Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Sep 06, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Sep 06, 2006 |
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Marketing
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Online Marketing Variety - Cinema Bollywood logs on to the Net to promote films Swetha Kannan
While on TV, the ad comes and vanishes, on the net the promotion is up there for a period of time and can be accessed any time.
Bangalore , Sept. 5 Bollywood moviemakers are waking up to the possibility of exploiting the Internet to give their movies a slick tech edge. Movie sites may not be a new phenomenon, but movie promotion certainly is, with film producers queuing up online in large numbers to market their movies. And on offer are smarter and interactive sites with activities galore — games, contests and blogs — with superior multimedia effects and crisper audio/video packing quite a punch. Take for instance, the promotion of the movie Lage Raho Munnabhai on MSN India's Web site (www.msn.co.in) . While the desktop TV airs video clippings from the movie, the `Specials' column features a dedicated Web link for Munnabhai. This includes regulars such as storyline, information on star cast, crew, music, photos and screensavers, apart from promos, contests and interactive features such as the Windows Live Messenger. (Windows Live Messenger lets you add Munnabhai Bot (a smart character) on MSN messenger's contact list — this lets you talk to Munnabhai, answer his riddles and win movie tickets, CDs and cassettes.)
multiplex audience
Industry observers say to tap the growing multiplex audience — which is young, net-savvy and with money to spend — producers need to market their movies online. Says Mr Rajnish R, Head - Digital Marketing Revenue and Strategic Business, MSN India: "People who use the Internet are twice likely to go watch movies in multiplexes (than those who do not). So, the adoption of online media is attractive to new age producers, who themselves are net-savvy." Says Ms Tanvi Modi, V-P - Marketing, Movie Talkies, a media agency for the entertainment industry, "There was a time when producers felt Web Sites should be paying them for using their content. But now, Internet is a huge promotion tool and producers are willing to pay to reach out to a particular set of audience."
Innovation, interaction
Innovation and interaction are key to engaging the Net user. For instance, to promote Kabhin Alvida Na Kahana (KANK), the entire song `Where's the party tonight' was featured on MSN's desktop TV; MSN also designed a theme pack on Messenger based on characters from the movie. While RDB's characters wrote interactive blogs, Anthony Kaun Hai ran an online contest with the winners meeting the cast of the film. Mr Nikhil Panchamiya, producer, Anthony Kaun Hai, says especially for a movie like Anthony Kaun Hai with an urban theme, it made sense to promote it online. "While on TV, the ad comes and vanishes, on the net the promotion is up there for a period of time and can be accessed any time." Sites such as Rediff and Hungama also promote movies heavily. And the usage pattern reveals lot of movie research is done online, says Mr Rajnish. Ms Preeti Desai, COO - Digital Business, Hungama, which has featured movies such as Home Delivery and Corporate, says: "Bollywood movie sites developed by us attract 1-12 million page views a month. Average time spends on a movie site range from 14-32 minutes."
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