Jersey, Attack, Runway 34: Double trailer, double impact?

With filmmakers putting out a second trailer for their films, we get talking to industry people about what is this new practice all about.

If the first look, teaser, trailer and then the songs weren’t enough, Bollywood is now witnessing another trend for maketing and promoting a film - a second trailer.

Stills from Jersey and Attack.

The latest example of it is the Shahid Kapoor-led Jersey, a sports drama featuring him as a cricketer. The makers released a second trailer a week back for the film, originally scheduled for a December 2021 release, which had to be delayed after theatres shut due to Covid.

Ask the actor about it, and he explains, “Nobody has ever had a situation like this. Even though films have had to re release, but they were in the initial stages of marketing, so they had not put out all their material. We were there days away from the release in December when it got postponed. So we thought if we could give the audience something fresh, that kind of incentive, get some fresh energy.”

But weren’t they worried about giving away too much of the film? Kapoor adds, “Yes there was, we didn’t want to put out something just for the sake of it, which is not very effective. The second trailer got a better response than the first one, I got a lot of messages.”

Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey opines, “I don’t have an opinion on this. A second trailer depends on the producers and people doing that exercise. I didn’t release a second one for my upcoming film though. I am happy with the response the first one had received. Our marketing team will follow the planned execution.”

According to trade experts, it happens because the first trailer clearly doesn’t connect with the audience. “They understand they haven’t been able to generate the hype they wanted to, and hence they come up with that. Same thing happened with Satyameva Jayate 2, and then for Runway 34, people were coming up with confusing remarks, and were not able to get the storyline. In case of Jersey, it was pushed 3-4 times, so to keep themselves fresh in audiences’ minds, they had to come up with a new trailer. Songs are there for music sales, enhance the popularity of the film, but I don’t think giving away four minutes in the trailer would make any difference,” he reasons.

Reasoning that the promotions for any film aren’t conventional anyway is exhibitor Akshaye Rathi. He says it varies for every film, “Marketing is not essentially a set template. It is fluid to how the audience is reacting to the material put out step by step. Very often, what happens is you put out a song or teaser out, and depending on what traction it gets, you tweak your plans- either put out more, or hold it back.”