The Hindu Business Line : From screen to shelf

With Bollywood filmmakers becoming business-savvy and adopting new ways of recovering costs, film merchandising in India is poised to grow hand in hand with the booming retail sector. Making the most of the mutual benefits arising from such an association, Shoppers’ Stop has entered into a marketing agreement with the Shah Rukh Khan – Deepika Padukone starrer Om Shanti Om for its apparel rights. “The idea is to make wearable fashion available on the shop floor,” said Sheetal Choksi, Customer Care Associate & General Manager (Marketing & Communications). The line of clothing is inspired and not a copy, she emphasises.

The tie-up marks the launch of four brands for Shoppers’ Stop – Push & Shove, Mario Zignoti, Vettorio Fratini and Haute Curry. Prices start at Rs 750 and go higher than Rs 3,000. Each line has been inspired by the clothes worn by the stars in the film. The film spans the period from the Seventies to now, giving ample opportunity for unique styles to evolve under each brand.

Push & Shove represents SRK’s contemporary, edgy and cool look from the film, while debutant Deepika Padukone’s look has been translated into Haute Curry, a fusionwear brand. Mario Zignoti embodies the stylish young man who wears his attitude on his sleeve, like Shreyas Talpade, and Vettorio Fratini recreates Arjun Rampal’s look, which is power and courage in timeless comfort, or so goes the description. Shoppers’ Stop’s in-house designers worked in conjunction with the film crew to translate the fashion on screen to street wear. Each product has a removable hand tag of Om Shanti Om and visual merchandising is to play a crucial role in the marketing of the products. In addition, hoardings and a television commercial have been used to promote the new line of clothing.

The line has been launched much in advance of the film’s release. Choksi says, “The success of the film only impacts our sales to an extent, but customers will buy the clothes if they like them, regardless of the performance of the film.” The line will be available in the stores for not more than six weeks after the release of the film and is a limited edition. The brands will exist beyond these six weeks as Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate and CEO, Shoppers’ Stop, said, “Though we are not looking for profits from this line, it will definitely help us to connect with the customer who will return to our store to buy clothes, if he takes a liking to the style we offer.”

Shoppers’ Stop is clearly looking at this venture as a long-term brand building exercise. As Darshana Bhalla of Bates India, who facilitated the association, says, “There is no point in launching something for the sake of it as most retailers seem to be doing today. The focus should be on reliable quality.” A Warner Bros pen or key chain remains with a person for many years, and hence remembered, she explained.

While it helps a retailer to enhance its brands, the film maker gets to create revenues and promote the film through a closer touchpoint with the audiences, she added.

When Farah Khan, the director of Om Shanti Om, had wanted to make a fashionable film 14 months ago, she approached Shoppers’ Stop for a tie-up. “We wanted to associate with a brand that could accentuate and replicate the looks and style of Om Shanti Om in the right way. Shoppers’ Stop has all the expertise to recreate the magic and its exclusive brands fit the bill completely,” she said.

While Hollywood has mastered the art of film merchandising and makes more money through merchandising than actual ticket sales (as in the case of Transformers: The Movie, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jurassic Park), India has still a long way to go, says Bhalla.

Hollywood thrives on sales of toys and other paraphernalia like characters’ accessories from the movies. Bollywood is new to the game, but has managed a decent record. The Future Group, which owns and runs the Pantaloons and Big Bazaar chain of stores, has tied up with films such as Krishh, Tara Rum Pum, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and now Saawariya. In every instance, it has relied heavily on the film’s performance, unlike Shoppers’ Stop, which is not as concerned. A spokesperson for Future Group says, “The sales do get impacted by the success or failure of a particular film and so we have to be careful in choosing the right kind of film. Krishh did extremely well at the box office, which helped boost our sales too.” The retail house was able to more than recover the costs from the sales of the merchandise, he added.

Movie merchandising has, for some time now, been the prerogative of big-budget Bollywood films to supplement their marketing strategies. Dolls based on films such as Bhoot, Waqt, Koi Mil Gaya and Na Tum Jano Na Hum have become synonymous with the films through their presence in stores. Clothes and accessories worn by actors of Mein Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai, Pardes, Taal and Yaadein were sold at lifestyle outlets for limited periods of time.

Bollywood has come a long way from in-film placement of products that it was hooked onto for a long time. Differentiating between film merchandising and inspired product lines, Bates’ Bhalla says, “While both capitalise on the USP of the film, merchandising, to a large extent, is missing out on quality. Krishh, for example, ‘massified’ its offerings and did not pay attention to quality.” Quality consciousness will be the bet on which merchandising will succeed or fail in the long run, she said.

Again, while Hollywood can depend on sizeable revenues from merchandising, Bollywood has a long way to go, she believes. On revenue-sharing between a film and a retailer, she said that it works both on a minimum profit-sharing basis and percentage split. Also, until and unless the marketing is taken care of by the filmmaker, a tie-up will not be as profitable as possible.

“Shoppers’ Stop had the full support of Farah Khan, right from the lead actor pushing the product by walking the ramp to the retailer being brought in at the script stage itself.”

None of the players want to talk about the kind of revenues being generated from this particular tie-up but according to Bhalla, it should be enough at least to cover costs. Clearly, the link between Bollywood and merchandising will get stronger.

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From screen to shelf