Cracking the buzz code
As 2016 comes to an end, HT Café speaks with trade analysts about films’ marketing strategies and how they helped makers generate a buzz
There was a time when audiences could only know what a movie was about only after it was released. Today, from the poster to a film’s final trailer, nearly everything is accessible on social media. As 2016 ends, we talk to trade a analysts about the changes in promotional strategies over the year, and how some uniqueu marketing worked well for films such as Dear Zindagi,Z Udta Punjab and MS D Dhoni: The Untold Story.
WHATW THE AUDIENCE WANTS
Trade analyst Akshay Rathi says that promotions were morem “interactive” in 2016 thanth they used to be. “A lot ofo promotional gigs such as hoardings don’t happen anymore, because they cost a bomb and don’t promise enough returns. Producers area beginning to cut costs,” heh says. Analysts also think itt doesn’t make sense to have theht same promotional strategy for two different films. “Producers have realisedr that not every film has to be promoted in a way that would appeal to everyone. Befikre appealed to the youth, so the promotional strategies were according to what the film is like,” trade analyst K Komal Nahta says.
EXPERTE TALK
In 2016, Dear Zindagi, Befikre,B MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, A Flying Jatt and Udta Punjab generated a lot of buzz with their promotions. Tiger Shroff ’s ‘Beat pe booty’ (A Flying Jatt) c challenge — a dance step — helped generate a lot of traction on social media for the film, especially as a lot of celebrities posted videos of themselves dancing to the song. MS Dhoni’s involvement in the promotions for his biopic helped build hype for the film. Nahta says featuring the cricketer and Sushant Singh Rajput in an advertisement was “a smart move”.
Speaking about marketing tactics, Nahta says, “With Dear Zindagi’s promotions, they didn’t cheat the audience. Right from the trailer, it was known that the relationship between Alia (Bhatt) and Shah Rukh (Khan) is not a romantic one. With Befikre, they wanted to reach out to the youth, and they did that by including kissing scenes in the trailer. For Udta Punjab, they made it clear with the trailer that the film would have swear words. Plus, the controversy with the censor board also helped,” he says.
RUN-OF THEMILL ACTS
Analyst Amul Vikas Mohan, however, has a different take on film promotions. He says the industry needs to adopt more innovative marketing techniques. “It’s the same thing every year. I don’t know who came up with the idea of actors going to Comedy Nights with Kapil or other shows to promote their films. We need to realise that these things don’t contribute to the film’s business. Rather, they help raise the ratings of these shows,” he says.
When asked what kind of strategies need to be adopted to bring about change, Mohan says, “We need better trailers, promos and interviews. India is a star-crazy country, and they need to be told what the actor’s film is about instead of other things.”