Brilliant brands in Bollywood
Importance of packaging and marketing are still not dominant forces in Indian cinema. Small and medium budget films still adopt the traditional policies of distribution channels and advertising to promote their film. It is only the big banners that have realized the true potential of content marketing and brand building to ensure market success for a film.
Popular trends suggest that a calculative approach to building a marketing plan ensures success for any film worldwide. There are several levels on which this planning needs to be implemented. Starting with the name and moving on to filter distribution channels to ensure the right Target Audience watches the film. Other variants like co-promotions and in-movie product placements can also be influential in building revenues for the film.
The Marketing & Distribution in Indian Cinema session at FICCI Frames’ day one was put in motion by Andrew Heffernan, Group CFO, Eros International puts as he simply stated, “Chances of a bad movie with good marketing and great distribution being successful, is more than that of a good movie with poor marketing and distribution.”
Hefernan explored the possibilities of alternate modes of distribution. “Even something like a YouTube can make a difference. If you have used the medium and what it offers well enough, you have created a good chance to create a runaway success,” he elaborated. Bobby Srinivasan of Roamware explained, “With mobile literally becoming a fourth screen and the web mediums picking up, you really need to know how to constantly do something different for a movie. New technologies have led to a paradigm shift that cannot be ignored and really is an opportunity.”
Shedding more light on marketing in the movie business, Kaleidoscope’s Bobby Bedi said, “You have to be sure that your marketing is not just attracting attention but the right kind of attention. If you have the wrong people watching the movie in the first week, you may get the opening numbers but after that, you would see a downfall because of the negative word of mouth that a wrong target audience can create.” The film’s name and the images used in promos are some of the first steps of a right marketing plan and Bedi explained this point through examples like Saathiya. The next step is finding the ‘star’ of the movie. “The star can be an actor, the theme, the subject or the music,” said Bedi. He also spoke on the importance of getting the right media attention. A film should make headlines for something that is associated with it and not for sleazy limelight. P9’s Navin Shah stepped in with a case study that validated the importance of content branding. Giving the example of Krish, he explained that the movie became a Rs 500 crore brand by associations with different brands and co-promotion. He explained that some steps have to be taken right at the onset of the movie, to make a successful brand by associations with already existant brands. “In the case of Krish, of course, they went the extra mile by even creating merchandising,” observed Shah.
Manmohan Shetty, Chairman, Adlabs, who was moderating the session summed up the details in a nutshell. “Marketing and distribution are becoming fundamental pillars, but if you don’t have the content right, you are really not going anywhere,” he remarked.
D wave of contemporary cinema
India has seen the emergence of the Multiplex revolution, as major cities and towns are choc-a-bloc with multiple screen halls. As is the case with technology, another change is on the cards and it’s going to take Indian cinema into a scope of digital brilliance. Incorporation of digital projectors and its relative technology is promising to breathe a new life of vigour into the Indian exhibition and distribution business of cinema.
‘Cinema of the future - India Going Digital’ was the session on Day one of FICCI Frames, that highlighted the dazzling possibilities of exhibiting Indian movies through a digital medium. Audiences would experience sheer joy while watching vivid and sharp visuals of their favourite actors.
Bill Jasper, CEO, Dolby Laboratories, USA was the first speaker and he immediately stressed on the point of developing standards of digital cinema.
He was critical in his approach of explaining DCI’s (Digital Cinema Initiative) policies in administering the digital cinema frontier in USA. He also touched upon the shortcomings of certain important technical decisions taken by DCI and firmly maintained that due to administrative hurdles, the phenomenon of Digital Cinema would hardly be as effective as it’s potential promise. He ended with a quote, stating “Digital Cinema would prove more beneficial to lawyers, as they would make more money out of it than the raging exhibitors and distributors”
Nancy Fares, Business Manager, DLP Cinema Products, USA was not savvy about DCI standards either. But that did not stop her from highlighting the positives of digital cinema in the year gone by. “The number of digital cinema screens around the world grew to 3,700 from just 1,200 the year before” exclaimed Fares. She also maintained a view that D cinema had several advantages that would support the growth of Indian cinema.
Next in the spotlight was Raaja Kanwar, VC, UFO Moviez. Kanwar was also critical about DCI but he differed in his views of D cinema prospects from Jasper. He believed UFO Moviez had alternate solutions that had enabled successful implementation of digital cinema in exhibition business across the globe. He staunchly maintained a view that DCI standards were in accordance to North American need and not global trends. Kanwar went on to explain that “UFO has successfully provided patrons across the country with digital cinema at an affordable price of Rs 200. Going by DCI standards would have increased this cost up to five times and would prove hazardous in recovering costs for exhibitors as well”
Shravan Shroff’s Shringar Cinemas has already made headines in the past with its affiliation with big budget films like Salaam-e-Ishq. Shroff was optimistic about the prospects of D cinema as well, as he stated “We already have a digital cinema setup installed and running successfully in an A-level area in Mumbai. It is very pleasing to note that D cinema truly holds a great window of successful business prospects for all people associated with films, be it the audience, exhibitor, distributor or producer. I strongly believe that with further developments digital cinema would see a big boom in the Indian exhibition scenario of films”
There were never second thoughts about the fact that, at the apex of the business of entertainment sat the producers. And so among the panelists was Ritesh Sidhwani, producer of films like Dil Chahta Hai, Don and Honeymoon Travels. He was of the opinion that digital cinema broadened the horizons of business in entertainment as it reduced costs of production and distribution.
John Schreiner, VP Sales, IMAX Canada concluded the panelists addresses by maintaining that digital cinema incorporated brilliant prospects of advanced visuals and sound systems that would woo the audiences of the future. He also supported the thought of D cinema evolving the possibilities of 3D cinema.
The insightful session was summed up and concluded with a rapid-fire Q&A as every panelist heeded to the thought that digital cinema spelt the future of Indian cinema trends with respect to both exhibition and production.
To be cont’d.