Taking quantum leaps is nothing new to Bollywood. When it comes to cracking the code on how to get a thumbs up from the audience, B-Town's think tank makes sure it has all the cutting edge tools to market their 'product'. What makes the whole game of marketing Bollywood movies all the more interesting is the way game changers are trying to explore the untapped market.
With Tier 2 and 3 cities contributing their share to the entertainment pie, the focus is now gradually shifting to tap the fan base in those cities. Films like The Dirty Picture, London Paris New York, Chaar Din Ki Chandni, Kahaani, Bittoo Boss, Blood Money et al went on to create ripples with their unique promotional strategy. Not only cities like Jaipur, Chandigarh and Indore now find takers in B-Town, but even Ranchi, Patna, Meerut, Aurangabad, Surat and Vadodara have become promotional destinations for upcoming B'wood releases.
Rafiq Gangjee, vice president, marketing & communications of a leading production house says, "The distinction in perception of how towns are being classified is now blurring. We can look forward to smaller markets playing a much bigger role in the not so distant future."
At the same time, the industry feels it is too early to say whether small town movie promotions have finally arrived because the outcome from such promotional activities being more intangible. "The metropolitan market reached a saturation. Usually, between 60% and 65% revenue comes from the metros (8 cities). With places like Latur - a Tier 3 town, having a multiplex, starting marketing in these places comes as a natural progression," says Prabhat Choudhary of a specialized outreach agency in Bollywood. "Cultural diversity of India makes coming up with a strategy that encompasses Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities pertinent," adds Choudhary.
This makes promotion strategies adopt a two pronged way. "Bodyguard, Force, The Dirty Picture, Don 2 promotions had different promotional strategies for different markets - mainstream communication and the tier 2 plan where the same plan was communicated differently," adds Choudhary.
For actor Kulraj Randhawa, it's all about getting to experience "the live interaction". She says, "For actors, it's first hand experience as to how people are responding to their movie." The response from small towns, according to filmmaker Nalin Singh, is encouraging. "Though smaller towns may not be yielding much tangible returns for the producer, when compared to the bigger towns, the satisfaction of promoting a film is intangible," says Nalin.
While producer Shrishti Arya feels the "momentum is slowly picking up and in the years to come small towns will be places where the promotional buzz is going to make a lot of impact."
At the same time, the return on investment is one thing that many in the industry are careful about when it comes to promotions in small towns. "Special investments, in terms of promotions is going to give very little returns and are still largely unjustified. However, on a case to case basis we do look at doing something different based on the movie. For a film like Ishaqzaade, which was largely shot in Lucknow and given the nature of the film, we are considering various options of reaching out to these smaller markets," says Gangjee.
"It's the age of mass markets," says actor-director Deepa Sahi. Promoting a film in smaller cities according to Deepa "is cost effective and personalised as a local sponsor picks up the tabs."
Bollywood can now look forward to cash in on the new market so far untapped.
With Tier 2 and 3 cities contributing their share to the entertainment pie, the focus is now gradually shifting to tap the fan base in those cities. Films like The Dirty Picture, London Paris New York, Chaar Din Ki Chandni, Kahaani, Bittoo Boss, Blood Money et al went on to create ripples with their unique promotional strategy. Not only cities like Jaipur, Chandigarh and Indore now find takers in B-Town, but even Ranchi, Patna, Meerut, Aurangabad, Surat and Vadodara have become promotional destinations for upcoming B'wood releases.
Rafiq Gangjee, vice president, marketing & communications of a leading production house says, "The distinction in perception of how towns are being classified is now blurring. We can look forward to smaller markets playing a much bigger role in the not so distant future."
At the same time, the industry feels it is too early to say whether small town movie promotions have finally arrived because the outcome from such promotional activities being more intangible. "The metropolitan market reached a saturation. Usually, between 60% and 65% revenue comes from the metros (8 cities). With places like Latur - a Tier 3 town, having a multiplex, starting marketing in these places comes as a natural progression," says Prabhat Choudhary of a specialized outreach agency in Bollywood. "Cultural diversity of India makes coming up with a strategy that encompasses Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities pertinent," adds Choudhary.
This makes promotion strategies adopt a two pronged way. "Bodyguard, Force, The Dirty Picture, Don 2 promotions had different promotional strategies for different markets - mainstream communication and the tier 2 plan where the same plan was communicated differently," adds Choudhary.
For actor Kulraj Randhawa, it's all about getting to experience "the live interaction". She says, "For actors, it's first hand experience as to how people are responding to their movie." The response from small towns, according to filmmaker Nalin Singh, is encouraging. "Though smaller towns may not be yielding much tangible returns for the producer, when compared to the bigger towns, the satisfaction of promoting a film is intangible," says Nalin.
While producer Shrishti Arya feels the "momentum is slowly picking up and in the years to come small towns will be places where the promotional buzz is going to make a lot of impact."
At the same time, the return on investment is one thing that many in the industry are careful about when it comes to promotions in small towns. "Special investments, in terms of promotions is going to give very little returns and are still largely unjustified. However, on a case to case basis we do look at doing something different based on the movie. For a film like Ishaqzaade, which was largely shot in Lucknow and given the nature of the film, we are considering various options of reaching out to these smaller markets," says Gangjee.
"It's the age of mass markets," says actor-director Deepa Sahi. Promoting a film in smaller cities according to Deepa "is cost effective and personalised as a local sponsor picks up the tabs."
Bollywood can now look forward to cash in on the new market so far untapped.
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