Bollywood Jhooms to the Marketing Dhoom

Spider-Man 3 has been 2007’s only super hit at the Indian BO! Not the best of years for Bollywood, but the success of low-budget films has established the prowess of marketing for one and all to see... Sure, business suits & ties are commonplace in tinsel town nowadays and marketing strategies are crafted as carefully as plots are. But, can all this resurrect an industry which is still highly segmented, unprofessional and technologically lacking...

2006 was the year of Don and Umrao Jaan; of Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Krrish, Dhoom 2 and Phir Hera Pheri, bole toh of remakes and sequels. The year that was, to put it in Bollywood parlance, was a blockbuster year for the Indian film industry. While the debate on remakes raged on, films with conflicting views like Munna Bhai and Rang De Basanti won hearts. There were different takes on infidelity – while Omkara was a rugged spin off of Shakespears’ Othelo, Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna was a made-with-style tale of two NRI couples. Bollywood crazed janta poured in so much money into the Box Office that the list of top 20 grossers of the new millennium (2000-2006) has an astounding nine films released in 2006.

If last year was a watershed year of sorts then this year has been totally insipid by comparison. Till the month of June in 2006, one blockbuster (Krrish), 4 superhits (Fanna, RDB, Phir Hera Pheri, Malamaal Weekly) and several others that did average to above average business had been released. This year, there have been no blockbusters till now, only one superhit (Spider-Man 3) and some hits. While formula films like Tara Rum Pum failed to impress, there was a surprise hit – Life in a... Metro. This low budget film produced by UTV and directed by Anurag Basu has grossed Rs.14.4 crores and is still going strong. And according to Siddharth Roy Kapur of UTV, the film spent 80-85% of its cost of production on marketing!

The marketing blitzkrieg...

Marketing… yes, ever since the marketing bug bit Bollywood, business suits and ties have become commonplace in tinsel town. Production houses boast of CEOs and an army of marketing professionals (carefully picked from India Inc.). Marketing budgets have swelled to anywhere between half and as much as the production budget. Marketers armed with the latest promotional strategies are going the whole hog to sell films as they would sell brands. While once, producers depended on controversies to generate publicity, nowadays almost every single film that hits theatres (and multiplexes!) generates press, thanks to in-film-placements, product association, merchandising, on ground activities like contests et al. Promotions over the radio are routine and Internet is also happening. What’s more, the first week earnings account for a major part of a film’s revenues and various other rights like downloads, radio and TV rights, in-film placements, et al put a major percentage of the cost back into the producer’s hands even before the release. Tie-up with TV channels for pre and post release interviews, footage, interesting titbits, all add to the hype, generating a lot of unpaid publicity.

But wait a minute! While everyone is going gaga over how Bollywood is slowly getting corporatised, fact is that the hype may be a little self-congratulatory and a tad too early in the day, with only isolated big banners (who can afford all the marketing gizmos) benefitting, and the rest left seething in envy (including chunks of regional cinema). Here’s how...

While marketing May appear to be the reigning trend in tinsel town, apart from a few big producers (Yash Raj, Dharma Productions, UTV, Sahara One Motion Pictures, Pritish Nandy Communications- PNC), most of the industry is still reeling under low budgets and the age old tussle between distributors and producers. Rauf Ahmed, former editor of Filmfare says that sadly movie marketing still mostly depends on the ‘star attraction’ instead of other merits of the film. “The hero factor works a lot and stars are still the bestsellers in India,” he points out.

Yet, slowly things are changing. Small-budget films (or multiplex films) with good content (Bheja Fry, Life in a... Metro) are finding takers not only with discerning audiences but also with producers. So much so that big production houses like UTV and PNC have taken to making such small-budget films too, and as Ahmed says, “when they are producing the film, marketing is rest assured.” “10-20% of the budget of any film has to be spent on marketing. Some producers rope in bigger stars, whose presence generates the publicity, while others keep production costs low and spend generously on marketing,” adds Shashak Jare, CEO of Filmkraft Productions (Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, which set records in film merchandising).

But even with these developments, Bollywood has only just scratched the surface of its actual marketing potential. According to an IAMAI report, there are 37 million mobile users and 25 million Indians online… and the numbers are expected to swell to 165 million (55 million online users + 110 million mobile users) by the end of this year. Now, while the use of Internet for promotions (though limited) has started (Metro promoted itself through a tie-up with Shaadi.com), promotions over the mobile are still limited to wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones, et al. Though, downloads form a sizable part of the VAS industry which is already worth Rs.3,000 crores in India, the power of mobile advertising is still being overlooked.

Also, compare the promotional activities of a Bollywood film with that of a Hollywood film and you’ll know what we exactly mean. Their marketing budgets are humongous by comparison and Hollywood is not only promoting its films online, but also making money successfully by selling rights on Youtube and iTunes. Moreover, there are a host of other rights that they exploit namely, home video, IPTV, restaurants and pub rights, airlines, video on demand, cable rights. Though most of these rights exist in India, they are not fully exploited yet. Opines Rahul Merchant, GM – Business Development, P9 Integrated, “Hollywood has mastered the art of marketing. Moreover, they know how to build successful franchises like a Pirates or a Harry Potter, brand partnerships, merchandising, worldwide releases, special launches, they go the whole hog.” He wishes marketing in India could create brands like Hanuman or Krrish, which would live-on for generations.

And if you think that comparisons with Hollywood are unfair (after all Hollywood has a much wider reach), take the example of the Iranian film industry that produces lesser number of films, yet manages to make its mark globally. In contrast, Indian cinema’s global reach is still shackled within the NRI audience. “We live in two Indias… the exciting India of the here and now and the boring, dumb, timewarped India of the NRIs. One section of the industry caters to them, and successful as they may be, for us they span new horizons of regression,” says Pritish Nandy. “The Nagesh Kukonoor genre films do not reach there as they don’t have money to market it abroad. As far as finances are concerned, there is little help coming from the government,” adds Viraj Kalra, Vice President – New Businesses, Planman Motion Pictures.

A regional dichotomy

Recently, Rajnikant starrer Sivaji: The Boss, received astounding response. The film opened across 760 screens and it’s learnt that its advance bookings (for a record breaking three weeks) have accounted for Rs.2 crores. Sivaji is the country’s most expensive film till date (Rs.60-80 crores) and stars Rajnikant who has a mad fan following in the country. But, Sivaji is an exception that proves the rule.

The Indian film Industry (including regional cinema - Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam, Assamese) is the largest in the world, churning out a mindnumbing 800-1,000 films in a year. However, its identity is restricted to only Bollywood, which excludes regional cinema that together churn out almost 60% of the total number of films annually. Some like Aparna Sen (15 Park Avenue), Rituparno Ghosh (Raincoat), Mani Ratnam (Guru) have tried their hands at Hindi films and succeeded. For the others, regional is still the ‘world’ and making money a huge task. In the Kannada industry alone, for example, about 100 movies are released every year, but the success rate is below 5%.

If Sivaji created hysteria, it was not only because of Rajni’s fan following, but also the mix of traditional and modern marketing methods that the producers deployed. Tirupathi was chosen for Rajni to address his fans and elephants carried the first prints of the film, complete with all fan-fare; and Hutch- Essar distributed the VAS content of the film. Says Oscar Ravichandran, a prominent Tamil Producer, “Films like Sivaji, Dasavathaaram are coming up which are doing business of over Rs.100 crores. There are chances that the marketing trend of Bollywood may come up in Tamil. Perhaps it may happen in a year.”

What’s also stopping regional films from marketing themselves like Bollywood is the fact that these films have a restricted market. “Bollywood is into aggressively marketing as they have a pan India reach. They can spend a lot on television commercials as well. In Tollywood, the scene is different,” agrees Bengali film-maker Anjan Das.

Besides, though the Rs.85 billion (PwC-FICCI report) Indian film business has been given an industry status, it still falls under the media and entertainment sector. As far as banks financing of movies is concerned, Kalra says, “IDBI has been financing films however, their loans are only Rs.80 lakhs to Rs.1 crore which is not much. Moreover, there is a whole lot of red tape and paper work involved. By the time one completes the 200-250 pages worth of documents, one feels s/he has done a thesis on film making.” The other option is to approach private financers, and that’s precisely when underworld money starts rolling into the industry.

The silver lining

Of course, corporatisation is bringing in a lot more professionalism. Though still highly segmented, the emergence of giants like PNC, UTV, Yash Raj has given some direction and more are coming in. The multiplex boom has brought the crowd back to cinema halls. And since there’s a greater demand for films, and greater profits through routes other than just the box office, movie production and distribution is fast becoming a profitable proposition to many. So much that, Anil Ambani controlled Adlabs, earlier into film processing has expanded to distribution, multiplexes and even production. Yash Raj which was only in production, now distributes its own films, and has cut through the menace created by distributors.

Moreover, they are now scouting for theatres in various parts of the country. Grapevine has it that after deals with Microsoft (for content on the website) and Walt Disney (for producing animated films), Yash Raj is in talks with Mukesh Ambani to set up multiplexes all across the country. Even UTV has struck a co-production deal with Hollywood majors like 20th Century Fox, Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Pictures. Viacom which owns the Paramount and Dream Works’ Studios has also forged a deal with TV18 to produce and distribute films in India.

With the entry of these biggies, the dynamics of the entire industry is set to change. Already Indian production houses have started showing signs of adopting the studio model (where the crew, including the stars get a salary and not a fee; a n d post production is done inhouse) which is popular in the West. UTV has signed a three year contract with Priyanka Chopra, Adlabs has Hrithik Roshan and Vipul Shah (Rs.100 crores, 10 film deal). Yash Raj has agreements with Shimit Amin, Shaad Ali, Pradeep Sarkar, et al.

Yes! The industry is still grappling with many challenges... black money, lack of professionalism, inadequate infrastructure and technology, and even pure unawareness... but the silver lining is shining a shade stronger with every passing day. Are the movie buffs grinning already?