The Hindu Business Line : Also starring ... brands

MARKETERS often state there are two religions in the country — cricket and films. Little wonder advertisers are often at pains to connect with either through their communication strategies. And with the men in blue now in lacklustre form, it is the latter which seems to have come to the forefront.

Segments such as consumer durables and FMCG, which used to be predominantly the domain of cricketers, are increasingly seeing the entry of brand ambassadors from cinema. In consumer durables, for example, while LG has roped in actor Zayed Khan, Samsung has signed on John Abraham for its mobile phones. Whirlpool India has already roped in film celebrity couple Ajay and Kajol Devgan. At the same time corporate houses are also splashing moolah on strategic in-film product/brand placements, making the concept more a norm than exception these days.

In fact, an official from LG Electronics says the company is going in for in-film placements in three forthcoming releases. And industry officials add that almost every new release has about 3-4 in-film placements. But, more and more marketers are going beyond these conventional strategies and are adopting innovative techniques including co-promotions with movies to leverage the Bollywood appeal for their brands.

For instance, the recent ads of Aviva Life Insurance had superstar Amitabh Bachchan stating Aviva's punchline "Jiyo har pal, karo kal par control." Similarly, the campaign for Fa deodorants has shots of actors Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan. None of these three actors are brand ambassadors for the brands, though. In both the cases, specially edited screenshots of the movies the actors were starring in were used in the brand campaign, thereby generating publicity for both the brand and the movie. Says Vivek Khanna, Director (Marketing), Aviva Life Insurance, "The association we had with the film Viruddh was an innovative media tie-up. The innovation of making Amitabh Bachchan say `Kal par control' and `Kya aap zindagi ke chotte bade surprises ke liye taiyar hai?' is a first of its kind."

Marketers point out this strategy is a win-win for both the brand and the movie. While the brand does not need to dole out much for using clips of popular actors, the movie's advertising is not restricted to the reserved slot time and the film producer is also able to reduce marketing costs.

In what is said to be one of the biggest such deals in the Tamil film industry, Tata Indicom associated itself with the recent Rajnikanth blockbuster Chandramukhi, and reportedly spent over Rs 2 crore in the joint campaigns through hoardings, showroom promotions and offer of ringtone downloads and video clips.

The co-promotion fever is picking up in the Tamil film industry too, says B. Mugunthan, who runs Royal Add Vision, which brings together corporate brands and film producers and ensures co-ordination between the two.

Couple of years back, Mugunthan would have been happy with two projects for the entire year but now he handles four at a time. The growth indicates the revival of the Tamil film industry as also corporates' increasing realisation of the power of star appeal, he says.

"Conventional movie marketing is restricted to specific time slots. However, there needs to be synergy be<147,1,7>tween the brand and the movie for this strategy to work," says Ajay Mehta of Interactive Television Pvt Ltd.

Increasingly, the co-promotions are going a step further in providing visibility. ITC's foods division had come out with limited edition packs of Mint-O featuring shots of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai from the movie Kuch Na Kaho. Titan had come out with co-branded watches in a tie-up with The Rising — Ballad of Mangal Pandey while Fa has rolled out its deos in packs carrying shots from the recently released Salaam Namaste. Market watchers say several apparel retail chains are in talks to launch a range of apparel in tie-up with a yet-to-be-released production.

While these tie-ups may still be a far cry from international ones such as the famed tie-up between Disney and McDonald's (for Happy Meal promotions), market analysts point out that the scenario is changing. Industry officials add that such strategies may at times be more effective than in-film advertising as Bollywood is yet to master the art of blending advertising with the movie. "At times the in-film advertising is so in-your-face that the viewer gets put off. On the other hand, there are instances of blink-and-you-miss-it placements which leave the advertiser dissatisfied. However, if executed well, this strategy can be effective due to the long gestation period," says an industry analyst.

According to Interactive's Mehta, marketing tie-ups between movies and brands are fast gaining popularity, with this niche area growing at about 70 per cent annually. And the potential for growth is immense. "The current year has been particularly good as there have been about 11 hits so far this year. And it is not only because of content but the advent of the multiplex culture. The setting-up of multiplexes has resulted in the SEC A coming back to cinema halls, providing marketers a ready target group. And at last count, there were more than 150 new multiplexes coming up across the country," says Mehta. For example, a movie like The Rising, which had tie-ups with TVS, Titan and Kenwood, among other brands, got an opening across 400 screens. This has also resulted in the growth of cinema itself as a medium for advertising.

Recent studies have pointed out that cinema advertising is six times more effective than television advertising. "The communication is effective as a filtered audience comes to a multiplex. In addition, a Coke study has found that consumers spend about 15 per cent of their time at cinemas not watching the movie," says Mehta. A result of which cinema halls are fast emerging as a preferred choice for test marketing, inducing trials and product demos. Interactive, for instance, recently test-marketed Reckitt Benckiser's stain remover brand Vanish at 40 theatres in Andhra Pradesh, conducting product demos for about 4,000 people. The promotion also included screening the product commercials during the film. Consumer durables and two-wheeler companies are also aggressively utilising this growing medium to create awareness for their products. Surely, the revival of consumer interest in movies is helping to grow a parallel industry altogether.

Reporter Associate: Sriram Srinivasan

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