Movies Archives - Page 3 of 4

4 Experiential Marketing Tactics of popular films that you’ll want to know

By Dhileepan | February 3, 2018

Untitled collage — **4 Experiential Marketing Tactics of popular films that you’ll want to know**

To take a product or service to the customer, there are several types in Marketing. In which, there is one type that is gaining prominence of late. The type is none other than Experiential Marketing.

Experiential Marketing goes by this simple theory:

Find your target audience. Know what they expect from you. Create an experience around their expectation. Make them feel touched by your approach.

When you do all the above, you earn not alone customers but their loyalty too.

This has been the beauty of Experiential Marketing.

Always, you could spot interesting instances of Experiential Marketing in various industries. Film Industry is no exception. In my previous article, I shared my views on a couple of movie marketing campaigns that excited me. Today, I present another four tactics implemented for popular films by their producers.

Interactive chatbot by ‘Red Chillies Entertainment’ (RCE) for ‘Ittefaq’ and ‘Raees’:

There is one aspect that has become an integral part in the movie marketing of RCE. It is none other than its Facebook Messenger chatbot.

For example, consider that RCE has come up with content for its upcoming movie. Here, the content refers to a movie poster, teaser, trailer, video song or a promotional video. To take such content to its audience, the chatbot begins chatting with the person who has subscribed to it. The important aspect to note here is that the chat continues only when the person wishes to. If the person responds in a positive manner then the chatbot builds a lively interaction. In the course of the conversation, the bot shares the contents.

Ittefaq collage — **A collage featuring Akshaye Khanna, Sonakshi Sinha and Sidharth Malhotra from ‘*Ittefaq***‘

For RCE‘s latest movie, ‘Ittefaq’, the chatbot started a chat by posing as ‘Inspector Dev’. ‘Inspector Dev‘ (played by Akshaye Khanna) is one among the main characters in ‘Ittefaq’. This was as in the manner in which the chatbot triggered a conversation by posing as ‘Harry’ for ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’. In the course of the chat, the bot shared contents like posters, trailer and video song of the movie. Also shared in the chat was a promotional video titled, ‘An interrogation with Karan Johar‘.

Besides these contents, there were a couple of scenarios shared, for the audience to solve. At regular intervals, the chatbot presented the scenarios. Wherein, both the scenarios got based around the genre of the movie i.e. Mystery Thriller.

On the day before the movie’s release day, a short chat reminded to contain SPOILERS related to the movie. On the release day, the chatbot shared the movie’s ticket booking link.

User engagement by the chatbot doesn’t end with the above activities. It also recalls some moments from RCE‘s previous movies. And, it intertwines such moments with special days.

For last year’s Children Day, the chatbot conducted a quiz. In the quiz, few occasions from RCE’s movies accompanied the questions. GIF and JPEG images represented such occasions. Questions were on tapping the inner child that exists within every grown-up. The quiz, as a whole, appeared pleasing.

Later, the chatbot carried out a quiz marking a year since the release of the 2017 Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Raees’. The quiz included some trivial questions about the movie. This quiz to ‘measure’ one’s RQ i.e. Raees Quotient sounded pretty unique and catchy!

Marketing Journo

Creepy ‘Insidious‘ mazes in ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ at ‘Universal Studios Hollywood’:

The 2013 ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ featured the maze attraction, ‘Insidious: Into the Further’. The maze was based on the purgatory realm, ‘The Further’ that appears in the ‘Insidious‘ movies. Via this event, the audience got an opportunity to explore the ‘dark world’. They experienced the disquieting atmosphere that they had watched in the ‘Insidious’ movies. Few people of the event were in the guise of the frightening characters of the ‘Insidious’ movies. They scared the hell out of visitors. This made the ambience become even more eerier. This experience that was set as a lead-up to the theatrical release of ‘Insidious Chapter 2’ was a runaway hit.

The maze adventure opened again for the public in 2015 as ‘Insidious: Return to the Further’ and in 2017 as ‘Insidious: Beyond the Further‘. On both the occasions as well the mazes received a positive response from the fans of the franchise.

‘Into The Further A 4D Experience’ mobile tour for ‘Insidious Chapter 3’:

Before the theatrical release of ‘Insidious Chapter 3’, its producers organized a tour. As part of the tour, they designed a model house with dark interiors. The interiors did resemble the inner part of the houses that appear in the ‘Insidious’ movies. The model house took on tour to various cities for audience visit. The cities include Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and New York. Entry into the model house was free for the audience. Audience who had visited the house felt engaged with some genuine scares. Later, using an Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset, they experienced a horror segment. The clip, utilized in the segment, featured Dr. Elise Rainier who guided the viewer into the ‘Further’.

Click here to watch the audience’s experiences!

Later, the producers released the video of ‘Into The Further A 4D Experience’ in online. Like the response to the maze attractions, audience had rendered thumbs up to this campaign as well.

‘360 degree’ videos and an interactive chatbot by ‘Sri Thenandal Films’ (TSL) for ‘Mersal’:

A still from Mersal featuring Vijay — **A still featuring Vijay from ‘*Mersal***‘

Like RCE, TSL too had introduced interactive chatbots for their 100th production, ‘Mersal’. In one of my articles, I had briefed the creation of customized ‘Mersal‘ posters using the chatbot. Post which, TSL had extended the utility of the bot further. The chatbot had conducted a quiz titled, ‘Mersal Match Meter’. Later, it also carried out a quick chat to make people share their feedback about the movie and rate the same. Like RCE, TSL’s chatbot also shared a ticket booking link for the movie. The entire interactive chatbot episode of TSL was quite unique and engaging!

Besides launching an interactive chatbot, TSL released a couple of ‘360 degree‘ videos. TSL teamed up with ‘Karpita‘ to render and unveil the videos. One video presented the speech of the Tamil Film Star Vijay in the ‘Mersal‘ audio launch function. Whereas, the other featured the live in concert of the legendary musician A.R.Rahman in the same function.

The efforts of TSL had appealed well to the die-hard fans of both the Tamil cinema stars.

Conclusion:

Above examples are among the finest of Experiential Marketing campaigns in Film Industry. Because, the movies not only grabbed audience’s attention but also obtained their loyalty.

Application of the theory mentioned in this article seems evident in the tactics.

So, here I end my article. Hope you find the scenarios jotted down in this article to be informative. Please let me know your opinion about the write-up in the comments section!

Experiential Marketing Campaigns: Warner Bros. Pictures’s ‘IT’ vs 24AM STUDIOS’s ‘Velaikkaran’

By Dhileepan | January 21, 2018

It’s been a while since I had written my last post in this blog. In fact, for a period of time, I wasn’t in touch with the changes that have been happening in the marketing sphere. A few days ago, when I had plunged again into one of my favorite parallel world (i.e. Marketing) to know the latest updates, I felt excited on knowing about a couple of movie marketing campaigns. One campaign being the ‘Neibolt House’ visit for public in Los Angeles, for the 2017 American supernatural horror flick, ‘IT’. Another being, the ‘Cooliekkara kuppam’ set visit for public in Chennai, for the 2017 Tamil social thriller movie, ‘Velaikkaran’. However, both the strategies could well be tagged to one topic i.e. Experiential Marketing.

Warner Bros. Pictures’s ‘Neibolt House’ visit for ‘IT’:

‘Warner Bros. Pictures’ in association with the out-of-home agency, ‘Grandesign’ created the ‘Neibolt House’ (inspired by a haunted house that appears in the movie, ‘IT’) in the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Vine St. in Los Angeles. The house was opened for public daily, from August 14th, 2017 – September 10th, 2017 from 11am – 11pm. The public visit was scheduled well ahead of the movie’s theatrical release as the film premiered on September 5th, 2017. The haunted house visit seemed thoroughly immersive.

‘Slum Set’ visit for ‘Velaikkaran’:

Following their captivating Content Marketing campaign for ‘Remo’, ‘24AM STUDIOS’ have come up with the appealing ‘Cooliekkara kuppam’ set for ‘Velaikkaran’. The set was designed and erected by the movie’s art director T Muthuraj and team for the film. The set, located inside Prasad Labs at Vadapalani in Chennai, has been opened for public from December 30th, 2017 to January 20th, 2018 from 9am – 5pm. The public visit was scheduled after the theatrical release of ‘Velaikkaran’ as the movie released on December 22nd, 2017.

Marketing Journo

Campaigns offering opportunities for their target audience to experience their respective brands:

In both the campaigns, audiences were offered with opportunities to physically experience the demonstrations that were put up by the brands.

Branded hashtags, such as ‘#ThatsWhereITLives’ for ‘IT’ and ‘#VelaikkaranSetVisit’ for ‘Velaikkaran’, were created by the organizers and marketed in their respective social media posts prior to the visits and also were advertised in the sets.

Hashtag in tweet - IT Movie — ‘***#ThatsWhereITLives*’ hashtag in the tweet from the official Twitter page of ‘*IT Movie***‘

Velaikkaran Set Visit hashtag — ‘***#VelaikkaranSetVisit*’ hashtag incorporated to the image, posted in social media by ‘*24AM STUDIOS’***

Reminding attendees of the hashtag at the event had made it easier for them to share their experiences on social media.

**Reminding visitors of the hashtag, ‘*#ThatsWhereITLives*‘ at ‘*Neibolt House*‘ in Los Angeles**

Velaikkaran Set Visit hashtag 2 — **Reminding attendees of the hashtag, ‘*#VelaikkaranSetVisit*‘ in the ‘*VELAIKKARAN – SIGNATURE WALL*‘ at ‘*Cooliekkara Kuppam*‘ set in Chennai**

Via these hashtags, the organizers have engaged (such as Retweets and Likes in ‘Twitter’ and Shares in ‘Facebook’) well with their audience.

The slum set visit was made live in Facebook and Twitter in order to engage the people who couldn’t attend. As a follow-up to the ‘live’ activities, few of the attendees were allowed to talk about the sets. These were captured as videos and were shared in social media. As the brands connected well with the audience, prior to the set visit, in social media, there were deeper engagements at the event.

Click the link to know on what the audience has got to say about their ‘Neibolt House‘ set visit!

Even few from among the cast and crew of both the movies paid a visit to the respective sets. Photos and videos of the same were shared in social media.

Cast and crew visit - 'IT' — ‘IT‘ Director Andrés Muschietti with the cast at ‘***Neibolt House*‘ in Los Angeles**

Cast and crew visit - 'Velaikkaran' — ‘***Velaikkaran*‘ star Sivakarthikeyan with a fan at ‘*Cooliekkara Kuppam*‘ set in Chennai**

Click the link to view the visit of few from among the cast and crew of ‘Velaikkaran‘ to the set!

Providing online platforms and encouraging the audiences to go through an immersive experience:

In addition to offering an opportunity to experience the sets in a tangible, offline way, ‘Warner Bros. Pictures’ and ‘24AM STUDIOS’ have also provided online platforms to the audience to go through an immersive experience of their products via the marketing tools, VR (Virtual Reality) and 360° videos respectively. ‘Warner Bros. Pictures’ has released a video titled, ‘IT: FLOAT – A Cinematic VR Experience’ and ‘24AM STUDIOS’ has released a video titled, ‘Velaikkaran Set Making 360° Video’ in their respective official YouTube channels. In the former video, one gets to experience the world of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Whereas, in the latter, the viewer can avail the opportunity to visit the ‘Cooliekkara Kuppam’ set virtually and at the same time, listen to art director T Muthuraj sharing his moments that had transpired during the time of set’s design and construction.

Click here to watch the video, ‘IT: FLOAT – A Cinematic VR Experience’ and here to watch the ‘Velaikkaran Set Making 360° Video’!

A cursory view at the experiential tactics of both the organizers exhibits the manner in which they have effectively leveraged both the online and offline spaces for the purpose of marketing. Apart from people obtaining awareness about the uniqueness of these brands and the box office prospects of the movies getting boosted, these campaigns have rendered memorable moments for the audience to cherish.

So, that’s it with my blog post about the Experiential Marketing Campaigns of ‘Warner Bros. Pictures’ and ‘24AM STUDIOS’ for ‘IT’ and ‘Velaikkaran’ respectively. Now, let me know your viewpoints about my article in the comments section!

Utilization of Cutting Edge Technologies for Marketing in Indian Film Industry

By Dhileepan | September 10, 2017

Mersal Vijay — **Utilization of Cutting Edge Technologies for Marketing in Indian Film Industry**

Of late, I have observed several instances where the Indian Film Producers have showcased their immense interests in optimizing cutting edge technologies to promote their movies. There are few notable ones from among such instances. To start with, let me brief about the utilizations of cutting edge technologies for the marketing of movies such as ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’, ‘2.0’, ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ (aka JHMS) and ‘Mersal’.

b2-4 — **Still featuring Prabhas from ‘*Baahubali 2: The Conclusion*‘**

In the case of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’, the film’s maker, ‘Arka Media Works’ had utilized the Facebook Messenger Chatbot service to conduct an interactive quiz and share information on subscription to it; released a VR (Virtual Reality) video that guided the viewers through a virtual tour on the sets of Baahubali; live streamed the Baahubali pre-release event in 360° on the movie’s official YouTube channel; released a teaser of the 10-min VR film, ‘The Sword Of Destiny’ that is based on the characters from Baahubali.

To know more on the Digital Marketing strategies of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ by ‘Arka Media Works’, click here!

To make the first look launch of ‘2.0’ (Sequel to the 2010 movie, ‘Endhiran’) unique and special, the film’s producer, ‘Lyca Productions’ had leveraged AR (Augmented Reality) by setting up a virtual conversation between the image of Chitti (character played by Rajinikanth in ‘Endhiran’) – that was incorporated to the screen that was placed over the stage – and the film maker, Karan Johar (host of the first look launch event).

Marketing Journo

An infographic on the Promotional Strategies of ‘2.0′:

To know more about the promotional strategies for ‘2.0’, click here!

JHMS promotional event — **Shah Rukh Khan and Anushkha Sharma from a promotional event for ‘*Jab Harry Met Sejal*‘**

To promote the Shah Rukh Khan-Anushkha Sharma starrer ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, the movie’s producer, ‘Red Chillies Entertainment’ had launched an interactive Chatbot service in Facebook Messenger, which offered a lot more immersive experience than that of the one that was utilized for ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’. The Chatbot was designed in such a way that the people can get to interact with the character, ‘Harry’ played by Shah Rukh Khan in the movie. In the chat, the characters of the movie were introduced, an overview about the relationship between them was let known, the crux of the film was highlighted and the options to access Mini Trails (series of promo clips of the movie) and video songs were made available. Also using the Chatbot, people were able to create customized Jab Harry Met Sejal posters and access web ticket booking and film review links.

To know more about the Digital Marketing efforts of ‘Red Chillies Entertainment’ for ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, click here!

**Still featuring Vijay from ‘*Mersal*‘**

Along the lines of the efforts of ‘Arka Media Works’ for ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’, ‘Lyca Productions’ for ‘2.0’ and ‘Red Chillies Entertainment’ for ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, ‘Sri Thenandal Films’ aka ‘TSL’ have been pushing the envelope with Digital Marketing for their 100^th venture, ‘Mersal’. The movie also marks the 25^th year, for the Oscar Winning Music Composer, A.R.Rahman and the South Indian Star, Vijay, in the Indian Film Industry. The marketing for ‘Mersal’, which is gearing up for a release on October 18^th 2017, has been proceeding in full swing. Similar to ‘Baahubali 2’ and ‘JHMS’, for ‘Mersal’ as well, ‘TSL’ has launched an interactive Chatbot in Facebook Messenger to create customized ‘Mersal’ posters.

In the case of ‘JHMS’, we had a look at how an interactive Facebook Messenger Chatbot could be utilized to access contents, that are relevant to the movie, from one place. But, there is a visual discovery app of the London based firm ‘blippAR’, which I came across recently, that could also be utilized to access the contents of the movie from one place in an even more interesting manner. The ‘blippAR’ app operates using Augmented Reality, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to bring the physical world to life through smartphones and wearables. As far as the Indian Film industry is concerned, ‘blippAR’ has already created a blipp for the Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Bhoothnath Returns’. Using the ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ blipp, one could access the movie’s video songs, making videos, Juke Box, web ticket booking links and an option to click photos using camera effects that have been customized for the movie.

Now in 2017, as mentioned earlier, Indian Film Producers are leveraging the digital channels in a much more effective manner, than they were in the days of ‘Bhoothnath Returns’, to promote their movies. In the matter of ‘Mersal’, as of now, contents such as HD stills, lyric videos of songs, exclusive interview of the film’s producer, audio launch videos and audio CDs have been officially released. In the forthcoming days, teasers, trailers, song promo videos and full song HD videos will also be released and once when advanced ticket booking for ‘Mersal’ commences, web ticket booking links will also be available. Isn’t it a cool approach to have the contents pertaining to ‘Mersal’ as mentioned above to be packed into a blipp of the ‘blippAR’ app! Similar to the ‘Photo’ feature in the blipp of ‘Bhoothnath Returns’, a customized camera effect, featuring Vijay of ‘Mersal’, has the potential to go down with the fans of the star. Suppose if ‘TSL’ is in a plan to launch a ‘Mersal’ themed mobile video game then that as well could be incorporated to the blipp.

Prior to the theatrical release of the 2013 Tamil rom-com, ‘Raja Rani’ the movie’s primary characters were introduced one-by-one in a cine supplement of a daily newspaper. In 2017, prior to the release of the Tamil action thriller, ‘Vikram Vedha’, the introduction scenes of Vedha (played by Actor Vijay Sethupathy) and Vikram (played by Actor Madhavan) were released in the official YouTube channel of the film’s producer. Imagine the promotional tactics as said above in the case of ‘Raja Rani’ and ‘Vikram Vedha’ being incorporated to an Augmented Reality app such as ‘blippAR’! Isn’t the idea sounding effective, with respect to marketing, to the film producers and adding value to the film audience!

With all being said and done with respect to the utilization of cutting edge technologies for marketing in Indian Film Industry, all what a marketing cum movie buff like me has to do is to wait and watch for the Indian movie martech to evolve!

3 ways to effectively promote Movies with AR

By Dhileepan | August 27, 2017

In addition to their efforts in moviemaking, the film production houses have also been putting in ample efforts to make their movies reach their target audience. With technology growing day by day, there seem to be plentiful options available for the production houses to promote their movies. Augmented reality has been one among those technologies. Here are 3 ways in which the movies could be effectively promoted with augmented reality, by the film production houses…

1. Interactive film posters:

Disney in association with blippAR had come up with a blipp for the 2014 summer blockbuster, ‘Guardians of the Galazy’. When the ‘blippAR’ app is opened and blipped at the film’s interactive poster, the following contents get unlocked

Options to…

get to know the individual characters from the movie and their backstories
watch the behind-the-scenes footages
enjoy the movie trailer
buy the DVD or Blu-ray of the movie from e-Commerce sites when they are released

The interactive posters could be officially shared in social media and also be placed in cine halls, multiplexes and in places where the public might engage with the posters.

Scan the first picture that is available in the below web link using the ‘blippAR’ app to unlock exclusive contents pertaining to the movie, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘!

https://blippar.com/en/resources/blog/2014/07/09/meet-the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-they-re-hiding-in-this-movie-poster

Marketing Journo

2. Themed mobile games:

By partnering with blippAR, General Mills had launched a Spider-Man game to promote the release of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. By blipping the ‘blippAR’ app over the covers or posters of various products of General Mills such as Chex Mix and Fruit Snacks, people were able to access the game.

Along the lines of the above mentioned strategy of General Mills, Campbell’s Soup too had come up a Spider-Man themed mobile game by partnering with blippAR.

Scan the first picture that is available in the below web link using the ‘blippAR’ app to play the Spider-Man themed mobile game!

https://blippar.com/en/showroom/project/campbells-soup

3. Interactive murals:

To promote Legion (an American cable television series produced by FX productions in association with Marvel Television), 5 augmented reality murals were placed in 5 locations such as Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. By blipping the ‘blippAR’ app over the murals, the following contents get unlocked

Options to…

watch the trailer
access gifs, videos and pictures
participate in an interactive quiz
click photos with a customized camera effect

The above contents could as well be accessed by blipping the ‘blippAR’ app over the limited edition augmented reality posters available in few select local comic book stores.

Following suit the above ways, the below mentioned options could as well be incorporated as the contents that could be unlocked in an augmented reality app

Options to…

access exclusive interviews of the movie’s cast and crew
get to know the cinema timetables
get access to cinema ticket booking web-links

Scan the first picture that is available in the below web link using the ‘blippAR’ app to unlock exclusive contents pertaining to the television series, ‘Legion‘!

https://blippar.com/en/showroom/project/legion

Hope you liked reading the article! Now, let me know your opinions on the article, and on how the augmented reality technology could be leveraged by the film production houses for promoting their movies, in the comments!

‘Sri Thenandal Films’ pushes the envelope with Digital Marketing for ‘Mersal’

By Dhileepan | August 15, 2017

It’s always been interesting to watch film production houses leveraging the digital space to offer a personalized experience to their target audience. With their 100^th movie ‘Mersal’, in pipeline for a grand audio launch on 20^th of August, Sri Thenandal Films aka TSL (makers of ‘Mersal’) have come up with a unique and interesting promotional strategy for the movie.

A chatbot to create personalized movie posters:

Along the lines of utilization of interactive chatbots for movies such as ‘Kaabil’, ‘M.S.Dhoni’, ‘Jolly LLB 2’, ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya’, ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ and ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, TSL has introduced a chatbot for ‘Mersal’ using which their audience could create personalized Mersal posters. Sri Thenandal Films, in association with ICONICbot (a tech start-up cofounded by the Indian film actress cum producer, Vishaka Singh and ex-IBMer, Sandesh B Suvarna), has launched the chatbot that could be accessed by messaging in the official Facebook page of Sri Thenandal Films or on its messenger.

Target audience rejoicing the outcome of the strategy:

With Vijay – an iconic Indian actor who enjoys a huge fan base – on board for ‘Mersal’ and the movie being TSL’s 100^th movie, what better circumstance than this could get TSL to implement the AI technology! As expected, the fans seem to love the outcome of this strategy a lot. In the social media accounts of TSL, the information regarding the chatbot was shared with the hashtag, ‘#MyMersalPoster’. Following suit, the fans have been sharing their customized Mersal posters under the same hashtag.

Marketing Journo

Complementary factors of the strategy:

The chatbot’s launch date i.e. 15^th of August sounds ideal as the corresponding day is a pan-India holiday. Also, the regional movie influencers have propagated the news, about the chatbot launch, to their respective followers.

Chatbots of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ and ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ VS Chatbot of ‘Mersal’:

Unlike the predominant feature of the chatbot of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ that offered the people an opportunity to take part in an interactive quiz and that of the one for ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ that offered the audience to indulge in an immersive chat experience, the chatbot of ‘Mersal’ has been restricted with the creation of Mersal posters as of now. We have to wait to know from the makers regarding the inclusion of new features to the ‘Mersal’ chatbot.

So, that’s it with the write-up on the Digital Marketing Strategy of Sri Thenandal Films for ‘Mersal’. Hope you liked reading the article! Let me know your opinion in the comments section!

Red Chillies Entertainment’s notable Digital Marketing efforts for Shah Rukh Khan-Anushkha Sharma’s ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’

By Dhileepan | July 20, 2017

Jab Harry Met Sejal - Shah Rukh Khan and Anushkha Sharma — **Red Chillies Entertainment’s notable Digital Marketing efforts for Shah Rukh Khan-Anushkha Sharma’s ‘*Jab Harry Met Sejal*’**

As far as my knowledge goes, right after ‘Ra.One’, it has been the case with most movies of Shah Rukh Khan-Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, where their marketing efforts have been as notable as the themes of the movies. With Red Chillies Entertainment’s next, ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ being scheduled for a release on 4^th August, 2017, I tried gathering information regarding the marketing strategies deployed for the movie. As a result, I have come up with this article that briefs about a couple of Digital Marketing strategies applied for the movie.

1. An interactive chatbot rendering an immersive experience:

Along the lines of utilizations of chatbots for movies such as ‘Kaabil’, ‘M.S.Dhoni’, ‘Jolly LLB 2’, ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya’ and ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion‘, Red Chillies Entertainment have come up with an interactive chatbot to offer an immersive experience to their audience.

The chatbot has been designed in such a way that the people can get to interact with the character, Harry played by Shah Rukh Khan in the movie.

The features that this chatbot offers are more than just generic conversations. In its likeable interaction, the chatbot provides an intro about the characters, Harry and Sejal (Anushkha Sharma) from the movie and then offers us three engaging 37-second clips – which the makers call as ‘mini trails’ – from the film.

Also, using the chatbot, people can create customised posters, participate in a travel based personality quiz, watch songs from the movie and win exclusive merchandise.

Marketing Journo

2. Very own Facebook camera effect for ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’:

‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ is one among the few films in Bollywood, to have their very own Facebook camera effect.

By accessing camera effects by swiping left on their Facebook profile, people could make use of the JHMS (Jab Harry Met Sejal) effect. Using this provision, people could click a picture or shoot a video and share the same in their story or Facebook profile in ‘Harry & Sejal’ style.

Those are the two Digital Marketing strategies that Red Chillies Entertainment has deployed for ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’. Wish the marketing efforts of the Khan couple, to establish a ‘connect’ between their film and the digital audience, pays dividends with their movie’s result at box-office!

Promotional strategies for ‘2.0’ seem to serve as perfect preludes to the movie!

By Dhileepan | July 16, 2017

2.0 still — **Promotional strategies for ‘2.0’ seem to serve as perfect preludes to the movie!**

A film like ‘2.0’ (A sequel to the 2010 movie, ‘Endhiran’) that features stars like Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar is automatically bound to garner the attention of movie-going people. But, Lyca Productions – the makers of ‘2.0’ – are pushing the envelope, in terms of promotional strategies, to widen the movie’s reach. Here are two such promotional strategies that have been implemented so far by the makers:

1. Utilization of Augmented Reality in the first look poster launch of ‘2.0’:

The first look poster launch of ‘2.0’ took place in Mumbai where the first looks of Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar from ‘2.0’ were launched in 3D. Huge LCD screens were placed in the arena to set the tone for the mega audio launch. The event was hosted by the Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar. Salman Khan had also made his presence at this event.

The best among the innovative ideas that were implemented in this event was the utilization of Augmented Reality. Using the technology, the image of Chitti (the character played by Rajinikanth in ‘Endhiran’) – answering Karan Johar’s questions – was incorporated into the screen that was placed over the stage.

Click here to enjoy watching the lively conversation between Chitti (Of course, a virtual image!) and Karan Johar. (Courtesy: Movie Talkies)

A video titled, ‘Making of Augmented Reality – 2.0 First Look Launch | Lyca Productions’ was released on the official YouTube channel of ‘Lyca Productions’ on November 26, 2016, which shows a glimpse of how the ‘Augmented Reality’ sequence of the first look event was shot.

Click here to take a look at the making video. (Courtesy: Lyca Productions)

Marketing Journo

2. Flew a hot air balloon over the Hollywood Signage in Los Angeles:

Hot air balloons for '2.0' — **Hot air balloon flying over the Hollywood Signage in Los Angeles**

To grab the eyeballs of people from outside India, Lyca Productions flew a 100-foot tall hot air balloon over the iconic Hollywood signage in Los Angeles. From Los Angeles, the balloon will be traveling to QuickChek Festival (28^th -30^th July) in New Jersey, USA. From New Jersey, the balloon will proceed to San Francisco, London, Dubai, Europe, South East Asian Countries, Australia, and finally to India. In India, the balloon is set to travel to various cities. Also, Lyca Productions is planning to involve well-known film stars from India, to take a ride in the balloon.

Click here to have a look at the video of hot air balloons flying. (Courtesy: YOYO TV Channel)

These are the 2 interesting promotional strategies from Lyca Productions for ‘2.0’. Hope you liked reading my write-up. Keep following Marketing Journo to get to know the interesting promotional strategies that get applied for ‘2.0’ by Lyca Productions in the upcoming days.

4 captivating Content Marketing innovations applied for some fascinating movies of Hollywood

By Dhileepan | July 6, 2017

After posting my previous write-up titled, ‘4 INNOVATIVE AND INTERESTING CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTED BY HORROR MOVIES IN HOLLYWOOD’, I came to know about 4 more Content Marketing strategies/campaigns – which I felt to be innovative and interesting – that have been implemented to promote 4 different movies belonging to 4 different genres (One movie belonging to the Horror Genre). So, I have come up with this post to brief about those 3 strategies. Below are the briefs on those campaigns, which had served as perfect preludes to the theatrical or the DVD releases of their respective movies.

1. ‘Flying People in New York City’ for ‘Chronicle’:

Few days prior to the release of the 20^th Century Fox’s found footage film, ‘Chronicle’, a video titled ‘Flying People in New York City’ made by ThinkModo (a marketing agency), was uploaded to the YouTube channel, ‘ChronicleNYC’ on January 30, 2012. In this video, 3 6-foot tall human-shaped Radio Controlled planes (RC planes) could be seen flying above the Manhattan skyline with the passers-by over the streets feeling clueless on seeing the planes and some even capturing them on their phones.

**‘Flying People in New York City’ for ‘Chronicle’**

This was a strategy that was ideated and executed by ThinkModo, in association with 20^thCentury Fox, to promote the movie by creating an illusion of people flying. ThinkModo, by taking cues from the movie’s poster, had then hired model airplane builders to device 5 human-shaped RC planes and make 3 of them fly (2 RC planes were backups). This event took place in New York on January 27, 2012.

The video had then garnered more than 5 million hits before the movie’s release date i.e., February 3, 2012 and the movie opened at number one in box office. Till date, the video has clocked more than 9 million views.

Click here to watch the video.

P.S. In January 2017, ThinkModo, in association with Paramount Pictures, came up with the video titled, ‘Rings (2017) – TV Store Prank’ to create a buzz for the movie, ‘Rings’. To know more about the video and its backdrop, click here.

Marketing Journo

2. ‘Unlock The 007 In You. You have 70 seconds’ for ‘Skyfall’:

As part of Coke Zero’s marketing campaign, ‘Unlock The 007 In You’, Coca Cola’s North West Europe and Nordics business unit, in association with the makers of ‘Skyfall’, released the video titled, ‘Unlock The 007 In You. You have 70 seconds’. The sequence of events shown in this video has been shot in the Central Station of Antwerp, Belgium.

**‘Unlock The 007 In You. You have 70 seconds’ for ‘Skyfall’**

In this video, we see that when an individual approaches the Coke Zero vending machine that has been placed in the station, they are let known that they are offered with a chance to win exclusive tickets to ‘Skyfall’. In order to participate in the event of winning tickets, they are asked to provide their names in the machine. On entering their name, they are asked to go to platform 6 in next 70 seconds. On their way to platform 6, they face few funny obstacles. Upon reaching platform 6, they are asked to sing the bond tune to win tickets. After doing so, they get their tickets.

This video, which was released on October 2012, went viral garnering over 3 million views in a week.

Click here to have a look at the video.

3. ‘Scariest Two-way Mirror Prank’ for ‘Conjuring 2’:

To promote the DVD release of ‘Conjuring 2’, a video was released in the YouTube channel, ‘Roadshow Entertainment’ on September 19, 2016. The video showcases the happenings that had happened after the screening of ‘Conjuring 2’ in a warehouse in Sydney. In the video, soon after the completion of the warehouse screening, we get to see the audience being asked to wait alone in a room for an interview to share their experience about the movie.

In the video, six hours before the event, we are shown technicians setting up a false wall, mounting a two-way mirror on it, placing bulbs around the mirror and illuminating them to make the setup look like a make-up room. Behind the mirror, a lady in the makeover of the frightening nun, ‘Valak’ that appeared in ‘Conjuring 2’, is made to stand. Another lady in the similar makeover is made to stand hiding in the room. Audience waiting out there in the room are unaware of the room’s setup.

When the people approached the mirror, they are being scared by the lady who is standing behind the mirror followed by the nun who stands hiding in the room.

**‘Scariest Two-way Mirror Prank’ for ‘Conjuring 2’**

The video also has the clip of ‘Conjuring 2’ from which the idea for this video was brought out. Hidden cameras placed inside the room captured the reactions of the people. The video, ‘THE CONJURING 2 – SCARIEST TWO-WAY MIRROR PRANK EVER’ was made out of the footage that has been obtained from such hidden cameras. Till now, the video has got more than 2 million views and is still counting.

Click here to take a look at the video.

4. ‘Spider-Man Grabs Coffee’ for ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’:

‘Spider-Man Grabs Coffee’, the promotional video content – shot in a Starbucks of New York City – for the 2017 American superhero film, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ has been released by Sony Pictures Entertainment in their official YouTube channel on June 27, 2017. The strategy is the brain child of ThinkModo – the agency behind the ideations and executions of ‘Flying People in New York City’ for ‘Chronicle 2’ and ‘Rings (2017) – TV Store Prank’ for ‘Rings’.

Spider-Man Grabs Coffee’ for ‘Spider-Man Homecoming’ — **‘Spider-Man Grabs Coffee’ for ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’**

In the video, we get to see the Starbucks customers, waiting to get their orders, getting surprised and some even scared, when the Spider-Man-suited stuntman Chris Silcox drops from the ceiling – just like how the Spider-Man appears upside down in movies – to get hold of his brew. After realising that the happening is just a prank, few get to click selfies with the Spider-Man. Stan Lee, the Marvel’s originator also makes an appearance in the video.

This promotional video has till now clocked more than 3 lakh views and is still counting.

Click here to watch the video.

So, here I end my post that provides an overview about the 4 captivating Content Marketing innovations that have been applied for 4 fascinating movies of Hollywood. If you enjoyed reading this post, I would be very thankful if you could share the same on Twitter or Facebook, or even email your friend. Thank you!

4 innovative and interesting Content Marketing strategies implemented by horror movies in Hollywood

By Dhileepan | June 17, 2017

4 innovative and interesting Content Marketing strategies implemented by movies in Hollywood — **4 innovative and interesting Content Marketing strategies implemented by horror movies in Hollywood**

From time immemorial, horror movies, for the factor of ‘ghost’ alone that has been involved in them, have been garnering the attention of significant number of movie-goers. But, in order to take such movies further closer to the audience, the distributors of the same have been deploying innovative and interesting Content Marketing strategies. Let us have a look at 4 of such eye-catching strategies implemented by horror movies in Hollywood.

1. ‘Hoax Death Threat Call’ for ‘The Ring Two’:

Prior to the DVD release of The Ring Two, the London based Marketing Consultancy, New Media Maze came up with the idea of a marketing campaign, for the DVD release, by taking cue from the scary ‘tape scene’ of The Ring.

The Ring - Prank call — **‘*Hoax Death Threat Call*’ for ‘*The Ring Two*’**

Initially, the website – www.7daysleft.com – was set (Now, the domain is up for sale) and it offered a provision to people, who wish to play a prank by sending a ‘Hoax Death Threat’ call to their friends. People, who wished to do so, provided the e-mail address and cell-phone number of their friends. The website then sent a mail, with a link possessing the trailer of The Ring Two, to the friends. After opening the trailer from the mail and while watching it online, the friends received a call and a voice in their receivers whispered “Seven Days”. After the friends got to experience this scary moment, they were conveyed that the attempt is just a prank and that they could try to attempt this to five of their friends. This campaign which was launched in U.K. had emerged as one among the scariest viral marketing campaigns ever.

Click here to watch the ‘The Tape’ scene from The Ring.

Marketing Journo

2. ‘Demand it’ campaign for ‘Paranormal Activity’:

Initially, in September 2009, the screening of the movie, Paranormal Activity was held in Hollywood, California. As a follow-up to this screening, an intriguing trailer was made by combining the audience’s reactions, which were captured during the screening of this show, and specific clips from the movie. The trailer was then uploaded to the official website of the movie (www.paranormalmovie.com) and telecast in television channels.

Towards the end of the trailer, a list of cities where the movie is about to be screened was put up. Also, the availability of the ‘Demand it’ option in the website, for the people who felt fascinated by the trailer and wished to get Paranormal Activity to be screened in their city, was let known. The motive, by the movie’s makers, behind this ‘Demand it’ provision was to opt first with the city, with the most demands, for the future screenings.

Paranormal Activity - Demand it campaign — **‘*Demand it*’ campaign for ‘*Paranormal Activity*’**

The movie was initially released in 7 cities of U.S. on September 25^th, 2009. From thereon, in less than a month, the movie was released nationwide.

Click here to take a look at the trailer of Paranormal Activity.

3. ‘TV Store Prank’ for ‘Rings (2017)’:

Almost a fortnight prior to the release of Rings (Third film in the Ring franchise following the movies, ‘The Ring’ and ‘The Ring Two’), Paramount Pictures shared a video titled, ‘Rings (2017) – TV Store Prank’ in their official YouTube channel.

Rings (2017) - TV Store Prank — **‘*TV Store Prank*’ for ‘*Rings (2017)*’**

In this video, firstly a TV store in New York is shown. Then, we get to see people setting a fake wall inside the store and mounting a specific number of televisions over the wall. These arrangements resemble the interior of a typical TV store. Behind a particular television, a girl with the makeover of Samara (Antagonist of the Ring franchise) is made to sit.

Subsequently, customers, one by one started visiting the store, greeted by a staff, guided towards the fake wall mounted with televisions and are being attended by the staff to let them know about the televisions that the store possesses. Initially, some random videos are being played in the televisions. Then, the videos are being replaced with the trailer of the movie, Rings. At one point of time, the Staff switches the display of the televisions to a new technology, which is available in the televisions and asks customers about their experience of the technology. This is when the television, behind which the girl is made to sit, scrolls up. The girl pops out of the television in the similar way in which the ‘Samara’ character crawls out of the televisions in the movies of the Ring franchise. She even goes on to sneak up on few of the customers. What other reaction would the customers render other than ‘shock’ when they encounter such a prank? Some screamed and few others even ran out of the room due to fear.

Hidden cameras placed inside the store captured the reactions of the customers. The video, ‘Rings (2017) – TV Store Prank’ was made out of the footage that has been obtained from such hidden cameras. Till now, the video has got more than 8 million views and is still counting.

Click here to watch the TV Store Prank.

4. ‘Zero Gravity VR Experience’ for ‘The Mummy’:

Every time when we get to see Tom Cruise performing daring stunts in his movies, we feel astonished. But, how would we feel when we are provided with an offer, to experience the making of one such adventurous sequence, in a virtual manner? Wouldn’t we feel very enthusiastic and eager to undergo such an adventure? Such is an offer which Universal Pictures has come up with, as part of their marketing strategies, for the Tom Cruise starrer The Mummy.

The Mummy - Zero Gravity Experience VR — **‘*Zero Gravity VR Experience*’ for ‘*The Mummy*’**

Who would have forgotten the terrific zero gravity sequence taking place prior to the plane crash, predominantly featuring Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallis, which were shown in the teasers and trailers of The Mummy? The making of this sequence is which the Universal Pictures has offered a ride to by leveraging the Virtual Reality technology. This pop-up experience was first made open to the public in SXSW (South by Southwest). As part of this event, individuals, who were about to virtually experience the sequence, were provided with a headset and made to sit in a gyroscopic chair assisted by a haptic feedback. In the VR experience, which has been narrated by Tom Cruise, people were made to experience the behind-the-scenes look of the action sequence. This interesting event then appeared in Rockefeller Center, New York and in Los Angeles.

Click here to have a glimpse of ‘The Mummy’ Zero Gravity Stunt VR Experience.

So, that’s it with my briefing about the 4 innovative and interesting Content Marketing strategies that have been implemented by horror movies in Hollywood. Now, in the comments section of this write-up, feel free to share your views about the article and let me know of any such interesting and innovative Content Marketing strategies, which have been deployed for various flicks!

5 striking Digital Marketing strategies implemented by the makers of Baahubali 2

By Dhileepan | May 21, 2017

b2-4 — 5 Striking Digital Marketing strategies implemented by the makers of Baahubali 2

Similar to the amount of effort that has been put into the making of the two technically rich movies in the Baahubali franchise (Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion), an equal amount of effort has been invested from the marketing arena as well to take the movies closer to the audience and sustain the ‘Baahubali’ sensation among them for all these years. In this digital era, when it comes to marketing, Digital Marketing becomes imperative and essential. So, here I have come up with 5 striking Digital Marketing strategies deployed by the makers of the Baahubali franchise, ‘Arka Media Works’ around the theatrical release of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’.

1. Launch of #ChatQuizChallenge on Facebook:

ChatBot 3 — **Launch of #ChatQuizChallenge on Facebook**

After the release of the trailer of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’, the producer of the film launched on Facebook, an interactive quiz named ‘#ChatQuizChallenge’ driven by a Chatbot, that was accessible by messaging in the movie’s official Facebook page, Baahubali, or on messenger. The interactive quiz created by the Social and Digital Agency, ‘KRDS India’ had 5 trivial questions that were based on the trailer of Baahubali 2. People were provided with an option to take the quiz on the language of their preference with available languages being Tamil, English, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. As part of this strategy, people were also offered with an option, by the Chatbot, to subscribe to it to get to know the latest news or updates, pertaining to the movie, from the production crew.

2. Release of the Graphic novel, ‘Baahubali – The Battle of the Bold’ on Google Play Store:

WEB.jpg2_ — **Release of the Graphic novel, ‘Baahubali – The Battle of the Bold’ on Google Play Store**

Targetting the fans of Baahubali and comic book lovers, two months ahead of the theatrical release of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’, Arka Media Works had launched the Graphic novel, ‘Baahubali – The Battle of the Bold’ on ‘Graphic POP Asia’ app, which is available in Google Play Store. Post the installation of the app, the graphic novel can be downloaded from it. According to the novel’s author, ‘Graphic India’, ‘Baahubali – The Battle of the Bold’ depicts some untold events that had laid around the participation of Baahubali and Bhallaladeva in a tournament, which had happened well before the happenings that have been showcased in the film. Paperback version of the novel is also available for purchase in amazon.

Marketing Journo

3. Launch of the animation series, ‘Baahubali: The Lost Legends’ on Amazon Prime Video India:

baahubali-animated-759 — **Launch of the animation series, ‘Baahubali: The Lost Legends’ on Amazon Prime Video India**

Around mid-April, inspired by the Baahubali film franchise, Arka Media Works and the director of the Baahubali film series, S.S.Rajamouli in collaboration with Graphic India and Amazon had launched the first episode of the animation series, ‘Baahubali: The Lost Legends’ in Amazon Prime Video’s India service. The second episode of the animated series was released on 19^th May 2017, with the other episodes to be made live in the upcoming weeks. ‘Baahubali: The Lost Legends’ seems to exhibit some fresh stories about the characters, which have already become popular among the audience, such as Baahubali, Bhallaladeva, Kattappa and Sivagami and portray few more new characters and their respective stories.

4. Optimization of the hashtag, #WKKB in social media posts and on film posters:

Optimization of the hashtag, #WKKB in social media posts and on film posters

In India, when Twitter first brought in the plan of creating hashtags in regional languages, Rajamouli launched the first Telugu Hashtag, #బాహుబలివస్తున్నాడు (‘Baahubali Vasthunnadu’ meaning ‘Baahubali coming soon’) from his twitter handle for the promotion of ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’. Likewise, for ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ too, the hashtag, #WKKB (WKKB is the abbreviation of ‘Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali’) was creating quite a revolution in the social media space. It was utilized in film posters too.

5. Leveraging Virtual Reality and 360 degree videos:

Baahubali-2-Movie-Shoots-With-BB360cc-VR-Camera — **Leveraging Virtual Reality and 360 degree videos**

In October 2016, ‘Radeon Technologies Group’, a part of US-based chip maker AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) released the Virtual Reality (VR) video titled, ‘On The Sets of Baahubali’. It guided the viewers through a virtual tour on the sets of Baahubali. As a follow-up to this activity of leveraging the technological advancements, for marketing purposes, Arka Media Works by teaming with Radeon live streamed in 360° the Baahubali Pre-Release Event (which was held on March 26^th 2017 in Hyderabad) on the movie’s official YouTube channel. VR boxes were suggested to viewers to have a Virtual Reality experience of the event.

To top it all, the collaboration of Arka Media Works, Rajamouli and AMD Radeon Technologies Group came up with the teaser of the 10-min VR film, ‘The Sword Of Baahubali’, that is based on the characters from Baahubali. The teaser was shown to people in various malls, theatres and multiplexes across the states of Andhra and Telangana.

So, here ends my documentation on the 5 striking Digital Marketing strategies implemented by Arka Media Works for the Baahubali franchise but not the only strategies that have been implemented. There may be even more striking ones.

Feel free to let me know your comments on the article!