Bollywood and its out-of-the-box promotional strategies
While, earlier, film promotions in Bollywood were quite run of the mill stuff, limited to holding press conferences and launching trailers and hoardings, now the industry is finding more innovative and interactive means of promoting their films before the release. On their part, stars are not stopping at just saying their lines, and are taking a much more active role as well. From non stop promotions on social media, to touring the country incognito, cooking for the co-star, and creating hook up and break up rumours, we take a look at some interesting film promotions in Bollywood:
Ki and Ka: With a release date set for April 1, the actors of R. Balki’s romatic comedy drama, Ki and Ka, have been going all out promoting their film. Actor Arjun Kapoor, who plays a house-husband in the film, was seen cooking for his on-screen wife, Kareena Kapoor as part of its promotions, on Women’s Day. Celebrity chef, Sanjeev Kapoor, had also been roped in for a cooking lesson with Arjun Kapoor, who has been learning how to cook for the film.
Three Idiots: Aamir Khan is most definitely one of the most innovative actors in the industry, and one who takes his promotions very seriously. Hence, it was no wonder when he came up with a unique concept for the promotion of his 2009 superhit, Three Idiots. He launched a game titled, ‘Track Aamir’, where he took up a pan-India tour, in disguise. He went to remote villages in MP and Gujarat, visited Varanasi, Kolkata and Jaipur, and interacted with the people in these places. In Kolkata, he went to cricketer Saurav Ganguly’s house, disguised as a fan, with long hair and tattoos, insisting on meeting him. Fans were also kept updated of the hunt through social media. Another unique technique was to hire 10,000 rickshaws, across the country, for the promotion, with many of them sporting tickers saying, ‘Capacity:3 Idiots’.
Bewakoofiyan: For the promotion of Yash Raj Film’s Bewakoofiyan, a contest was organised, titled ‘Get a Job @YRF’, which gave contestants the opportunity to apply for a job at the production house. Interestingly, the final round of the interview was conducted by the film’s actors – Sonam Kapoor and Ayushman Khurrana. The interview saw a number of applicants, creating a lot of buzz in the media.
Ghajini: For the film Ghajini, Aamir Khan, whose character sported a bald look, walked around with the haircut much before the film was released, and even had tie ups with multiplexes where the staff had their hair cut done in similar fashion. So, when someone went to watch a film, they would be welcomed by staff sporting the Ghajini haircut.
Ra.One: While Shah Rukh Khan’s superstardom is, in itself, a major marketing tool, the actor left no stones unturned for the promotion of his film, Ra.One. With a marketing budget of Rs 52 crores, the film’s promotion was one of the most expensive ones in Bollywood. Shah Rukh Khan took a 36-city tour in India and some foreign locations to promote his film. Around Rs 15 crores was spent on digital marketing alone, and Ra.One became one of the first Bollywood films to incorporate gaming in its marketing strategy, when it released Ra.One – The Game for Sony PlayStation.
Ragini MMS2: Actress Sunny Leone sizzled while dancing to the song Baby Doll in a bird cage for the promotion of her horror-thriller 3D film, Ragini MMS 2. The actress also visited the sets of television show, ‘Fear Files: Darr Ki Sacchi Tasveer’, a horror reality show based on real life incidents.
2 States: Actress Alia Bhatt had a very unique way of promoting her film – 2 States. She surprised her followers when she invited them for her engagement on Twitter. But, the engagement card turned out to be an invitation to watch the trailer of the film, which is a north meets south love story. The tweet became viral, and helped the trailer gain many viewers.
Kahani: Her fans were in for a pleasant surprise when they saw Vidya Balan with, what looked like, a pregnant belly. However, the belly was a prosthetic one that Vidya had been wearing for the promotion of her film, Kahaani. During the film’s promotions, Vidya would often be seen mingling with the crowd in railways, bus stands, and other public places with the pregnant belly, carrying a sketch of her on-screen missing husband, and asking people to help in finding him. In another unique game, developed by social networking site, Ibibo.com, titled The Great Indian Parking Wars, players were required to park Vidya’s taxi on a street. The game received 50,000 hits in 10 days.
Khamoshiyan: For the erotic thriller, Khamoshiyan, debutant actress Sapna Pabbi, held midnight chats with men as part of the film’s promotions. While the chat was fun and flirty, the questions were filtered. The film’s actors, Pabbi, Gurmeet Choudhary and Ali Fazal, also became part of an outdoor installation on the busy carter Street in Mumbai, as a part of its promotion.
Udaan: To promote Udaan, which was a coming of age film, producer Anurag Kashyap, and UTV, held a survey, in collaboration with an online survey platform, surveymonkey.com, to get an insight into the minds of teenagers. The survey found that one in five teens watches porn before age 13; one out of five claims to have had sex; 90 per cent believe in premarital sex, with 45 per cent of girls opting for abortions.
Image credit: Yahoo, Yogen Shah, Twitter
