more than 60,000 users online and creates awareness about movie.
24

Case Study: Singham

Singham is a 2011 Indian action film directed by Rohit Shetty starring Ajay Devgan, Kajal
Aggarwal and Prakash Raj in lead roles. It is a remake of the 2010 Tamil film Singam featuring
Suriya. The film is produced by Reliance Entertainment, which co-produced the original Tamil
movie. The film released on 22 July 2011, in 2000 screens worldwide and received huge
response worldwide. It went on to strike as a Blockbuster, and became one of the highest
grossing movies of 2011. It grossed more than 100 Crore at Indian Box-office. The film's official
DVD was released on 23 August 2011. The Delhi High Court, upon Reliance Entertainment's
request, issued an order to all Indian ISPs to block file sharing sites to prevent piracy of
Singham.

25

Sanjeev Lamba, CEO, Reliance Entertainment said, A hard-hitting story, the wonderful
combination of director Rohit Shetty and star Ajay Devgan and some amazing action sequences
have resulted in an extremely successful run for the film. Singham is the first mainstream film
produced by Reliance Entertainment and we are very pleased with the results.

E-Marketing strategy of Singham

According to Ormax Medias consumer based year-end report Front Page 2011, Singham is the
top favorite film of Bollywood audiences in 2011. The ranking of the top 10 favorite Bollywood
films of 2011 was derived on the basis of Word of Mouth (WOM) score of the film, using data
collected through consumer research throughout the year. The WOM score represents the percent
of audiences who liked the film enough to recommend it strongly to their friends.
Priti Shahani, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, Reliance Entertainment said Singham has all
the ingredients of a commercial entertainer. We wanted to further extend the experience of the
movie and the character of Bajirao Singham to our audience across platforms. With the Bajirao

26

Singham game developed by Jump Games we are confident of adding to the hype Singham has
already generated.
The official mobile game of the movie Singham, launched by Jump Games is a stimulating mix
of action and racing. Set in the scenic background of Goa, the player takes on the role of Baji
Rao Singham and shoots down the enemies while driving several vehicles ranging from
Motorcycles to SUVs. There are various challenges and features that make the game engaging as
the player climbs up the levels. The player can enjoy hours of gaming with every subsequent
level being unique.
However no special promotional strategy was decided to promote the movie. As the Producer
and the lead actor Ajay Devgan felt that the movie in itself is sufficient to draw the audiences to
the theatres.

Case Study: Bodyguard

Bodyguard is a romantic action film directed by Siddique. It is the third remake of the director's
own 2010 Malayalam film of the same name, the second being the 2011 Tamil film Kaavalan.
The film was produced by Atul Agnihotri and features Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the
lead roles. Bodyguard was released on 31 August 2010 across 2250 screens in 70 Indian cities
and with 482 prints across the overseas territory.

27

The film broke many records upon its release. Within the first day of its release, it went on to
become the highest opening day grosser as well as the biggest grosser ever for a single day up
until then. The film set another box office record, netting 100.10 Crore in its first week, thus
becoming the highest opening week grossing Bollywood film. By the end of its fifth week,
Bodyguard netted a total of 151.5 Crore in India according to www.businessofcinema.com,
where it was declared an 'All Time Blockbuster'. According to CNN IBN news channel, the film
has collected around 253 Crore Gross World wide.

E-Marketing strategy of Bodyguard

The marketing budget of Bodyguard was set as 22 Crore rupees which was highest in Bollywood
till its release. Bodyguard - produced by Reel Life, owned by Salman's brother-in-law Atul
Agnihotri - was bought by Reliance Entertainment for Rs 64 Crore, which earned the ADAG
firm co-producer status as well as an equal share in the IPR for perpetuity. Agnihotri reportedly

28

sold the music rights to T-Series for 6 Crore. Satellite rights have been sold to Star for Rs 27
Crore for seven years.
The official website of movie http://www.bodyguardthefilm.com/ was a big hit among the users.
Jump Games has launched the official game of the Salman Khan - Kareena Kapoor
starrer Bodyguard. The mobile game is an adventurous action game based on the movie. The
game has easy to use controls and offers the players to submit their scores on the leader board to
compare it with other players as well. The game had been downloaded more than 30,000 times in
just over a month, by the end of December 2011.
Reliance Entertainment also tie-up with UFO Moviez India to release Bodyguard over 1,300
UFO digital theatres across India. Bodyguard not only smashed the box office record also has
topped the Google Zeitgeist movies list as the most searched movie from India.

The movie which was released on August 31, 2011 was put online on YouTube by its right
owners on December 16, 2011 on www.youtube.com/boxoffice where Indian film content
partners like Yashraj Films, Rajshri, Eros International, Reliance Entertainment, etc are showing
full length feature films for free in India.

Case Study: Ra.One

Ra.One is a science fiction superhero film directed and co-written by Anubhav Sinha. Coproduced by Eros International and Red Chillies Entertainment, the film features Shah Rukh
Khan and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles. With an official budget of 125 Crore, Ra.One was one
29

of the most expensive Indian films at the time of release, though other estimates placed the
budget at higher levels. A further 52 Crore was spent on the film's marketing, which included a
nine-month publicity campaign, brand tie-ups, merchandise, theme-based video games and viral
marketing.

The film was released on October 26, 2011. The film premiered in Dubai, London and Toronto
between October 24 and 26, 2011, and witnessed the largest Indian cinematic release worldwide
as of 2011.

30

In keeping with the on-going trend of wide releases, the film was released with 3100 prints (400
in 3D) for domestic theaters and 1100 (200 in 3D) prints in overseas theaters. This was the single
largest release for any Indian film.
Ra.One used state-of-the-art animation. Contrary to original trend of India being the outsourcing
hub for VFX work of Hollywood, Ra.One observed reverse outsourcing in VFX technology.
Lead studio Red Chillies VFX worked in collaboration with teams from international studios at
Paris, London and Thailand. The film had 3500 VFX shots with 800 committed to G.One making
it comparable to that in James Cameroons Avatar.
An aggressive campaign of the movie began almost nine months in advance of the actual release.
For the marketing the film tie-ups with big brands such as Volkswagen, Tag Heur, Western
Union, Ducati, Videocon, Godrej, Coca-Cola, HCL, Horlicks, Home-shop, Nokia and Google.
Ra.One net box office collections crossed INR 100 Crore marks. Star India bought the satellite
rights for INR 38 Crore and T-Series paid INR 15 Crore for music rights. Over 25 brands
associated with the film paid a total of INR 52 Crore. The UK government gave a grant of INR
20 Crore for co-producing the film with a UK based firm. The film made INR 15 Crore from
gaming and merchandising. Sony has developed the Ra-One game for their PS2 and PS3
platform. UTV India games developed digital games based on the films characters. Fast food
chain McDonalds India offered Red Chillies manufactured Ra.One toys to their patrons.

31

E-Marketing strategy of Ra.One

Ra.One had the longest and most elaborate marketing campaigns in the history of Indian cinema.
Shah Rukh has left no stone unturned in promoting and marketing Ra.One with an estimated
budget of around Rs. 52 Crore out of which around Rs. 15 Crore is being spent exclusively on
the digital promotions. The star has also collaborated with Google and is the first Indian celebrity
on Google+. Googles social networking tools Google+ helps fans in sharing videos and live
chatting with Shah Rukh himself.
Ra.One was the first film website in the Bollywood Industry to hit the highest Alexa India
Rankings. An in-house e-store was developed selling 64 original Ra.One merchandise items.
Another first, a 100 page style guide was created for the character G.One including a miniature
G.One which formed the basis of all creatives for the merchandise and digital assets. A weekly
online graphic novel strip led up to the release date including a print graphic novel which was
distributed to 33 million homes with a leading newspaper. Exclusive videos and promos posted
on Ra.Ones custom made you-tube film channel got over 2.5 lakh views on the first day of
release and was the number 1 channel for consecutive weeks.
Shah Rukh Khan interacted with his fans through the channel and for the first time a string of
television ads were produced by Google for the promotion. Media planners also actively used
social media to reach out to his 4.2 Million followers. Besides, a social media action game was
created and simultaneously adapted to various media including smart phones, feature phones,
DTH, tablets and Facebook.
For the promotion of Ra.One, producers partnered with Google + and YouTube. This kind of
marketing strategy has not been used before in the industry. Shah Rukh Khan the actor producer
of Ra.One participated in live chats and the movie was promoted through search engines,
AdWords and YouTube. Apart from that, a website for the movie and a graphic novel / digital
comic book and online / mobile games were created. These games were made available on
iPhone and android. Producers also came out with a merchandising strategy. The G.One store
dealt in action figure toys, stationery and more. The movie also pulled off a successful cobranding effort with 23 brands.
32

Ra.Ones YouTube Channel is a customized channel for the movie on the worlds biggest video
sharing site. This channel has a VFX-enhanced YouTube video featuring Shah Rukh himself,
probably the first time in India. The channel gives the online viewers or users a chance to play
games and create their own Ra.One promos, view clips and behind the scene shots of the movie,
uncut footage and the thoughts of the star cast. It has garnered around 16,478,117 views and
ranked 29th in the list of Most Subscribed channels of India with a subscriber base of more than
31,662 till date. The movies official Facebook page boasts of more than 4, 00,000 fans and the
number is still counting. The page not only has lots of applications but is substantially
informative and interactive. The official website of the movie is equally interesting with loads of
interactive applications, a complete online store to buy toys and other merchandise related to the
movie.
Source: Digital Dawn: The metamorphosis begins, Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) Industry Report 2012, by FICCI-KPMG

33

Case Study: Don 2

Don 2 is an action crime film directed by Farhan Akhtar and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and
Farhan Akhtar. It is a sequel to the 2006 film, Don: the Chase Begins Again and stars Shah Rukh
Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Om Puri and Kunal Kapoor while Hrithik Roshan appears in
a cameo appearance.
The release of the film was carried out on 23 December 2011 by Reliance Entertainment, in both
2D and 3D formats, which included the dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu. Made on a budget
of 70 Crore, Don 2 went on to break multiple box-office records in overseas. A week after its
theatrical run, Box Office India declared the film a "Hit" in India, and in the second week, a
blockbuster overseas. Don 2 became the fourth-highest grossing Bollywood film of all time with
a worldwide collection of 241.5 Crore. The first look of the film was unveiled at the Dubai
International Film Festival. Later movie was showcased at the 62nd Berlin International Film
Festival.
Economics of Shah Rukh Khans Don 2, by Komal Nahta on December 23, 2011
In The Hands of the Producers:
All rights sold to Reliance Entertainment

Rs. 80 Crore

Add: Subsidy expected from German government

Rs. 15 Crore

Total revenues

Rs. 95 Crore

Less: Cost of production (excluding Shah Rukh Khans

remuneration)

Rs. 65 Crore

Profit to Producers

Rs. 30 Crore

In The Hands of the Worldwide Distributors Reliance Entertainment:

Cost of acquisition of worldwide distribution rights

Rs. 80 Crore

Add: Cost of 3D conversion, promotion, prints and release

Rs. 25 Crore

Add: Cost of money (interest; since a huge amount of

acquisition cost was paid in advance)

Rs. 5 Crore

Total cost

Rs. 110 Crore

34

Revenues:

Satellite rights

Rs. 36 Crore

Music right

Rs. 9 Crore

Overseas theatrical
business (expected)

Rs. 25 Crore
(minimum; of this revenues of about Rs. 15 Crore have
already come in from pre-sale of rights of some parts of
Overseas circuit)

India theatrical
business (expected)

Rs. 52 Crore (minimum)

Total revenues

Rs. 122 Crore

Therefore, the profit to the Reliance Entertainment will be a minimum of Rs. 12 Crore (Rs. 122
Crore minus Rs. 110 Crore). If the film scores better in Overseas and India, the profit could go
up to Rs. 20 Crore. The return on investment would, therefore, be a minimum of 11 per cent and
it could go up to 19.8 per cent. In filmy parlance, this would be termed a Commission Earner in
the hands of Reliance Entertainment. For the sake of clarity, any film which earns more than 20
per cent on the investment is termed an Overflow film.
Source: http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/exclusive-economics-of-shah-rukh-khan-s-don-2/

35

E-Marketing strategy of Don 2

With Don 2, the use of technology for film marketing has gone noticeably high. The makers of
the film tied up with Google and YouTube for its new media initiatives. Viewers could watch
songs from the film in 3D on their computers using 3D glasses.

The film has also associated with McDonalds and Caf Coffee Day in 20 cities to provide free
Internet access using Wi-Fi in their outlets. The filmmakers also tied up with Microsoft India to
launch a "Meet the Don: Mission Berlin" contest that offered the chance to meet Shah Rukh
khan, in addition to a free trip to Berlin. To popularize the contest, Microsoft planned a 360
marketing campaign which included a television commercial, radio advertisements, digital
banners and retail collaterals. The marketing effort has been 360-degree including even a comic
launch published by Om Books. The comic is on the origin of Don and fills in details on the
making of Don, thus acting as a prequel to the sequel.
www.mydala.com, Indias first and largest group buying/social commerce portal, has been
selected as the social commerce partner for promoting Don2, through an aggressive multimedia
campaign encompassing group-buying, social media, and various ATL and BTL marketing
promotions.
Under the Mission Get Don, mydala decided to give thousands of free tickets to watch Don2
through various contests and shopping deals on mydala.com. There are movie tickets to be won
through SMS contests, plus exciting movie merchandise at stakes! More than that for every
36

participant Don 2 movie tickets of leading multiplexes made available at a deeply discounted
price.
Excel Entertainment collaborated with Indias largest game services company Gameshastra, to
launch a console game. The firm developed a third-person action adventure console game where
the player plays as Don and does actions similar to those done by Don in the film. A social game
called "Don The Social Mobsters Game" was launched on Facebook and developed by Mango
Games. The game is available on Android, iOS, and PSN for PlayStation 3 platforms.
The official website of the film http://don2thefilm.com/ was huge hit among the users. The trailer
of the film was the most watched video in India on YouTube in 2011.

37

Case Study: Agneepath

Agneepath is an action drama film produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under the
banner of Dharma Productions. Agneepath released on 26 January 2012 in 2650 screens
worldwide. Made on a budget of 60 Crore, the film broke the highest opening day collections
record in India and became a major critical and commercial success with a worldwide gross of
193 Crore. Box Office India declared the film as a "super hit". Agneepath has since emerged as
one of the highest grossing films of all time in Bollywood. Agneepath broke the record of the
highest opening day collections, with a net of 21.76 Crore on its opening day, surpassing the
previous record held by Bodyguard.

Eros International Media Ltd (EIML), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment
industry, has released Agneepath, in the international markets. In its opening weekend, the film
has shown collections of Rs 160 million in the international market. Eros released Agneepath
internationally on 337 screens, the highest ever for any Hrithik Roshan film.

38

E-Marketing strategy of Agneepath

EveryMedia was roped as the digital partner for Agneepath. This strategic move ensures that the
movie reached fans far and wide. The digital promotion of Agneepath not only captured the
attention of the fans, but also went big in terms of monetization. The marketer managed to
capitalize on all the video elements which they released prior to the release of the movie. Not
only that, with contests like the costume contest and the Chikni Chameli contest, the team
managed to keep the fans engaged and excited about the movie release and further helped boost
profits. By making the sale of tickets available through the official Facebook page of Agneepath,
it made booking tickets a lot easier for the audiences, taking marketing to a different level.
Dharma Productions partners with www.mydala.com for the launch of Agneepath to initiate
unique multimedia marketing campaign across 11 cities, where customers and merchants are
joining Vijays or Kancha's gang to fight for free movie tickets, merchandise, discounts and
more. Mydala has also created a live scorecard on its Agneepath page on the mydala website
where you can find how your gang is faring. Scoring is based on every promo code entered into
the system. The gang that gets the most points at the end of the promo period will not only get to
win Agneepath merchandise, movie tickets, mydala vouchers and other prizes, but also a chance
to meet the star cast of Agneepath.
A social commerce marketing plan was created for Agneepath to further add flavor to the war
between Vijay Dinanath Chauhan and Kancha. A special Facebook application, Walk the
Agneepath, where people can participate in a contest by watching a movie clip and correctly
answering the questions, was created too.
Mr. Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions, Says "In a networked world, traditional
marketing alone is not enough to ensure success of a movie. We are engaging in multiple ways to
create memorable experiences for our Agneepath fans. We have partnered with www.mydala.com
because of domain expertise and experience in creating unique and successful social commerce
campaigns for Bollywood movie launches."
As part of its comprehensive multimedia campaign, mydala.com is promoting the movie across
its entire mydala.com network and beyond, including its website, Facebook channel, twitter
39

channel, and other partner sites. www.mydala.com has also roped in the movies leading stars
Kancha (Sanjay Dutt) and Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) to lend their voices for an aggressive
campaign across leading radio channels in several cities all over India.
As part of promotional drive 2011-12 India Australia series has been labeled as the Agneepath
Series instead of Border- Gavaskar trophy. Hrithik Roshan also shoots a special promo to
promote the series and the movie. In other marketing strategy, producers launched the 'Mandwa
Samachar' which is a newspaper that also serves as the film's press kit and it was given to
audiences across all theatres.
PAYBACK, India's largest multi-partner loyalty program, along with their partner Bookmyshow,
through its campaign to gave its customers once in a life-time opportunity to meet the actors of
Agneepath.
The first official trailer of Agneepath was launched at a press conference in Mumbai on 29
August 2011. Dharma Productions streamed the event live on the production house's YouTube
Channel. The event was attended by the entire cast. The trailer of the film was the third most
watched trailer in India, behind the films, Don 2 and Ra.One.
The look of the movie and its main characters are also revealed strategically through social
networking sites to engage the audience. Film producer Karan Johar tweeted a link that was to
reveal Hrithik's look in Agneepath, humbly asking for a feedback on the same. In no time did the
fans start flooding to the link, the official Facebook page of the film - Agneepath, where
Hrithiks look was exclusively revealed. The hulk, fiery very macho, awesome body &
cant wait to see more of him was the kind of comments that flooded on the page.
The film associated itself with McDonald's to provide a discount of 50 to customers buying a
meal at the joint. Additionally, few winners were offered a chance to win a lunch date with
Hrithik Roshan. As part of the promotional campaign, star cast of the movie visited Dubai on 19
January 2012, to interact with fans at a shopping mall, followed by an invitational high tea party.
The actors travelled to several places in India including New Delhi, Nagpur and other cities to
promote the film.

40

Case Study: Housefull 2

Housefull 2 is a comedy film directed by Sajid Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. It is the
sequel to the 2010 film, Housefull and stars Akshay Kumar, Asin Thottumkal, John Abraham,
Jacqueline Fernandez, Ritesh Deshmukh, Zarine Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Shazahn Padamsee,
Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and Boman Irani in pivotal roles. The film
had an earlier release in the UK on March 31 due to the Easter holidays, and in India on April 5,
2012.

Housefull 2 got a 2700 screen release which is amongst the fourth biggest of all time, behind
Ra.One, Bodyguard and Don 2 and the biggest release of 2012. Housefull 2 was screened in
1,027 UFO digital theaters on first day when it released. It opened very well at the box office and
was declared a Super Hit at the Box Office. Housefull 2 entered into the third week of business
with Rs 102.25 Crore net. The satellite rights of the film were sold in January 2011 for 27 Crore.
The music rights fetched an additional 5.5 Crore.
Housefull 2 is the second most successful film of the year after Agneepath, it is Akshay kumar's
first film to cross the 100 Crore mark and Asin's third most successful film.

41

E-Marketing strategy of Housefull 2

The team of Housefull has come up with a novel strategy to promote their film that makes not
just one but six of its stars accessible to the public. The cast of Eros International and Sajid
Nadiadwals romantic comedy Housefull will be visiting the homes of four lucky winners. In
collaboration with NDTV, the cast of HousefullAkshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta,
Arjun Rampal, Ritiesh Deshmukh and Jiah Khan will travel across four cities and spend a day
with the lucky contest winners family.
3rd Rock Entertainment was the official agency on board to manage the promotional campaign
of Housefull 2. 3rd Rock Entertainment has tied up with MTS as the official telecom partner for
the movie, as a cross promotion platform.

Hungama Digital and makers of 'Housefull 2' launched

'The Game of Fame' on Mobile and Internet platforms. Game of Fame is an online game, where
players get to trade Bollywood stars and movies like on stock exchange to win exciting prizes.
The launch of a digital promotions campaign for the film Housefull was also announced. It
includes a 16 episode video blog on the making of the film, a Social Networking Application and
iPhone, mobile & online game.

42

Commenting on the launch, Niraj Roy, MD and CEO, Hungama Digital media, said 'consumers
today can get a taste of their most awaited films through various digital platforms. Users can
experience with several devices. Also, Movie marketers are constantly exploring the potential of
the digital medium to reach out to people across different ages, segments and genders. Sajid
Khan, director of Housefull 2 said 'we wanted to promote the film on much larger platforms,
which reached out to audiences worldwide".

43

Case Study: Rowdy Rathore

Rowdy Rathore is an action film directed by Prabhu Deva and produced by Sanjay Leela
Bhansali and Ronnie Screwvala. The film features Akshay Kumar in double roles opposite
Sonakshi Sinha. It is a remake of the Ravi Teja starrer Telugu film Vikramarkudu. The film took
a bumper opening at single screens at occupancy of around 95%-100%. It collected around
15.06 Crore net domestic in the opening day. Rowdy Rathore has the fourth biggest opening
weekend of all time with collection of 47.50 Crore.

In Rowdy Rathore, what truly works in the film's favor is a combination of the two stars,
Akshay's perfect timing, and Prabhudeva's fine-tuned southern sensibilities, which come together
to make Rowdy Rathore an out-and-out entertainer. With Rowdy Rathore, Akshay returns to
his trademarked action avatar seven years after he was last seen in one, in 2004's Aan: Men at
Work. 'Rowdy Rathore', is still roaring with its huge success and entered into the 100 Crore club
on its 11th day. Rowdy Rathore has spelled its magic even long before the release. Reportedly,
the film's satellite rights have been sold for 35 Crore.

44

E-Marketing strategy of Rowdy Rathore

The trailer of the film was launched in an open stadium in Worli, Mumbai on 2 April 2012, and
received over 2,295,756 views in just less than one month on YouTube.
UTV has tied up with radio channel Red FM for organizing a contest titled "Rowdy Hunt" to
look for social do-gooders and others who work towards social betterment winners of the
contest will accompany star Akshay Kumar to promote the film during his tours. The hunt has
taken place in Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai and New Delhi, where callers
were invited to share their grievances, and tackle the culprit on a public platform in true
"Rowdy" style. The RJ/host will then select 5 rowdies in each city based on a "Rowdy Meter"
who will then comprise Akshay Kumar's Rowdy Gang in a particular city.
The online promotion of film was done on various platforms. The YouTube channel gets huge
response of the online viewers.

The cast and crew went to Dubai as part of promotional tour. Sonakshi Sinha promoted the film
on Big FM. And on the 26th May, she came to promote the film on Dance India Dance Lil'
Masters on Zee TV and the Zee Network are giving out free cinema tickets to people who are
correct in the Safari Cinema.
Wardrobe Company Dollar Industries has tied up with the producers to promote their products
along with the film. To promote this initiative, Dollar has come up with a new TVC featuring the
Rowdy Rathore Akshay. Apart from this, the company is also running a Facebook campaign
wherein one needs keep sharing the pictures of Rowdy Rathore to participate in the contest and
answer simple questions about the movie to win free tickets and exciting prizes. The campaign,
which has just started, has received remarkable response from every corner of the country.
45

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The subject at hand, as put earlier, is e-marketing of Bollywood movies. There are methods which are being
used traditionally for film marketing like print ads, outdoor posters, TV commercials and radio jingles etc. But
when we talk about e-marketing we specifically shift our focus to those methods of film promotion which are
leverages on Internet. Though still it is in its nascent stage in Bollywood, but catching up speedily. Therefore a
list of only those films are drawn which already created a history by earning more than 100 Crore rupees. A
careful study of the e-marketing strategy of these movies will give a clear insight that what role it plays in the
success of these movies.
1. To study the 4Ps of the movie marketing.
2. To analyze the importance of marketing in promoting movies.
3. To find the best marketing strategy for promoting the Movie.
4. To know the impact of movie promotions on the viewers.
5. To understand conventional (television, newspaper/magazines, radio, web, outdoor) as well
unconventional (internet, mobile, digital) choice of media by the film marketers.
6. To find out the effect of e-marketing strategies on viewers.
EXPECTED OUTPUT FROM THE RESEARCH
The research conducted as discussed earlier would go a long way in establishing a few facts about my
dissertation which could be helpful in inferring the following:
Whom should the film marketer communicate to? A movie as a

product appeals to different section of the society and accordingly

every section looks for a particular attribute in the product (a movie in
this case) which would appeal to them. However, it is important to understand
46

that if the decision maker is influenced enough, it would translate into

theatrical viewership thus raking in the big bucks.
What appeals to whom? Its important to know that what are the products

attributes that appeal to different sections of the society when divided in terms
of age groups and gender. So that when the communication plans designed for

the movie it would be accordingly positioned.

What are the factors that influence the decision? The factors that

influence the audience to see a movie in a theatre helps the film

maker/marketer to focus on individual aspects which holds value for the
consumer.
Which media reaches the most? Now that I have boiled down on the

characteristics of the product, its important to know where and how do you
communicate with the TG so as to have the maximum reach.
Which aspect of film marketing appeals the most? What in terms

of the media works the best with the TG when it comes to film marketing is
what I am trying to determine.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research defines a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic.
The data will be collected to achieve above mentioned objectives.

Primary data:

Primary data will be collected through online questionnaire.

Questionnaire Structured, close ended multiple choices.

47

 Secondary data:

It will consist of information that already exists somewhere in documents. The secondary data
will be collected from the newspapers, expert reports and internet websites etc.

Internet: - www.google.com, www.wikipedia.com, www.imdb.com etc.

Industry reports and analysis
Film critics reports and review
Books, Magazines & Journals.

FINDING AND ANALYSIS

As for the analysis of the survey results, the results have been analyzed as a whole and also after
being grouped in the age wise category and gender wise categories. Following are the results:
Analysis and interpretation
To fulfill my research objective and to co-relate my findings, I have divided my analysis into 4
major sections namely:
Genre of the movie
Factors that attract you to see movies in theatres
Which mediums for film publicity influence you to watch the film
Promotional tactics which work the most

1. Genre of the movie

48

Children movies and Animations are the rarely seen categories in theatres, whereas Comedy tops
the frequently viewed category of cinema. Love story and Action films are often preferred. There
was no particular trend observed for thrillers and musicals. Historic films are least preferred.

2. Factors that attract you to see movies in theatres

Star Cast and TV promos were the most powerful attractions for people. Hence marketers try to
play on the high demand Actors and cut best teaser promos for the same. Film Review by newspapers was
also an important determinant of first week footsteps. Hype, Controversies, banner and credibility
came in second place for people to get influenced. Pre-release hype is becoming an influential factor
for people flocking to theatres. Prerelease hype here constitutes the glitz glamour and ground promotions
per say. The music, star cast and story are excluded from this term.

3. Which mediums for film publicity influence you to watch the film?
Television also came up as the most influential medium for promoting a film. However other
mediums like outdoors, radio, and internet were age and gender specific. Especially among
youngsters internet in general and social networking sites in particular are main influencing
factor. Movies teasers and promos are getting launched on websites like YouTube and Facebook.
Users are getting influenced and at the same time influencing others in terms of media
consumption habit.

4. Promotional tactics which works the most

Interviews and interactions with the stars on TV come across as an effective promotional activity in general.
But although it catches the eyeballs, it does not lead to the desired result of getting them to the
cinema halls. Promotional events with star cast and PR/Newspaper articles were gaining relative importance in
peoples mind. Newspaper has been best rated for credibility in film promotions.

49

Findings on the basis of age group and gender

Age

Male

Female

Group
12-14

They watch movies majorly with their families Girls in this age group also like
followed by friends. They are generally the watching movies with their family
decision maker or their friends influence them to followed by friends. They prefer
watch a movie with them. Frequency: 9% watch going in groups of friends and hence,
movies at-least once a week and 43% catch it a collective decision making process
once a month. 23.3% manages to catch it once happens here. Frequency: 34% watch it
fortnight.

once a month where as 36% once a

fortnight.

15-19

The male in this group go out very rarely

with their girlfriends, very frequently with
their friends an often to normal with their family,
the decision maker here is mainly the friends
whom they see the movie with. Frequency:
18% watch it more than once a weekend. 55%
watch it once amonth.33% watches it once a
fortnight.

Majorly go out with friends or with family

and a few instances where they admitted
going out with their boyfriends. The major
influencers are the friends or the friend
circle. Frequency: More than 10% watch
it once a week and 42.1% once a month
and 32% catch it once a fortnight.

20-29

Here, watching with family is between normal to For all girls having boyfriends or
seldom but with friends is very frequent. spouses, they become a major influencer
Watching with spouse /girlfriend is from a and watch movies mostly with them.
case to case basis they become the primary However compared to boys, they are
influencers else friends are. Frequency: 10.2% more family driven and friends yet
watch it more than once a week and 54.5% catch top the list of watching movies with.
it more than once a month. 35.2% catch it once in Frequency: 14% watch a movie more
a fortnight.

30-39

than once a week. Once a fortnight

is49.5% and once a month is 36.5%

They watch movies between frequent and
normal with their friends. Between often and They watch movies with their friends
50

normal with their families and frequently with

their spouses. The decision maker is their between normal and seldom. With their
spouses and children. Frequency: 18% men
families is often to normal and with
catch a movie at least a week. 42% once a
month and32% watch it once a fortnight.
their spouses often to frequent. Major
influencers are their spouse, children
and friend circle. Frequency: Only 4%
watch movies more than once a week.
Once a fortnight is 26% a and once a
month is 51%

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

The findings proved the fact that there was no specific genre or medium or tactics that appealed
generally and it was more age and gender specific. Thus marketers have to identify their movies target
audience and apply the general rules of marketing of segmenting, targeting and positioning in
51

appropriate manner. Film promotional results will vary across these factors as it is definitely
influenced by the activities, interests and opinions of that particular age group, their media and film
consumption habits and their opinion leaders and thought makers.
Post studying all the marketing mediums, innovative measures, marketing framework, case studies and the
primary research conducted, It can be concluded that though the unconventional media are catching up fast
with conventional media, still it is conventional marketing mediums which are more effective for bringing in
the crowds in the first week than its counterpart.
The hypothesis hence cannot be proved or considered void as post my primary and secondary
research I have found that there is no stand that can be taken for such a research. The film
marketers themselves are willing to take a fence sitting approach to this as the mediums
completely differ from film to film and genre to genre.
What does come out very vividly is that formal marketing rules can be applied to films as well and that the
campaign planning depends on a variety of factors like the story or product, the star cast, the
packaging, distributional set-up, exhibitors, national and domestic market, target audience, mediums
available, competition, release date, budget etc. What might work for one movie will not work
for another. Each needs its own treatment and hence one cannot say that conventional would work
for one and unconventional will work for another.
Another fact that emerged was that in youth-centric movies like Ra.One and 3 idiots an
unconventional approach would work and that in more massy movies, conventional techniques
would work better. This is completely untrue. The conventional mediums are as important as the
unconventional ones. In fact the conventional mediums now are being used unconventionally to draw
attention.
Yes, what emerges is the need for out-of-box-thinking and the creative cap to be worn. By being
me-too of another films strategy and aping it the novelty factor is lost, hence every time there it is like a new
challenge for the marketer.
Concluding this research I would say that there is no linear approach to whether conventional mediums
should be deployed or unconventional. What needs to be understood are the factors in
52

consideration and saying the right thing at the right time with a streamlined objective. There is no
100% guarantee for success but definitely will help to a great extent to the get the crowd in for the first week
and post that.

LIMITATION
UNIVERSE SIZE
As stated earlier, the product under consideration has a mass appeal, as the average movie-goer
can be a 12 year old school kid to a housewife. Hence it is not really possible to boil down to the exact
population size. When I say the movie-goers, the term itself covers a lot of people with no actual check so as
53

to derive a realistic & relatively accurate number. Hence the universe of cinema audience who consume the
product in theatres has to taken as an arbitrary figure.
Considering the population of this country, this figure cannot be less than 20000 by any stretch of imagination
and the sample size value seizes to vary much when the population size is more than 20000. Thus with
population size x>20000, confidence level of 95% and percentage value of 50%, at a sample size of 764
we have a confidence interval of 3.54%. Simplistically put, the results of the survey are 95% accurate
with a variation bandwidth of +/- 3.54%. Now for the distribution of the sample sizeFor the sample
population, I have majorly concentrated in Delhi due to limitation of resources and time constraints.
I have made a conscious attempt to leave rural sections from the survey, the reason for the same being limited
media exposure and small growth driver for the industry. I understand that the major growth prospect for the
industry would be increasing number of multiplexes and overseas market as the target audience
chunk remaining more or less the same world over, the growth driver has to be growing gate
ticket size in terms of currency. Hence I have concentrated on the age category from 12 years to 40+ years
in my survey.
Also the age wise distribution matches with the consumption pattern of cinema as a product, as furnished by
leading industry researchers. To following graph present a fair idea about this:

54

The numbers given in the above figure shows the percentage value in each category. For my final analysis, I
employed two filters in terms of consumption pattern and consumption behavior i.e. people who do not
consume the product in theatres or those who prefer not to, have been left out of the final
analysis; also those who consume at a frequency of once in three months or less than that have been
excluded from the final analysis. This leaves us with a number equivalent of 622 respondents which translates
into a confidence interval of +/- 3.92%.
The mode of collection of responses has been majorly through online questionnaires.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/Bollywood-s-100-crore-club/Article1864033.aspx
http://www.indiastat.com/media/21/filmsandcinemas/61/stats.aspx
http://marketingchitchat.wordpress.com/category/movie-marketing/
http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/Blockbuster/MovieMarketing.html
http://www.movieindustrymarketing.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=18
http://www.imdb.com/
http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/MerchandisingTHE-MERCHANDISING-PROCESS.html
http://www.businessofcinema.com
http://www.wikipedia.org/
55

http://wogma.com
http://hochpoch-ppd.blogspot.com

APPENDIX
RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE
The objective of this questionnaire is to understand the psyche of the masses (audience) that flock to theatres
when a film releases and what pulls them there. The idea is to understand the effect of conventional vs.
unconventional promotional techniques to draw in the audiences.
1. Do you watch Bollywood movies in theatres?
A. Yes

B. No

2. If Yes, how often do you see movies in theatres?

A. More than once a week
B. Once in fortnight
56

C. Once a month
D. Less than once in three months
3. Where do you see the movies mostly?
A. Multiplexes
B. Single theatre
C. Local screen
D. Open-air theatre
4. With whom do you normally see a movie in theatres?

Rarely

Normal

Frequently

Group of Friends
Family Members
Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Spouse
5. Kindly give your order of preference, which genre of movies would you sees in theatre?

Type of Movie

Rarely

Normal

Comedy
Thriller
Action
Animation
Musical
Children
Epic/History/Mytholo
gy
57

Frequently

Love Story
6. Who influences your decision to watch a particular kind of movie?
A. Friend(s)
B. Children
C. Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Spouse
7. To what extent do the following mediums, when used for film publicity; influence you to
watch a movie in theatre?

Least

Normal

Most

TV
Print
Radio
Internet/Digital
Medium
Outdoors
8. What drives you to see a movie in theatres in the first week of its release?
..

9. Which was the last Bollywood movie you saw in theatre?

..

10. Please rate the marketing campaign of that movie?

58

A. Very bad
B. Bad
C. Neutral
D. Good
E. Very good
11. Please name a movie in recent times which you think was marketed well?
..
12. To what extent, does the following aspects of film marketing campaign appeal to you?
Type of Promotion

Least

Normal

Most

Promotional event with movie star cast

TV Commercial
Print/Outdoor Advertisement
News Article/PR Activities
Digital/Internet/Social Media marketing
campaign
Interviews/Interaction with cast and crew

13. Name
..

14. Gender
A. Male
B. Female
15. Age (Years)
59

A. 12-14
B. 15-19
C. 20-29
D. 30-39
E. 40+
16. Profession
A. Employed
B. Self Employed
C. Unemployed
D. Housewife
E. Student

60