From the Dirty Picture to Don 2, film makers innovate marketing skills
Movie promotions in Bollywood are undergoing a 360-degree transformation. From The Dirty Picture on pulp fiction magazine covers, to Don 2 being turned into a comic book for fans, filmmakers are leaving no stone unturned to come up with innovative marketing ideas.
Movie promotions in Bollywood are undergoing a 360-degree transformation. As the fight to grab eyeballs and break the clutter gets hotter, makers are going out of the box for unique marketing ideas.
To promote Vidya Balan-starrer The Dirty Picture in smaller towns, the actor has been put on the cover — in a first for Bollywood — of a popular Hindi magazine, Manohar Kahaniyan.
“Since the look of the film is popular on the pulp magazine circuit, it’s being promoted with a completely different strategy in heartland India, where the spending power is rising, along with new multiplexes springing up. They have also hired a separate agency, Spice Bhasha, for B and C-tier towns,” says a marketing member involved with the film. So, just like Bodyguard and Force before, The Dirty Picture will also attack cities like Patna and Surat in a grassroot manner.
“Gone are the days where you marketed the movie in the top eight metro cities and your job was done,” says Tanuj Garg of Balaji Motion Pictures, producers of the Milan Luthria film.
Comic fare
A comic book will precede the release of Farhan Akhtar’s Don 2 that opens in the theatres on December 23. The comic book should release in the first week of December. It will be replicated en masse and sold at kiosks at railway stations across Maharashtra and up north.
Bald spot
When actor Sanjay Dutt was out on the Bigg Boss 5 platform sporting his bald look, everyone was surprised but soon, audiences realized it was a promotion tactic to create buzz around his character Kancha Cheena from Karan Johar’s remaking of Agneepath.
in tune
When Dhanush’s superhit song, Kolaveri Di first hit airwaves, everyone thought it was just another hit song from down south. But not many know that the song is from his wife, Rajinikanth’s daughter Aishwarya’s, first film as a director, 3. Now, we hear the film is in demand from distributors in the south.
Novel and nude
When Abbas Mustan’s stylish Players was to be introduced to the world, makers thought of an interesting marketing technique – they got a model from Poland (name withheld for unknown reasons) and painted her in gold while in the buff. Later, they put her on the teaser poster of the film to
create excitement.
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