This is Bollywood's latest marketing tool-releasing ads before the movie hits the screen. The idea is to "tease" fans so that they queue up to watch the film within the first two weeks of its release. "The idea is to intrigue fans," said an insider. Film-maker Karan Johar, who has retold Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Agneepath with Hrithik, said, "Agneepath releases in January 2012 and we thought promoting the film along with Bodyguard will help target a large audience. Also it's a teaser unit and starting it with an impact paves the way for an effective release weekend."
Incidentally, the first look of Shah Rukh Khan's costliest project Ra One was released on January 2011 announcing film's release in Diwali. Film distributor Shyam Shroff said, "The release of teaser trailers have become a big event now. With nearly a million hit each on YouTube for Agneepath and Chammak Challo song from Ra One in just a couple of days, shows how popular the medium has become. Special promos are clubbed with special effects and great sound. As a distributor or exhibitor, it helps to gauge the kind of curiosity level the movie would generate on opening. Just a few days ago the teaser trailer of Dirty Picture was out and now it is sold for all India; that's the power of a good trailer."
Shailesh Kapoor of Ormax media said, "The film broke its first look in the high-profile Cricket World Cup, and hence, generated significant buzz in April itself. Besides the decision on whether to watch a film in a theatre is taken on the basis of collective impact of promos songs, ads and other marketing and PR material.'' Even Sajid Nadiadwala shot a special promo of Housefull 2 which was played during the cricket world cup
While teaser promos are a new trend in Bollywood but it's an old practice in Hollywood. Vishal Anand, head of operations Fun Cinemas, said, "At the time of release of Avataar promos for Asia Pacific, exhibitors were invited to Hong Kong to unveil the promos of the film a year before the film released. This year, teaser trailers of films like Don 2, Ra One, and Agneepath hit the theatres six months before the release of the film which is good enough to create a buzz about the film and helping the audiences to decide about the film.''
Producers exploit every medium for promotion of the film. Anand says,"The first teaser of Vidya Balan's The Dirty Picture based on actor Silk Smitha's life was released. Within an hour Youtube had about 80,000 hits which is good enough to create a buzz about the film on the very first day.''
About 1.3million people have watched the promo of The Dirty Picture online. But Kapoor feels "releasing theatrical promos upto six months before release serves only one real purpose. It helps the producers negotiate better with the trade, such as distributors, satellite channels by creating hype around the film.''
Previously, trailers of films were released a month before the release of a film. Says Amod Mehra," I remember going to watch some ordinary film only because the promo of Dev Anand's Jewel Thief was going to be released along with earlier it was much done for marketing but for trade but today 'teaser trailer' plays a major role in marketing. Shah Rukh Khan released Ra One almost a year in advance and so much buzz has been created and the actual publicity has still not begun but the teaser has created so much buzz that the audience will definitely walk into the cinema halls if it is released tomorrow.''
Mehra further adds, "There are times when teasers can backfire, like in the case of Ghayal 2. They spent a lot of money to shoot a teaser for the promotion and marketing of the film it just did not work and nobody even remembers it."
Today, business of cinema is only about the first two weeks. "For even the biggest films, the critical period for the campaign is the last four weeks," says Kapoor. For example, Raajneeti, one of the biggest grossers of 2010, had below average buzz till about two weeks before its release, but showed an enormous jump in the last 10 days once the multimedia campaign played out in full swing.''
No comments:
Post a Comment