Aamir’s using unique publicity tricks for promoting ‘3 Idoits’

An interactive website was launched in alliance with Zapak.com with a college set-up as the homepage. The website is designed keeping in mind the college atmosphere,complete with a hostel,classroom,toilet,canteen and a few special added features. On the day the website was launched,Aamir Khan along with R.Madhavan,Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor chatted with their fans online at a specific time,giving them exclusive information about the film. This was followed by launching the film’s music online where Aamir and Vidhu Vinod Chopra interacted with fans again. The 3 Idiots team have also used unique stickers on some rickshaws plying on streets that read “Capacity: 3 Idiots”. The song from the film,Zoobie dooby was unveiled by Aamir and Kareena and a press conference was called.

Aamir,who does not usually attend events made an exception when he walked the ramp with co-stars Sharman and Madhavan for a show where they unveiled their range of 3 Idiots T-shirts by Pantaloons. To cash in on the virtual medium,the 3 Idiots team recently launched a new game in association with Zapak.com.

The objective of the game is to find Aamir Khan who has gone into hiding. Kareena Kapoor,Vidhu Vinod Chopra,R.Madhavan,Rajkumar Hirani and Sharman Joshi were present at the launch of the game. The team has roped in Sachin Tendulkar to give out the first clue for the two-day game. Anybody who spots Aamir Khan has to inform the team and the winner gets to go on a dinner date with Aamir Khan on New Year’s Eve.

This is not the first time that actors are going all out to promote their films. Aamir devised unique marketing strategies last year during the release of Ghajini. He had placed life-sized cutouts of himself in multiplexes across India. Additionally he had also given the ushers at the theatres a Ghajini haircut. Shah Rukh Khan,who is known to promote his films aggressively,did an extensive marketing campaign for his last release,Billu. Earlier titled Billu Barber,the film got into trouble when the hairdresser community felt offended by the title. Not to invoke the wrath of any section of the society,Khan invited selected hairstylists and barbers along with their spouses for the premiere of the film.

UTV has always had unique promotional strategies for all their films. For Anurag Kashyap’s Dev.D a whole bunch of bold promotional activities were undertaken. A lust-line had Chanda,who plays a prostitute in the film,speaking to callers in four different languages on radio. They also launched customised Dev.D tattoos at Al’s Tattoo parlour and had condom-shaped Dev.D premiere passes. For the promotion of Delhi-6,Abhishek Bachchan got nominated for the Guinness Book of World Records,for traveling to five different cities in a short span of 24 hours. For Kaminey,UTV had a contest called Sabse Bada Kamina Kaun,in which contestants had to upload their pictures with their gang and the best among them stood a chance to meet the lead pair,Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor. For Aagey Se Right,The Gun Chase Begins,Case Of The Lost Gun,Reality Chase,Gun Visarjan and Sir,Meri Gun Kho Gayee Hain were a few of the games initiated as marketing campaigns. For Main Aurr Mrs Khanna,UTV joined hands with Statefarm and Star India. A Main Aur Mrs Khanna Meet-The-Stars contest was organised with a grand prize for two to travel to Mumbai and meet Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan.

For Wake Up Sid,Dharma Productions in association with Bollywood Hungama,launched an exclusive set of Video blogs. The video blogs were unveiled on the website by Karan Johar,Ranbir Kapoor,Konkona Sen Sharma and Ayan Mukerji. Wake Up Sid also did a tie-up with fashion brand Provogue and launched a stylish range of Wake Up Sid T-Shirt Collection. The collection was inspired by the tees that Ranbir wore in the film.

For Kurbaan,Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan travelled overseas – to UK and Dubai – to promote the film. Producer Karan Johar also joined them in UK to speak to the media about the film. UTV had also roped in various media partners across 15 countries to telecast a special segment called Date with Kurbaan,showing Karan Johar interviewing his two stars in a Koffee With Karan format. The film was aggressively marketed with extensive outdoor,TV and print campaigns,ensuring maximum visibility. Shikha Kapoor,Vice- President,Marketing,UTV Motion Pictures says,“The year gone by was an interesting one for us,in terms of learning as we experimented extensively for the marketing of our films. We left the tried-and-tested methods aside,and tread a new path. As an example,for Aagey Se Right,it was for the first time that the promotion campaign of a film had been executed as an event campaign – the events associated with the hunt for Shreyas Talpade’s (who plays a cop in the film) lost gun. The gun was the main protagonist,with the entire campaign based on it.”

Big Pictures,the division of Reliance BIG Entertainment,rolled out an interesting promotion campaign for its film 13B where Zapak.com,BIGFlix.com and BIGADDA.com came together to promote the movie in the virtual space. For starters,a contest based on the film’s theme was announced online. Entries had been thrown open to audiences to send in stories of their spooky experiences and stand a chance to win grand prizes. Shortlisted entries were evaluated for development into a BIG Pictures film. The website whatis13b.com was designed to be more than just a regular movie website. The portal,which started with a teaser phase,became a platform for horror movie fans to come together and share their spooky experiences. Also for the first time,a music video was premiered online with the soundtrack of Oh crazy mama from 13 B. All multiplexes across the nation were given a 13 B feel to their ambience. Ushers were dressed in special 13 B branded hooded trenchcoats. BIG Pictures also chalked out an innovative promotion campaign for their film Luck By Chance with Excel Entertainment As a part of the campaign,autorickshaws offered free rides to lucky people who spot the Luck By Chance autorickshaws.

Eros,which had three huge releases this year,planned their marketing and promotional activities well in advance. A spokesperson from Eros says,“With opening weekends playing an increasingly crucial role in a film’s performance,its all about exciting audience and drawing them to the cinemas. Hence we at Eros believe in clutter-breaking,innovative marketing to get maximum footfalls in the opening week.”

Kambakkht Ishq’s release date was strategically planned as it was one of the first films to release after the standoff with multiplex chains. Carpet-bombing marketing technique – an all-out,full forced 360 degrees blitzkrieg targeted at the opening weekend – was effectively used. KI was also a film for the overseas market,as it had Hollywood actors like Sylvestor Stallone,Denise Richards and Brandon Routh in the film. It was the highlight of Eros’ films at Cannes Film Festival this year,where the film was marketed to international buyers and the industry at large. For Love Aaj Kal,Eros relied heavy on the ‘Love Aaj Vs. Love Kal’ concept promotion through interactive marketing with audiences at cinemas. With chartbusting numbers,music promotions formed a crucial part of our marketing strategy. Other promotions included association with the then-ongoing ESPN T20 matches in London,which reached out to the huge NRI market as well as to the cricket-loving Indian audience. The association with Café Coffee Day helped reach out additionally to the youth audience,wherein CCD stores nationwide had LAK branding. Marketing tie-ups were also initiated with Shopper’s Stop,Bajaj Allianz and Gitanjali.

The marketing innovations for the fantasy film Aladin included the signature themed sweaters/shirts of Aladin,in which Riteish Deshmukh sported at every media appearance he made. Eros marketed the film to key audiences – children – through a number of innovations including launching special Aladin flavoured ice-creams with Baskin Robbins; tie-ups with kids channels like Disney,Hungama etc in a big way; special merchandising for children like Aladin character tattoos,T-shirts etc. With Aladin releasing close to the Diwali festive period,Eros also tied-up with Godrej for the biggest ever brand tie-up in the industry.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani was another film that had an extensive 360-degree marketing and promotional campaign. From television,print,radio and OOH to Internet,we had our presence everywhere. In addition to this,they liaised with brands in order to further enhance their visibility. They also undertook an aggressive campaign on social networking sites like Facebook,Twitter and Orkut to interact directly with our audience. The entire team of APKGK including the lead actors,director and the producer went on a six-city tour promoting the film across India. Besides promoting their film the usual way,Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor walked the ramp for Rohit Bal at the FDCI Fashion Week. Ramesh Taurani of Tips,says,“Marketing a film in today’s times is absolutely imperative as our audiences want to get a taste of the film before they make up their minds to see it. Marketing not only needs to spread in terms of demographics but it should also be relevant,interactive,engaging and competitive. I see this trend only growing further with more intelligent and out-of-the-box initiatives being undertaken with each passing film.”

More recently Paa,which has Amitabh Bachchan playing a 13-year old Progeria patient was marketed extensively. Telecom brand Idea Cellular had tied up with Paa – The Talk To Auro concept,wherein callers can leave messages for Auro on an Idea number and in return receive calls from Auro on a predetermined date. Apart from that,ring- back tones in Auro’s voice and other value-added services too were available on Idea network. Additionally,Bajaj Allianz had also tied up for an integrated TV advertisement on Child Plans,which had been interspersed with the film’s promos. The film followed a marketing and promotion campaign which kickstarted with an innovative teaser in multiplexes with Auro’s on- screen photo-slides which read ‘Please stand up for the National Anthem or else I will tell my Paa’,‘Please switch off your mobile- phone or else I will tell my Paa’ and ‘Don’t dirty the theatre or I’ll tell my Paa’ poster on trash cans. On November 14,Paa’s TV promos carried a special message wishing all viewers Happy Children’s Day. Even after the film’s release,Amitabh Bachchan did a live commentary for the T20 match between India and Sri Lanka. Bachchan,in character as Auro,did the live television commentary during breaks between the match. He even visited schools in uniform as Auro after the release of the film.

Shikha sums it up by saying,“While marketing a film,we need to keep in mind that we can’t follow a particular template for all,but need to customise the marketing strategies for each,treating each film as a separate brand. We need to be very sure at our end as to what is the perception that needs to be created in the minds of the audience and who exactly,is our target audience for that particular film. We need to market accordingly,on the mediums where we will create touch-points with the consumer,generating interest and intrigue.”