Cinema is a very important and indispensible part of Indian people's lives. For some, its just a source of entertainment, while for others its a reflection of our society and there are those as well for whom cinema is heaven and its actors, God's incarnation on planet earth. Barring cricket,if anything can confidently claim to bind the entire nation together in one bond,its our cinema. The laughter,sorrows,celebration,larger than life characters have become an integral aspect of our lives.Who can forget Gabbar's "kitney aadmi they" or DDLJ's "bade bade shehron me aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hai" or the new found national anthem "CHAK DE INDIA".Movies have been and will remain a powerful medium for people to have a roller coaster ride and to live in their dreams in tangibility within those three hours.
And such high aspirations associated with every movie makes the job of moviemakers even more difficult.The demand and supply theory every friday is accompanied with creative excellence as well,where the medium has to be utilized to the T to create an unparalleled product.But with changing times,the entire fabric of moviemaking has also undergone a mekeover.Now its not only a question of creative excellence or deep nuances of film making that make a movie successful.With whopping budgets and tooth sweating competition,movies have become brands within themselves. Those days are obsolete when a movie used to become a blockbuster by the word of mouth.Now if the producers rely only on that,they would be left with "no words in their mouth!!!!".So now its the pre friday efforts that decide the movies's fortunes rather than the post friday brilliance (although its not a sure shot formula,many've faltered miserably even after great previews). But its certainly a more safer option.
Now making a stupendous movie is just a part of the job,its also pivotal to emulate an important theory of brand shastra-bombard the brand's name in the consumer's mind.
That's why marketing in movies has gained paramount importance in the last few years.Producers are leaving no stones unturned to evoke curiosity before the movie's release and showcase their movies as a cornucopian experience.
All this starts with deciding the target audience for the movie.Strategies are formulated which would lure them to the movie theatres.This includes promotion of the movie with myriad promotions on mediums such as electronic media,print media, internet,radio(.....and if possible create controversies....road to sure shot good opening of the movie). The advertisements of the movie are in the form of promos which highlight the assets of the movie such as music,powerful dialogues.In short,the aim is to give the audience a small essence of the movie & to keep them craving for more.
But the innovative approach to marketing in movies is reinventing itself time and again.Merchandizing movies,launching exclusive movie products,association with brands,in movie advertising,and the latest trend of utilizing the idiot box by appearing on reality shows are the various avenues used in the brand promotion of the movie.With the constant modification in the marketing strategies,no producer can afford to remain oblivious of this pivotal phenomenon.
Ace director Rakesh Roshan really got the merchandize market kicking with his sci-fi alien flick " koi mil gaya " where the production house decided to introduce the alien character jaadoo's pencil boxes,stationary items and dolls.That really got along well with the kids who were the target audience for that movie,so this pre release marketing created ubiquitous curiosity and set the cash registers ringing.The same magic was recreated with his next release "KRRISH" , where krrish dolls and masks became a househeld rage.and again the movie became a blockbuster even though the critics lambasted the it.
Farhan Akhtar's DON also utilized the burgeoning mobile market with introduction of games on this platform,that again got down really well with the youth.THis once again justified marketing importance associated with movies.
But the behemoth battle was seen recently that eventually became the mother of all movie marketing battles-the battle between shahrukh khan's home production(red chillies entertainment) Om Shanti Om and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's SAAWARIYA(produced by hollywood bigwig Columbia Tristar).They utilized all possible avenues and mediums to promote their respective movies and spent staggering amounts to do only one thing- "outperform" each other and carve a niche for themselves within people's minds.While OSO kept a mind numbing RS 14 crores for brand related promotions, Saawariya had an additional advantage of the backing of one of the biggest global production houses,so they took up the challenge and set apart an amount of, hold your breath ,staggering 25 crores for brand promotion.Now that's a lot of moolah put at stake by both the movies.
While OSO collaborated with brands such as Nokia,Maybelline and Shopper's Stop for its promotion, Saawariya had Sony entertainment television and pantaloon retail as their partners.On television,stars of both movies appeared on rival musical reality shows(OSO in sa re ga ma pa and Saawariya in voice of india,OSO in nach baliye and Saawariya in jhalak dikhla ja and the list goes on...).
Thus there were fireworks all around before diwali itself and the when the movies released on nov 9th,OSO got people's admiration but Saawariya got rejected candidly due to lack of commercial value. Thus the aficionados of movies' theory came into action again- Script is the King and Audience is the God to decide the fate of the movie.
But nobody can anymore stay obscure to the ameliorating importance of marketing movies.This is quite ostensible with movies made by maverick and exceptionally talented directors such as Nagesh Kukunoor,whose movies are based on out of the box concepts and have gone down brilliantly both with critics and the audience.But still somewhere down the line,one feels that if his movies would have got the same promotion as,say a Karan Johar movie,then they would've been certain blockbusters. So envisaging all perspectives in mind,its quite clear that making a wonderful movie is the most important formula for success, but in the new age era it has become equally important that it has to be bombarded into people's mind and it should be endeavoured that the movie becomes not just a medium of entertainment for the audience,but an entire experience for them...a feel good one...so that the CINEMA-NIA continues forever in our country.
What the entire country looks out for in the future is a very famous phrase of Indian film industry - " THE SHOW MUST GO ON".
Krishnakant
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