Bollywood ‘Don’ing on ad-land?
Keep a tab as hot and spicy film trailers replace storylines of ad campaigns...

(column by Surabhi Agarwal)

Remakes and sequels might be the flavour of the day, but in-film placements are surely a hit! Try and recall some films released this year and you’d literally marvel at the host of images that pop-up in your head – of a DJ aka Aamir Khan sitting at a dhaba (with walls painted of ‘Coca- Cola’ ads) or of the new age ‘Don’ on a sleek ‘Motorazr’ or even more clearly of a reborn Munnabhai alias Sanjay Dutt wooing his lady love in a ‘WorldSpace’ studio!

As the corporate world gets more and more hinged onto Bollywood, in-film placements, special offers and events around latest releases are becoming more or less a norm. But, some out there are not content with just their product’s screen presence in the film, or with celeb endorsements, they are continuously yearning for more... So the next time you are glued to the idiot box, count the number of ads that have altered their story lines to fit in a few clips or songs of some latest Bollywood flick.

In the latest commercial of Coca-Cola, Hrithik Roshan is back as the brand ambassador after a long gap. His film Dhoom-2’s release is drawing nearer and the TVC seamlessly makes way for the trailers of the action movie. Even the tag-line of the cola-drink has changed to Dhoom Machaley.

The recently released Don had a slew of products weaved into its story line. While brands like Motorola, Oakley, Louis Philippe, Compaq, etc. had cameos in the film, TAG Hueur went a step further and launched TAG Heuer Monaco 69 watches (designed specially around the film) along with print ads (flashed all over the media) of ‘Don’ wearing the watch. Says, Shahnawaz Khan of Tag Hueur, “The base of Bollywood is huge and the association surely helps a niche product like ours.”

Almost similar was the case with the recently released film ‘Vivah’ from the Barjatya banner. Amrita Rao, who plays the female lead in the film is the brand endorser of the jewellery brand ‘D’damas. And as the film hit theatres, D’damas altered its regular ads to fit in posters and trailers of the candyfloss film. D’damas (just like TAG Hueur) came out with a special Vivah collection.

But consider a special case. Despite having no deal inked with Don, L’oreal veiled its global face Aishwarya Rai and instead flashed its another ambassador Kareena Kapoor’s ads with song clippings of ‘Yeh Mera Dil’ from Don fitted in.

“An ad might not be noticed otherwise, but if it has Bollywood action, it gives it the ‘aha’ feel and eyeballs are almost sure,” strongly advocates an advertising professional. Sooraj Barjatya, Director of ‘Vivah’, on the other hand, talks of how films benefit from such associations. He told a publication that D’damas “has come in as a media partner and enabled us to promote Vivah on TV as well as print. It’s a win-win situation for both.”

Considered as one of the strictly followed religions in India, Bollywood certainly seems to have become the latest ad tool of corporate India.

(End of Surabhi Agarwal column)

Foot-tapping expansions...
...proving variety is indeed the spice!

(column by Angshuman Paul)

Shoes won Cinderella her prince, but seems that cashing-in on mere footwear is not how players earn those princely revenues. Adidas and Nike have already set precedents and now it is the turn of other footwear majors to follow the suit. Shoe companies are currently on a product portfolio expansion spree (thus culminating into brand expansion spree) and are merrily expanding to accommodate not just footwear but other essentials of haute couture as well, including garments and accessories.

Leading sports shoemaker, Puma, recently opened its exclusive retail outlet in the capital and unveiled its plan to unleash a range in the pret-a-porter segment. Talking to 4Ps B&M, Rajiv Mehta, MD, Puma reasoned, “Having a complete set of accessories and sportswear does help to address the consumer more easily. Moreover, now we have exclusive retail outlets, so it’s a must to stack apparels too.”

Catching on fast to the latest trend in the industry, premium footwear brand, Red Tape, recently launched casuals and lounge-wear. The company plans to open as many as 50 retail outlets by 2006. Talking about the company’s plan, Shuja Mirza, VP (Marketing), Red Tape explains, “We want to be a fashion brand and that’s not possible if you sell only shoes.”

The Tatas too were not to be left behind and have struck a deal with German shoe-maker Lloyd in addition to the recent opening of a showroom in Mumbai. And if the ambitions of shoes companies are escalating, then apparel bigwigs too are not losing out on the change drive to complete their product basket with other offerings. Quite recently, Madura Garment forayed into the footwear market with ranges coined after their popular brands like Peter England, Louis Phillipe, Allen Solly and Van Heusen et al. In the same league, Arvind brands is cashing in on the shoe segment with their brands Nautica and Gant.

Well, as each player tries to expand its portfolio offered, it will not be surprising to witness all the current well-known garment brands establish more taglines in the near future in search of more variety & revenues.

(End of Angshuman Paul column)

Bengaloored!

(column by Surabhi Agarwal)

The lore of the King, boiled beans and thus the name ‘Bendakalooru’ has almost become a family legend now, at least for those who are related to India's Silicon Valley in some way or the other. In a country where every trivial issue is a cause for controversy, the proposed name change of Bangalore to Bengaluru (which will come to effect from next year) has, as expected, created a lot of hullabaloo. While a majority of locals have applauded the decision, the pub hopping BPO crowd and the honchos of the IT industry seem un-amused. “In foreign countries, Bangalore written at the bottom of a letter head has a unique value. Why do these people want to take away its identity by the rechristening,” reasons a local.

With cities like Hyderabad and Chennai attracting more IT clients, will the name change really affect business? David Appasamy of Sify seems unperturbed, “When a client invests in a city, he takes multi parameters into consideration and a mere name does not make much of a difference. Gopalakrishnan P. K., GM, Wipro agrees, but adds, “It will add unnecessary expenditures to the company accounts and to the city.” Rangaswami, a BPO Consultant sums it up for 4Ps B&M, “A name change will not change the cosmopolitan culture of the city. Locals will keep calling it Bengaluru as they anyway do and people like us will call it Bangalore, as we can’t relate to the new name.” Well, our take on this What’s in a name?

(End of Surabhi Agarwal column)

Yahoo!’s many ‘AD’ventures!
The life, style and ads of Yahoo...

(column by Arun M)

With the minds behind Google delivering solid blows on a regular basis to all the others players in online community, things are no more ‘Yahoo’ for majors like Yahoo, Rediff and Hotmail. Apart from catching up with the latest and devising counter attacks, Yahoo! (one of the pioneers) is out to grab more mindspace these days.

Yahoo! launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign promoting its products (especially its core services Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Personal). This move, though very unconventional for a web based service provider, flaunts a tagline of “do you Yahoo?” and brings out the essence of ‘life with and without Yahoo!’.

The ad campaign also showsoff the company’s investments made into Yahoo Personals, an online community where people can find old and new friends, chat, date or converse. This new service from Yahoo! Works on a subscription model which explains Yahoo!’s shift from an ad-driven revenue model.

Apart from the media glare that the company is generating through its ads, Yahoo has also inked a blockbuster deal with Microsoft and has reached an agreement to share its Instant Messaging (IM) users with Microsoft’s messenger, Windows Live Messenger. But, what has come as a surprise to many is the latest move of Yahoo! To float a website (Yahoo foods) which offers recipes, expert chef advice, video cooking guides and many user-friendly web tools for answering questions.

This move further ascertains Yahoo!’s inclination towards lifestyle-based products and services as a part of its innovation manoeuvres. Well, this strategy might as well give them the much needed boost they vie for.

(End of Arun M column)

Thumbs Up’s new ‘thunder’!

(column by Romsha Singh)

After the cola controversy, guess why the ‘Toofani’ drink from the stable of Coca-Cola is making news? Well Thumbs Up has recently launched an ad campaign featuring Kunal Kapoor (of film Meenakshi and Rang De Basanti fame). The new ‘Thunder lad’ of the cola drink – a very dandy and rugged looking Kunal Kapoor seems completely in place considering the celeb endorsers of the drink in the past like Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty.

While the fresh face is creating the desired excitement in the industry, many are left wondering about the fate of Mr. Khiladi aka Akshay Kumar as Thumbs Up's brand ambassador. But to the relief of the Kumar fans, he hasn't yet bid farewell to Thumbs Up and continues to reign supreme as its sturdy brand ambassador. According to a Coca-Cola spokesperson, “The creative element of the ad demanded a new face, therefore we decided to take Kunal Kapoor. But Akshay Kumar still remains our brand ambassador.” A fairly new face in the industry, Kunal already has an apparel brand ‘Indian Terrain’ under his kitty and is now adding the required flavour to this carbonated brand. Here’s a thumbs up to this new ‘Thunder lad’!

(End of Romsha Singh column)

Sound travels faster than light!

Word of mouth can create blockbusters and also destroy box office collections. Does Bollywood realise? Sound travels faster than light! Don’t rub your eyes yet. You read it right. This is not any figment of our imagination. This is a truth. The build up to the Shahrukh Khan starrer, Don, was one of the biggest and the most talked about in recent times. It occupied more space in all mediums than most other products that have been launched in the recent times. Definitely more space in the collective minds of the entire nation, maybe even across the world. Thanks to the immense popularity of Shahrukh Khan and high decibel marketing, the opening was predictable; houseful across the world. Opening weekend records were unprecedented. But surprisingly, the tables turned in just about seventy two hours of the release of the film.

There was also an unprecedented drop in the collections in no time. What went wrong?! Did the marketers lose steam immediately after the release? Nah! They, in fact intensified their efforts. The nation, it seemed was in trance with the chants and talks of Don. But it could not save the film from losing collections. Some theories floating around claim that the film has made its money. Maybe, maybe not. That’s not the concern. At least, not ours. But why did the marketing efforts suddenly get so alienated?! That’s our immediate concern. There were some criticisms of the film by experts who reviewed the film in popular public domain. But that could not have done the damage. One has seen that in Main Hoon Na, starring the same actor. That film did not go well with most film-critics across the country, but the film went on to become a blockbuster. What probably worked in the favour of Main Hoon Na and went against Don is the most immensely powerful effect of the ‘word of mouth’. Yes, it travels faster than light. The follow up campaign to the release of Don claiming the film to be a hit reached much later than the feedback of the people who came out of the theatres from the first few shows. Even more bizarre was the case when people, who had not seen the film, started spreading their verdict against the film. Word of mouth rules. And that, unfortunately, is left to the viewers’ subjective evaluation of the film. In fact, most campaigns are seen by the prospective cine goers as overt attempts by the marketers to convince them to buy tickets to the film. It’s a marketer’s worst nightmare. Research reveals that people in general have strange ways of deciding to go for a film. And that could be just based on the first look of the film, maybe in a poster. Hollywood does spend a lot of time researching and working on the key-art of a film, the look of the film that is consistently maintained and exposed to draw attention and convince.

Some Indian film marketers are also now seriously working on that. And the decision could also be based on word of mouth. That did happen in the case of Munnabhai MBBS. The film did not have as great an opening, but it went on to become one of the landmark hits in recent times. What worked in its case was a positive word of mouth. So was the case in the recent release of Khosla Ka Ghosla. In fact for this film, the promoters had to increase the print runs twice to cater to the demands of the increased attention that the film was getting. All because of a strong word of mouth. But it does affect other product categories as well.

Holiday destinations, restaurants, retail outlets, gaming arcades are also as affected. Any such product which is not necessarily bought or consumed as much for a functional utility, as for the experience, gets strongly affected by word of mouth. A buyer trusts the endorsement of a fellow buyer. The above mentioned products/services, however have an option of a re-launch, re-positioning. Films however do not enjoy that. Film marketers need to take a serious look into the power and strength of word of mouth. And maybe even believe that sound travels faster than light.