BOLLYWOOD CALLING

Brand association, brand endorsement, product placements, buzz marketing, viral marketing, brand identity, below the line activity, strategic fits.

Seems like another list of marketing jargons!

Well, these are the buzzwords which are gradually gaining currency in our very own desi tinsel town, “Bollywood”. In the recent blockbuster movie “Ta Ra Rum Pum”, the hero Saif Ali Khan (a NASCAR driver) drives a Chevrolet Aveo, uses Castrol GTX oil and Goodyear tyres for his car.

Result: The sales of Chevrolet cars in India have been on the rise since then!

Was it purely coincidental, huh? As a matter of fact, the Chevrolet Aveo that Saif Ali Khan drove in the movie was part of an endorsement-cum-marketing package estimated at Rs2.5 crore.

Welcome to the world of ‘in-film advertising’. It is the use of a product's name, package, signage or other trademarks in movies. In India, the phenomenon kick-started in 1973 when Rishi Kapoor rode a yellow Rajdoot bike in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby. In the recent Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster hit, ‘Chak De India’, brands such as McDonalds, Puma, Bisleri and UltraTech Cement were involved in in-film brand placement. To add to the list are recent movies such as Don (which promoted Tag Heuer watches, Motorola, Garnier, Citibank, Oakley sunglasses, Louis Philippe outfits), Dhoom: 2 (which promoted Coke, Pennzoil, Pepe, Sony, Disney channel, Sugar Free, McDonald’s, Speed, Suzuki Zeus) and Lage Raho Munnabhai (featuring Worldspace, IOCL, Go Air, MSN, Good Day, Kurkure, Bright Outdoor, Reliance Communications) to name a few.

Such engagements between films and brands are a trend these days. On one hand, it helps film producers, who are always hard-pressed for cash, raise some extra dough. In fact, the sponsoring brand also takes care of the marketing and advertising needs of their films. In case of Ta Ra Rum Pum, the sponsoring brands launched a series of TV commercials, radio jingles, print advertisements, contests and quizzes around the film, its cast and NASCAR on the Internet and extensive on-ground events to generate amazing hype for the movie. On the other hand, for the brands, it is an opportunity to cash in on the popularity of big film actors, who would have charged high fees if they were to engage them individually. Apart from this, companies feel that their brands connect on an emotional level with the audience if placed in a film. Essentially, it presents a win-win situation for both the parties.

If a brand misses out the opportunity for in film placements, it can still leverage upon the movie’s equity by means of ‘below the line activities’. In a recent publicity campaign called the “Jhoom Barabar - Slice Uthakar” contest conducted by the movie Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and beverage brand Slice, viewers had to make their own video dancing to the tune of the title song of the movie and the best entries got the chance to meet Abhishek Bachhan and Preity Zinta. Similarly, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna tied up with Hewlett Packard and offered buyers of Compaq Presario laptops a chance to win a range of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna merchandise and Shah Rukh Khan’s posters. Mauj Telecom, a leading wireless solution launched its mPremier service (which offered exclusive content of Karan Johar’s film Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna). The service was launched a day before the movie was released in theatres.

In addition to this, a brand can also use the ‘celebrity endorsements’ route. In a country which has always idolized the stars of the celluloid world, it makes tremendous sense for a brand to procure a celebrity for its endorsement. Perhaps endorsements work because the majority of people seek recognition. Buying a product that a famous person wears or uses connects a person to their fame and status. Celebrity endorsement transfers the personality and status of the celebrity directly to the brand.

India is considered a collectivist culture, so individuals operate as part of one or more collectives (e.g., family, co-workers, and peers) and are 'primarily motivated by the norms of, and duties imposed by, those collectives. However, given their desire to stand out from others and the hierarchical nature of the caste system, Indians may be considered vertical collectivists Related to vertical collectivism is the cultural dimension- power distance, on which India scores high, demonstrating that status and knowing one's place in the hierarchy are important.

The ramifications for verticality and power distance include the propensity to look up to successful people in the hierarchy, such as celebrities as role models. India conforms to this pattern.

Asian Paints, one of the leading paint brands in the Asian market, used Saif Ali Khan to endorse their product and their growth increased by 29% in value terms.

Titan Watches chose Aamir Khan to portray their brand more as a lifestyle product than as a commodity. The campaign helped Titan achieve a growth of 45% in volume sales and 52% in value.

Celebrities are no doubt good at generating attention, recall and positive attitudes towards advertising and also impart credibility and aspirational values to a brand, but the celebrity needs to match the product. Grant McCracken has proposed the Meaning Transfer Theory which explains that a celebrity encodes a unique set of meanings which if well used can be transferred to the endorsed product. Such a transfer takes place in three stages– encoding meanings, meaning transfer, meaning capture:

I. Encoding Meanings: Each celebrity has a unique set of meanings, which can be listed by age, gender, race, wealth, personality or lifestyle. In this way, the celebrities encode a set of meanings in their image. For example Preity Zinta can be seen as a lively, charming, bubbly, witty and enthusiastic.

II. Meaning Transfer: This stage transfers those meanings to the product. When skillfully portrayed, celebrities can communicate this image more powerfully than lay endorsers.

III. Meaning Capture: This assumes that consumers purchase products not merely for their functional value but also for their cultural and symbolic value. The theory says that consumers buy the endorsed product with the intention of capturing some of the desirable meanings which celebrities have passed on to the product. This is more eminent in lifestyle products like clothes, perfumes, cell phones etc.

Thus, it is of prime importance to select the celebrity with the right set of attributes for a particular product or what we call as the strategic fit. The Bollywood actor, John Abraham, is the face of Titan’s Fast Track sunglasses. The ad campaign reflects the brand- stylish and contemporary, which fits well with John Abraham’s image. Rani Mukerji, the evergreen girl-next-door, sells Munch, Slice and Aveo as well. Such actors/actresses stand for certain specific values and hence, they cater only to products of specific niches.

Imagine John Abraham selling Dabur Chyawanprash!

However, there are certain celebrities like Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh Khan who stand for aspirational values (like class, social image) and their high appeal cuts across gender, age and socio-economic groups.

Some filmmakers also use intensive “buzz marketing” before the release of a movie. They use means like rumors relating the star casts, showing some goof-ups on the sets on TV, “making of the movie”, online games and contests, free tickets for a few selected people, movie previews, glamorous pre-release parties and scandals, at times, to create a widespread word of mouth publicity amongst the audience. Well planned marketing tactics like shock publicity (e.g. the high budget of the movie, telling that the movie is a real story, showcasing some accident on the sets), viral marketing (e.g. fake stories of the movie are circulated online, prior to its release) are carefully executed to get the desired attention of the audience.

Apart from all the above, film merchandising has also emerged as another field of interest amongst filmmakers. After the release of the movie Krrish, an intensive campaign for merchandising of Krrish masks, lunch boxes and water bottles was launched. It takes the movie’s publicity campaign to the next level!

Indeed, the film business in India or the so called Bollywood has come of age. It has become more serious, techno savvy and brand conscious as well. Movies essentially carry out dedicated marketing and advertisement campaigns to stand out from the clutter and get some part of the consumer’s mind space. Brands have also identified the opportunity and are partnering with preferred film makers and actors/actresses to make leverage their brand equity.

All you marketing enthusiasts out there,

“BOLLYWOOD CALLING”.

Anyone listening?