BRAND WAGON

Closer home,the Indian movie industry too has experimented with products over a long period. Apart from a fresh star-cast of Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia,Bobby also featured the Rajdoot motorcycle in the Raj Kapoor film released in 1973. So popular was the association that the Rajdoot GTS Grand Touring Sports began to be called 8216;Bobby bikes8217;. Vintage bike-lovers still refer to it as the Bobby Rajdoot GTS 175 CC bike.

Lately,there has been a spurt in product associations as well. Hrithik Roshan in his geeky avatar made Main toh sirf Bournvita pita hoon sound eminently cute in Koi8230; Mil Gaya. Apart from designer labels,Aisha also featured a very strong association with Bru coffee while the Imran Khan Deepika Padukone starrer Break Ke Baad features Volkswagen8217;s flagship car Beetle prominently. 3 Idiots featured as many as five brands with Volvo debuting its SUV XC 90 R in the film,Mahindra showcased its two-wheeler Flyte in various scenes while Airtel,Samsung Mobile and Air- India were also incorporated in the film story.

Unlike what one would imagine,brand association was not seen as a money-making opportunity,even today it has emerged as a nominal source of revenue for films. Commercialisation of Bollywood in-film has started only about six to seven years ago. It was only after Yash Raj Films Bunty Aur Babli,which had Maruti Swift in the film,that in-film placement gained momentum. Nearly 80 per cent of films nowadays have product placements, informs Pritie Jadhav,COO,of P9 Integrated.

The company has worked in movies like Love Aaj Kal,Anjaana Anjaani,Shrek and Mission Impossible for brands like Asian Paints,Lays,Kit-Kat,Godrej,Adidas,Goodyear Tyres. Jadhav says that in India,the three most popular vehicles for innovative communication have been movies,music and cricket. Studies have proven association with films to be an effective way to break clutter and get noticed. She further adds,In-film branding is a way for any brand to reach the target audience through the most easily consumed source viz.,movies. Its a unique way for a brand to associate in the fabric of a full-length feature from inside a movie.

An in-film placement agency works with producers and brands from the script to screening stage. They have dedicated personnel who scout opportunities for brands and suggest suitable and advantageous integration opportunities. They work as a partner to the film and the brand so as to make the entire association beneficial to all parties involved.

Both the brands and the films enjoy the benefit of these placements. Films use this medium to increase their revenue and reduce their cost of production,and the brands to communicate with their audience in their environment. A well-integrated brand within the script works wonders for both. Thus,product placement acts as a win-win situation for both the movie as well as the brands associated.

Talking about the pricing of these placements,Siddharth Kadam,Marketing Manager,Dharma Productions,explains,Theres no particular pricing model to the business. Pricing can be based on the star- power. For example,a particular brand will be charged more to show Abhishek Bachchan using its product rather than some character actor using it. Also,production houses like Yash Raj and Dharma gets higher cost as compared to Mukta Arts and Tips. Other factors that determine pricing include production value,the director of the film etc.

Even the visibility of the film plays an important role in pricing. For this,the production house and brand managers come together and decide on the film8217;s visibility,which involves aspects like Internet,satellite and Home Video rights,screenings in India and abroad etc. Also,the destinations where the film will be showcased and the kind of audience who will watch it bears an impact on the pricing too.

Devika Shroff,Head of Marketing at Excel Entertainment,says that product placements,more than making revenue,help in the films promotion. In-film placements add to a movie8217;s revenue,but I don8217;t think revenue from in-film placements can be equated to a movie8217;s production cost. Co-branded campaigns,however,help in the promotions of a film,she says. Kadam added that the revenue earned by the entire process is hardly one crore or two crore compared to the budget of an entire film that can be nearly about Rs 50 crore. The money gained by these placements is nothing, he says,decisively.

Filmmakers,however,have realised the power of branding and do not hesitate to use a particular brand in a scene as the entire production team is fully aware of a brand that needs to be weaved into a scene a month or three months before the shoot. Siddharth Malhotra,director of We Are Family said,During the shoot of my film,Tupperware had got its products placed in the kitchen and being the director,I had full control of where and how to showcase the products.

The way these brands are incorporated in a particular scene is important. Be it visually or verbally,brands are supposed to be weaved in a subtle manner. The placement has to be subtle and seamless as any kind of loud and in-your-face brand-placement would become a laughing-stock for the audience,which in effect,kills the film as well as the brand. It is imperative for all brands to look at placing brands in films only if the product can naturally fit in the script. There are cases wherein the script is tweaked as per the brands8217; requirement which eventually results in ineffective communication for the brand as well as the film, a spokesperson for GoFish Entertainment Pvt Ltd,that initiated the brand integration for 3 Idiots says. For example,Garnier sign boards are used in We Are Family during the photo shoot of Arjun Rampal,who plays a stylist in the film. If its placement is underlined or poorly-placed then it can fall flat,disturbing the flow of the scene. Kadam of Dharma Productions picks on Yaadein for a bad in-film placement. Remember that scene where Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor are talking after a cycle race and later exchange Pass Pass,a mouth freshener. It looks like an ad campaign and doesn8217;t go with the flow of the scene.

The theme of the film plays an important role when planning these placements. For example,the Darsheel Safary starrer Bumm Bumm Bole,though it was a small film,had a large scope for in-film placement as it revolved around shoes. Keeping this in mind,international sports apparel and footwear brand Adidas signed a deal with the makers of the film. Similarly,in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De! India,which was a sports-oriented film,there was a huge opportunity to feature sports brands,eliciting the interest of another international footwear brand Reebok. The company also collaborated prominently in My Name Is Khan starring Shah Rukh Khan.

Every A-list star endorses a number of brands who are naturally picky about seeing their ambassador with a rival8217;s product in the same shot. However,experts say that a star8217;s personal endorsement does not affect the film8217;s placements. Citing an example,Shroff says that if the producers of a film that stars Priyanka Chopra ties up with Samsung cell-phones,she will have to use those phones,even though she is the brand ambassador of Nokia. According to Shroff,An actor can endorse a brand,however the 8216;character8217; the actor plays in the film can promote another brand as part of the film8217;s promotions. Kadam cites another example of actor Imran Khan. Imran Khan is the brand ambassador for Levis jeans but there was an

I Hate Luv Storys collection by Flying Machine,where he was seen flaunting the latter brand. The duo however,affirm that two competing brands cannot appear in the same film. According to Devika,all contracts and brands have a 8216;non-compete8217; clause,which essentially means that the producer will not place two competing brands in the same film. However,this does not apply to all films. As Kadam states,Madhur Bhandarkar8217;s Fashion was a film which was full of clothes and brands,so we see two competing brands together,like GAS and Kimaya. He adds that films cannot have a long-term association with a particular brand as every film is different in its theme and story and has an equally different target audience.

According to Jadhav,Indian films are slowly but surely attracting international brands to effectively get associated within the film8217;s script. Last year8217;s Aisha had high-end fashion brands like Christian Dior and Salvatore Ferragamo incorporated within scenes. She also confirms that the bigger the production banner,the star-cast and integration,the higher will be the cost for brands to be associated with these films as compared to relatively smaller films. But with a variety of films clearly,there is shelf space for all kinds of brands and budgets.

with inputs from Priyanko Sarkar