Movie positioning advt project (autosaved)

MOVIE POSITIONING
RAJESH SHETTY ROLL NO- 47 MMM BATCH 2013 -16 Page 1
MOVIE
POSITIONING

MOVIE POSITIONING
I N D E X
SR. NO TOPIC PAGE NO
1. Overview of Indian Film Industry and Market 3
2. Positioning – Definition & Process 4
3. The 6 P’s of film marketing on the movie industry as a
whole
6
4. Overview of the film making business 8
5. Classification of movies from a producer’s or distributor’s
point of view
9
6. Classification of movies as products 9
7. Publicity of movies 12
8. How different media is used for publicity of movies? 13
9. Alterative marketing methods 17
10. Music as a promotion tool 21
11. Hollywood marketing strategies in India 22
12. Messages and styles used for promotion of films 23
13. Maslow pyramid and movies 26
14. How movie marketing works? 27
15. Movie Marketing Basics 28
16. Movie Marketing Strategies 29
17. Problems Associated With Movie Marketing 33
18. Words With Amir Khan 34
19. Current Scenario Of Film Industry In India 36
20. Case Studies 40
21. Technological Development VFX 42
22. Films And Travel And Tourism 42
23. Incentives For Film Production In India 45
24. Film Education In India 46

MOVIE POSITIONING
OVERVIEW OF INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY AND MARKET
Indian Cinema
Alam Ara poster (1931), the first Indian sound film
Numberof screens 10,450 (2012)
Producedfeature films (2012
Total 1,602
Numberof admissions 2010
Total 2,706,000,000
Gross Box Office (2013)
Total $1.5 billion
India is the world's largest producer of films by volume - producing almost a thousand
films annually. However, revenue-wise, it accounts for only 1 percent of global film
industry revenues.
Components of the Indian film industry
The Indian film industry comprises of a cluster of regional film industries, like Hindi,
Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, etc. This makes it one of the most
complex and fragmented national film industries in the world. These regional language
films compete with each other in certain market segments and enjoy a virtual monopoly
in certain others. The most popular among them is the Hindi film industry located in
Mumbai, popularly referred to as “Bollywood”.
Bollywood
Out of the 200 Hindi films made in India each year, around 150 are made in Bollywood.
These Bollywood films are released throughout India on both big and small screen
formats, with several of them being screened overseas as well. Though there have
been sporadic instances of regional films, enjoying a national release or even an
overseas release, virtually all films having a national audience, are made in Bollywood.
It accounts for over 40 percent of the total revenues of the overall Indian film industry,
which is currently estimated at INR 59 billion. It is estimated that only INR 50 billion
finds its way to the industry coffers, with the balance INR 9 billion being cornered by
pirates.
Regional Films

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The major regional film industries are Tamil and Telugu, which together earn around
INR 15 billion, followed by Malayalam, Bengali and Punjabi. With increased viewer
exposure to a plethora of entertainment options on satellite television, the number of
regional films produced annually has fallen from around 800, three years ago, to around
650 currently.
English Films
Big budget Hollywood films are beginning to make a mark, with their dubbed versions
making inroads into the semi-urban and rural markets. On a cumulative basis, box office
collections of foreign films grew in both revenues and number of releases, from INR 1 .5
billion from 60 films in 2003 to INR 1 .8 billion for 72 films in 2004.
With around 12,900 active screens (down from 13,000 in 1990), out of which over 95
percent are standalone, single screens, India's screen density is very low. In contrast,
China, which produces far less films than India, has 65,000 screens, while US has
36,000.
POSITIONING – DEFINATION & PROCESS
Positioning is the marketing activity and process of identifying a market problem or
opportunity, and developing a solution based on market research, segmentation and
supporting data. Positioning may refer the position a business has chosen to carry out
their marketing and business objectives. Positioning relates to strategy, in the specific or
tactical development phases of carrying out an objective to achieve a business' or
organization's goals, such as increasing sales volume, brand recognition, or reach in
advertising.
Definitions
Positioning is also defined as the way by which the marketers attempt to create a
distinct impression in the customer's mind; specifically, "the place a product, brand, or
group of products occupies in consumers' minds relative to competing offerings".
Brand positioning process
Effective Brand Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a brand's
uniqueness, differentiation and verifiable value. While "me too" brand positioning
contradicts the notion of differentiation, this type of "copycat" brand positioning can work
if the business offers its solutions at a significant discount over the other competitor(s.)
According to Lamb, some companies position their brands "as being similar to
competing products or brands"; a few examples are "margarine tasting like butter" and
"artificial sweeteners tasting like sugar". This can also be seen in reactive marketing,

MOVIE POSITIONING
when companies reposition more than just products: after Target added food and
grocery items to become a "supercenter", certain grocery stores (such as Texas chain
HEB) added retail products to become supercenters as well. Generally, the brand
positioning process involves:
1. Identifying the business's direct competition
2. Understanding how each competitor is positioning their business today (e.g.
claiming to be the fastest, cheapest, largest, the #1 provider, etc.)
3. Documenting the provider's own positioning as it exists today (may not exist if
startup business)
4. Comparing the company's positioning to its competitors' to identify viable
areas for differentiation
5. Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based positioning concept
6. Creating a positioning statement with key messages and customer value
propositions to be used for communications development across the
organization
Product positioning process
Generally, the product positioning process involves:-
1. Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the
relevant buyers are)
2. Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product
'space'
3. Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of
each product on the relevant attributes
4. Determine each product's share of mind
5. Determine each product's current location in the product space
6. Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to
as an ideal vector)
7. Examine the fit between the product and the market.
Positioning is however difficult to measure, in the sense that customer perception of a
product may not have been tested on quantitative measures.

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THE 6PS OF FILM MARKETING ON THE MOVIE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE
Whatever you do don’t fool yourself. Create a script that even when narrated excites
you and the listener about the way it will be treated on screen. Visualise it as a pure
delight for any cinema-goer. At the end of the day, do what Philip Kotler says: “Good
Product, Good Marketing, and Good Returns
”The film marketing strategy for any good film can be best described based on the 6Ps
of marketing, namely:
1. Product: It is time and again that we keep coming back to this. The base for a
well-defined film marketing strategy starts with the film itself. A well researched
script with a well-woven screenplay is where the core of the film-marketing
strategy for a film should be invested. It is not about who sees the film only, it is
also about catering to a definitive audience who watches your film in theatres,
and more often than not, more than once. While other elements of marketing
focus on attracting these audiences it is this aspect of marketing i.e. ‘the product’
that aims at satisfying these audiences.
2. Placement: With the first element satisfied we move on the element that makes
the first element possible. It is true that an audience will be satisfied only when
they are attracted to go into the theatre to watch the film. It is ‘placement’ that
accounts for attracting the audience into crowding the theatre. ‘Placement’ as a
term is used to describe the modus-operandi of placing the communication and
promotion strategy of the film on to media and non-media platforms available in
the industry today.
There is a complete media-mix that should be put into place usually 15% to 25% of the
production cost of the film is invested into the marketing of the film in Bollywood. But
then there are films like Lagaan, Boom, Out of Control, Khel and others who have spent
as much as 40% of their production cost on marketing. But only Lagaan out of all these
films became a super-hit and needles to point out that that had a lot to do with the
central theme of the film.
Today it makes perfect sense to collaborate with one or more media partners in order to
ensure maximum focused publicity of your film through certain guided platforms.
3. Positioning: The entire media, marketing and communication strategy of the film
depends on the positioning of the film. Positioning is that particular slot in the
mind of the audience that the film positions itself in. This kind of positioning has a
lot to do with how well defined your target-audience is.

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The time-consuming and highly complex ordeal of pin-pointing the target- audience is
something that a good film marketer should take care of in the conceptualization stage.
The film by and large should appeal to the sensibilities of all kinds of audience but
prominently should be positioned for a well defined audience. Based on the projected
associations with your target-audience you must formulate the ‘positioning elements’.
These ‘positioning elements’ should highlight and reflect in all the promotions for the
film.
4. People: The positioning of the film has a lot to do with the personification of the
film. Personification finally is the key to creating a brand out of the film. Lagaan is
brand India and Cricket.
It is the central characters (not the actors) of the film that should enable the making of a
brand out of your film. There should be a well-defined promotion plan that has to be put-
into place for promoting the people of the film (both on-screen and the technical team).
The build-up should be such that without over-exposing the team there should be
enough flurry of activity that will catapult the audiences into the character of the film
even before they see the film.
5. Public Relations: Besides the advertising and promotion of the film there should
be a strategic focus on public relations for the film, both media and non-media
public relations play an important role in the success of the film.
6. Partners Brands and Bollywood: There is evidence of shortened attention
spans and a greater effort to break through the clutter of multitudinous brands
and media vehicles. The best way to deliver the message is to catch the
customer off-guard when the rational defenses are down. The best way to do so
is to use the emotional gate rather than the rational gate. The rational gate
examines the advantages, benefits, features and seeks value for money; the
emotional gate is all about trust, love, identification and belief. It has been noticed
that films operate at the emotional level. These aspects have been leveraged by
brands such as Coke, Pepsi, Lux, Airtel, Hyundai, Bagpiper, Lux wherein movies
and brands flash discreet (and sometimes indiscreet) messages at their target
audiences.
Then there is also the need to examine synergies between the brands and films. The
successful integration of product placement within the film’s storyline has a long history:
the first example being the yellow Rajdoot bike used in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby. Hollywood
also leverages brands such as BMW (Bond movies), Jaguar, Ford, Ray Ban (Tom
Cruise in Risky Business and Mission Impossible and Will Smith in Men In Black),
Starbucks coffee, AOL, AT&T, and so on. My personal favorites are the brand fits
created for ‘Nike’ in What Women Want and for FedEx in Castaway. However, at this

MOVIE POSITIONING
point it might be crucial to point out that what is important is that there is complete
transparency in the agreement that the film-marketer and brand-marketer get
themselves into. Otherwise things can get really dirty. Recall Rakesh and Hritik Roshan
of Koi Mil Gaya vs Killer Jeans and Emami.
Sometimes, unreasonable clients demand more footage although research has shown
that a 2-minute clip can effectively deliver a message in a credible manner. The
placement should be a natural fit and shouldn’t be contrived and unnatural. Each
effective tie-up between a brand and a film involves hectic negotiations of around 3-6
months.
Film placements are currently raking in anything between Rs 500,000 to Rs 5,000,000
for the producers.
Well, welcome to the big, bad and ugly world of Bollywood, but also welcome to the
world of dreams and passions. It is a world of opportunities and a land of ambitions. It is
for sensible film-makers to come and grow as part of Bollywood, but remember ‘good
product + good marketing = Hit-film’.
OVERVIEW OF THE FILM MAKING BUSINESS
This overview is required to understand the exact motivation behind the promotion and
publicity of a movie.
In general the movie making business can be summarized as follows:
The scriptwriter or director or a producer comes up with a concept. The producer tells
the scriptwriter to create a script based on this concept. The producer then officially
hires his core team of director, scriptwriter, music director, lyricist, editor,
cinematographer and choreographers. The cast for the film is decided based on the
requirement of the script. This process is called casting. Location hunting is done for
shooting the film. The director gives an estimated budget and schedule to the producer
for the film shooting. The producer arranges finances from financers based on this
budget. The film is shot. The completed film is processed in studios and the film is
finally ready for release.
At this stage the publicity and promotion phase of the movie begins for the producer.
The main aim of the producer is to sell his movie at a high price to a distributor. India is
a vast country and the market has conventionally been divided in 9 territories by the
distributors. A distributor from each territory buys the rights to distribute the film to the
theatre owners in his territories. To get a high price from the distributors, the producers
publicize the film in order to pull crowds to the theatres. The distributors buy the movie

MOVIE POSITIONING
at a price suitable for their territory. The distributor’s estimate how the film could work in
their territory based on the pre-release promotion of the film and the past record of the
people associated with the film (For example, the banner, the director and actors). If the
music of the film has done well in the market, the producer definitely gets a higher price
from the distributors.
Before the release, the producers share some information of the movie to the
distributors through trade guides. The trade guides give the distributors an idea about
what the theme of the movie is, how the movie is being promoted, does the theme suit
their territory, what theatres in their territory would be ready to screen this movie etc.
The distributors compare different trade guides and decide which movie they want to
buy. The distributors then release the movie prints to theatres. The distributors and
theatre owners get money through the ticket sales. Producers also get a percentage
share from the ticket sales.
CLASSIFICATION OF MOVIES FROM A PRODUCER’S OR DISTRIBUTOR’S POINT
OF VIEW
The movies in India have been broadly classified into following categories for publicity
purposes. A: Gentry movies. B: Mass movies Gentry movies are the ones which are
made for the audience with special tastes. Movies for kids, college students, young
couples etc fall in this category. These movies have done well recently due to the
advent of multiplexes. Mass movies are made for audience who are interested in pure
entertainment value of the movie. These movies appeal to a broad set of audience in
the middle class and lower class of the society like the daily wage workers, rickshaw
pullers etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF MOVIES AS PRODUCTS
Here movies have been classified into different genres and there attributes which could
be used for promoting movies have been identified.
 Entertainment movies.
 Art movies
I) Entertainment movies:
These are also called Mainstream Cinema or Commercial Cinema. These can be
further divided into following categories:
1. Action / Romantic movies.

MOVIE POSITIONING
Also called Masala films, potboilers. Include Action movies and love stories. E.g.:
DUS, Om Shanti Om etc
Attributes:
 Item numbers
 Catchy Music
 Big openings
 Action sequences
 Stardom of the lead actors plays the most important role in deciding the fate of
the movie.
2. Patriotic / war movies
E.g. Border, Sarfarosh, Rang de Basanti, Lakshya, LOC, Hero, Indian, Haqeeqat,
Deewar.
Attributes:
 Patriotic songs
 War setting
 Terrorism
 National flag
 Army setting
3. Socially relevant movies
E.g. Taare Zameen Par, Rudaali, Page3, Corporate
Attributes:
 Meaningful songs
 Generally star cast is not heavy.
 Generally critic’s award winning.
 Commercial success notwithstanding, social message gets a high importance.
 Mostly based on real life stories.
4. Family movies
E.g.: Hum aapke hain kaun, Hum saath saath hai, Baagbaan, Viruddh, Ta Ra
Rum Pum, Waqt
Attributes:
 Generally, a story of a family and what happens to them in a crisis.

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 Indian families and the relationships between them are highlighted
 Celebrating Indian culture using modern production values.
 Generally, a great Indian lavish wedding is also shown. Sometimes, it becomes
the central theme of the movie.
5. Biographical Films
E.g. Guru, Bose the Forgotten Hero, Sardar, Gandhi, The Legend Of Bhagat
Singh
Attributes:
 Controversies help a lot.
 Mostly facts which are unknown to general public are shown.
 Story is the main strength, followed by directors and actors involved.
 Music is generally on a back foot.
6. Comedy
E.g hungama, kunwara, Style, bheja fry, Garam Masala, hera pheri, golmaal,
Chupke Chupke, Khosla ka Ghosla
Attributes:
 Director’s reputation as a comedy film maker.
 Funny sequences in trailers.
 Actors involved.
 Funny trailers.
7. Children’s Films
E.g. Makadi, Bhoothnath, Koi mil gaya, Hanuman
Attributes:
 Supernatural thrill.
 Child actors.
 Animated films. Cute faces of the animated characters.
 Pranks played by the characters in the movie.
8. Horror/Thriller Films
E.g. Raaz, 100 days, Danger, Bhoot, Kaun , gumnaam, mahal, woh kaun thi.
Attributes:

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 Music which creates a suspenseful environment.
 Fast paced story line.
 Eerie sequences and songs.
 Generally challenges the audience to dare to watch them.
 Screaming trailers.
 Generally trailers shown with dark coloured background.
II) ART CINEMA
E.g Fire, Ardh Satya, Astitva, Raincoat, Mandi, Dor, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
Attributes:
 Taboo subjects are raised.
 Release timing of the films are mostly consistent with one or more incidents in
news which are related in one way or other to the subject of the film.
 Actors are generally not from main stream cinema and are considered to be
better actors then their commercial cinema counterparts.
 Controversial nature of the theme of the movie helps generate people’s interest
in the film.
PUBLICITY OF MOVIES
The publicity of a movie takes place at two levels:
 At producer level.
 At distributor level.
At producer level the publicity of movies is done at a large scale with a national or
international scenario in consideration. The budgets at this level are very big and the
media used are teaser on TV channels and cinema halls, radio, national magazines etc.
The star cast of the movie is also associated with publicity at this level. This publicity is
aimed at all the target audience in the country for creating a “buzz” about the movie.
At distributor level the publicity is mainly for making the target audience aware about the
theatres where the movie is playing and the timings of the movies. Also, this publicity
tries to reach the audience who may not have access to cable TV or radio. But the
scope of this is publicity is limited to the distributor’s territory. The budgets allocated for
such publicity are comprehensive but smaller than the budgets at producer level. The
media used at this level are posters, hoardings, local newspapers etc.

MOVIE POSITIONING
HOW DIFFERENT MEDIA IS USED FOR PUBLICITY OF MOVIES?
Gone are those days when plastering a few posters on the walls and hand-painted
Billboard signs were the only means available for a film’s publicity; Actors barely
promoted their films, film-makers never ventured in-front of the camera and our main
stream media couldn’t care less.
Today’s Bollywood presents a very different scenario. With over 1000 films releasing in
a given year, all of them fighting for a common goal i.e. the box-office success, the
multiplex domination – it has become a necessity for those involved, to do whatever it
takes to enforce that “must-watch” feeling among the masses in order to win this very
competitive rat-race. And yes, the Indian media plays a vital role in this process.
Superstar Shahrukh Khan is a fine example of the above. His perfectly knitted
marketing tactics, be it non-stop television promotions, tying up with news-channels and
popular online sites, birthday celebrations with the Indian media, the 6-pack (over-
toned) tag line, cricket matches and last but certainly not the least, the OSO clothes line
– in short, King Khan took the job of film-marketing to a whole new level. And as a
result, despite a weak storyline and very mediocre performances; Om Shanti Om ended
up being a super duper box-office success.
The mainstream advertising for movies, targeted at the end users is done via TV.
Trailers, songs, star appearances on TV shows, interviews, "making of", reviews and
movie news, all forms a part of the promotion strategies adopted by film makers.
Movie trailers form the conventional part of advertising movies via television. Over the
years trailers have been transformed into teasers, that give little info about the movie
while buzz amongst the audience about the movie.
Songs have long been used to generate interest in the movie. The recent years have
seen use of a special category of songs called "item songs", songs which are shot and
included in the movie especially for the purpose of advertising the movie and pulling in
crowds. Nowadays, these item songs are shown on TV in full length just for
advertisement purpose. They have no relation whatsoever with the movie's storyline.
Then there is "special appearances" made by the actors, actresses and even the people
behind the scenes – producers and directors on various TV shows, like talk shows,
reality shows etc. This provides for a free publicity channel for the film makers.
The "making of" a saga which is couple of hours long shown on the TV gives an insight
into what went into the production of the movie. It helps generate interest in the movie
by giving away parts of the story and some scenes, making the viewers salivate to know
about more.

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Other Major Channels of Marketing (apart from TV)
1. RADIO
According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India., there were
approximately 132 lakh listeners of FM radio in the major metropolitan cities across
India. Tie-ups with radio channels for marketing films are becoming increasingly
common. Common promotional activities include on-air contests, interviews with film
stars and music composers, shelling out complementary movie tickets, an option to
meet the stars in person, music and movie premiere coverage, etc.
Taking the case of the tie-up between Big 92.7 FM with Yashraj Films as its exclusive
on air partner for the film Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom.
The station featured interviews of Preity Zinta, Lara Dutta, Bobby Deol, and music
directors Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy during the music premiere. Listeners could win a chance
to be part of an exclusive music video 'Jhoom Baby Jhoom' featuring common people
dancing to the title track, in addition to getting an opportunity to interact with the stars of
the film.
Prior to the launch of the movie, Big 92.7 FM provided special content around dancing,
featuring dance experts from Bollywood, including the film's ace choreographer
Vaibhavi Merchant giving dancing tips to listeners. Also, listeners got the chance to hear
each of the stars of the film all day from 9 am - 7 pm. Listeners will also got the
opportunity to win prizes like free music CD’s and movie tickets of the film by
participating in the 'couples contest' wherein each partner is asked questions about the
other to gauge on how well they 'Jhoom together'.
Hollywood movie distributors spend about $4 billion a year to buy paid advertising (30-
second TV commercials, newspaper ads, etc.) and over half that total is placed on
broadcast and cable TV, which are the main vehicles for advertising movies to
audiences. TV is effective because it is an audio-visual medium – like film – and can
deliver a vast audience quickly, which is crucial because films typically don’t linger in
theaters more than 4–6 weeks, according to Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition
Product placement: paid active or passive insertion (as on-set posters, and action
figures) of film brand in drama or sitcom shows, or as passing mentions in dialogue. For
example, 20th Century Fox commissioned an I, Robot-themed motorcycle, featured on
two episodes (2:17, 2:18) of American Chopper.[3] The film Memoirs of a Geisha was
placed throughout an episode of the TV show Medium.

MOVIE POSITIONING
Extended placement: full episodes of television talkshows (Oprah), entertainment news
programs (ET), or network news programs (20/20), devoted to compensated exposure
of the film, stars, clips, director, etc.
In addition, interviews with actors and directors which are filmed en masse at a hotel
with local and national entertainment reporters which are featured on local news shows,
programs on cable networks, and series such as Byron Allen's series of entertainment
series like Entertainment Studios.
Production and paid broadcast of behind-the-scenes documentary-style shows, the type
of which are mainly produced for HBO, Showtime, and Starz
Advance trailers, longer previews, or behind-the-scenes footage on rental videos and
DVDs
2. MOBILE PHONES
India is the fastest growing market in the mobile world. The dramatic evolution of
communications technology, from download speeds and battery life to compact form
factors, screen sizes and resolution, as well as memory enhancements, means mobile
devices are now capable of delivering a compelling, high quality and uniquely personal
viewing experience. Not surprisingly, ringtones, wallpapers and caller tunes are very
popular nowadays. However, for mobile movie marketing there is life beyond these
services. Consumers want SMS short reviews as well as schedule of theatres on the
mobile. There is also scope for television channels to send out SMS alerts half an hour
before a movie is going to be aired. A substantial segment of the population is
favourable to games related to films. More importantly, a large population prefers to
read a film’s review before seeing it. So television movie channels and film distributors
need to place reviews in WAP portals that are frequently accessed. Contests and
dynamic updates available on cellular networks generate repeat look ups. This way, a
buzz about the theme of the movie marketed is ensured. The tactics used in promoting
movies like Veer Zaara and Swades through R World consisted of automated calls from
Veer Zaara stars Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta to consumers' mobile phones,
followed by SMS contests, which were a huge success.
3. INTERNET
The internet is increasingly emerging as a profitable medium to create hype and
promote new film. There are approximately 30-40 million internet users in India today.
Internet as a medium to promote a film is a viable option as it offers a wide platform of
activities like reviews, trailers, bulletin boards, email, and blog for marketing movies
which in turn creates a buzz about the film. Industry experts believe that the cost
effectiveness of the online medium is one of the reasons for its popularity. An online

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campaign on the other hand costs only one-tenth of the amount a producer will spend
advertising the film in the print medium. A recent survey conducted by the Internet &
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) says that close to 90% internet users surf the net for
movie related information and 42% of the surfers use the net for this purpose more than
once a week. The survey also found that 54% of the net users watched at least one
movie per month. Among the first studios to have started off promoting films on the Net
was Yashraj Films. Their Mujhse Dosti Karoge went on to win the prestigious ABBY
Gold award for its Internet marketing initiative in 2004. To promote Kabhi Alvida Na
Kahna, the entire song Where’s the party tonight was featured on MSN’s desktop TV.
MSN also designed a theme pack on Messenger based on the film’s characters. RDB’s
characters wrote interactive blogs; Anthony Kaun Hai ran an online contest with winners
meeting the stars. Lage Raho Munnabhai’s promotion on MSN India consisted of video
clips from the film aired on desktop TV airs, and a web link to the official movie website
with storyline, information on cast, crew, music, photos and screensavers, trailers,
contests and interactive features. Online promotions also enable filmmakers to tap the
overseas market. NRIs are also passionate about movies and like to download
wallpapers, ring tones and take part in celebrity chats.
Virtual relationship hyperlink marketing, wherein a major search engine (like Yahoo's
main page) offers articles seemingly presenting interesting news related items, but
which are actually back-end loaded with a links page containing multiple "mental
references" to film characters, storylines or products. Example: Bond, Transformers,
etc..., are connected to scientific invention news stories about advanced weaponry or
robotics discoveries, which quickly leads the reader to pages loaded with the latest 007
or Megatron movie clip or art director's fantastical ideas and designs, thus hooking
readers with a "bait and switch" story.
 Creation of standalone studio-sponsored per-film websites such as "example-the-
movie.com".
 Online digital film screeners: These digital film screeners have the benefit of
letting you send individual copies of your film or a promo to the press, sales
agents, distributors etc. Using them its simple to send individually controlled
copies of your film to various recipients with different expiry dates. Along with the
security of individual expiry dates, you can see reports of who viewed your film
and track their viewing of the film.
 VIRAL MARKETING: Free distribution of trailers on movie-oriented websites and
video user-generated-content websites, and rapid dissemination of links to this
content by email and blogs. Includes alleged leakage of supposed "rushes" and
"early trailers" of film scenes. Sometimes, the efforts go further such as in the
lead time to the successful premiere of the film, The Muppets which was

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preceded by several original film shorts on YouTube over a number of years
while the film was in production.
 Creation of Internet Marketing campaign using Paid Advertisement and Social
Media Marketing
4. PRINT
It is a Paid advertisement in newspapers, magazines, and inserts in books. Cross-
promotion of original book or novelization, including special printings, or new cover
jackets ("Now a major motion picture.")
Comic special editions or special episodes
5. PROMOTIONAL TOURS AND INTERVIEWS
Film actors, directors, and producers appear for television, cable, radio, print and online
media interviews, which can be conducted in person or remotely. During film production,
these can take place on set. After the film's premiere, key personnel make appearances
in major market cities or participate remotely via satellite videoconference or telephone.
The purpose of interviews is to encourage journalists to publish stories about their
"exclusive interviews" with the film's stars, thereby creating "marketing buzz" around the
film and stimulating audience interest in watching the film.
When it comes to feature films picked up by a major film studio for international
distribution, promotional tours are notoriously grueling. Key cast and crew are often
contracted to travel to several major cities around the world to promote the film and sit
for dozens of interviews. In every interview they are supposed to stay "on message" by
energetically expressing their enthusiasm for the film in a way that appears candid, fun,
and fresh, even though it may be their fifth or sixth interview that day. They are
expected to disclose just enough juicy "behind-the-scenes" information about the
filmmaking process or the filmmakers' artistic vision to make each journalist feel like he
or she got a nice scoop, while at the same time tactfully avoiding disclosure of anything
truly negative or embarrassing.
ALTERATIVE MARKETING METHODS
1. TEASERS
In the world of entertainment branding and promotion, where promos and trailers create
viewer perceptions, teasers play a very vital role when it comes to films and their
marketing.

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A teaser is all about illusion and aura. It is about creating that ‘glimpse of mystery’ about
the film just before its theatrical release that will eventually attract more audiences to the
theatre with a motive to demystify the perception created.
A teaser for a film is essentially created to drive in the maximum number of viewers to
the theatre in the first week of the film’s release. This is because post week one, the
fate of the film at the box office completely depends upon its content. Thus, by using
effective teasers, producers seek to drive in maximum viewers for the film during the
first week and generate maximum revenue.
Creating a teaser for any film involves huge financial risk. Hence, creating it effectively
becomes a must. An effective teaser needs to create a lot of anticipation. It needs to
mock, annoy and arouse. Ideas need to be spinned off differently and effectively. A well
knitted teaser should not steal any scene from the movie; however it has to get the core
idea right. The teaser of the low-budget American horror film “The Blair Witch Project”,
released in 1999 showed an “absolute black” screen powered by a strong voice over.
The voice over was filled with “intense fear that generated post the completion of a
summer project.
The teaser does not speak anything about the film. It only throws a punch of fear at the
audience, thus encapsulating the core idea of the film - fear. This is what an effective
teaser is all about. It creates a mystery about the film thereby calling the viewers to
watch the film and demystify the mystical.
2. CO-BRANDING AND MERCHANDISING
Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more
than one brand name, or otherwise associates a product with someone other than the
principal producer. The typical co-branding agreement involves two or more companies
acting in cooperation to associate any of various logos, colour schemes, or brand
identifiers to a specific product that is contractually designated for this purpose. The
object for this is to combine the strength of two brands, in order to increase the premium
consumers are willing to pay, make the product or service more resistant to copying by
private label manufacturers, or to combine the different perceived properties associated
with these brands with a single product.
3. AUDIENCE RESEARCH
There are seven distinct types of research conducted by film distributors in connection
with domestic theatrical releases, according to "Marketing to Moviegoers: Second
Edition." Such audience research can cost $1 million per film, especially when scores of
TV advertisements are tested and re-tested. The bulk of research is done by major
studios for the roughly 170 major releases they mount each year that are supported by

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tens of millions of advertising buys for each film. Independent film distributors, which
typically spend less than $10 million in media buys per film, don’t have the budget or
breadth of advertising materials to analyze, so they spend little or nothing on pre-
release audience research. When audience research is conducted for domestic
theatrical release, it involves these areas:
 Positioning studies versus other films that will premiere at the same time.
 Test screenings of finished or nearly finished films; this is the most well known.
 Testing of audience response to advertising materials.
 Tracking surveys of audience awareness of a film starting six weeks before
premiere.
 Exit surveys questioning film goers about their demographic makeup and
effectiveness of marketing.
 Title testing in an early stage.
 Concept testing that would occur in development phase of a film before it is
produced.
Marketing can play a big role in whether or not a film gets the green light. Audience
research is a strong factor in determining the ability of a film to sell in theaters, which is
ultimately how films make their money. As part of a movie's Marketing strategy,
audience research comes into account as producers create promotional materials.
These promotional materials consistently change and evolve as a direct consequence
of audience research up until the film opens in theaters
4. MATCHING THE TARGET
Co-branding movies and products succeeds when the movie and the brand target the
same audience. In case of movies like Krrish, children form the major audience. This
means that brands targeted at children should be used to reap maximum benefit.
Also, it is mutually beneficial. Pidilite Industries’ Acron brand of “Rangeela” colours has
brought out special packs based on the film. Commercials on cartoon channels are
inspiring juvenile viewers to “celebrate the magic of Krrish with ‘Rangeela’ colours”. The
co-branded colours are also being made available at the multiplexes where the film is
being screened.
5. INTELLIGENT CO-BRANDING
Using brands to promote movies can be more effective when the branding is in tune
with the film. In the case of Krrish, no doubt the aura of the Superhero can be expected
to rub off on the brand. However, the co-branding will work better when it is designed
intelligently so that it seems natural for the brand to be associated with the film. An
important variable in co-branding is “the fit between the movie and the brand”.

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For example, HLL chose to associate its Lifebuoy soap brand with Krrish HLL chose
Lifebuoy over the other brands since the brand is all about protection, and Krrish’s
character is all about protecting the world from enemies.
6. MERCHANDISING
Now the story does not end with the leading man and lady living happily ever after. It
goes to add T-shirts, mugs and other paraphernalia.
Be it the super hero Krrish, the common men turned heroes in Rang de Basanti, the
romantic pair in Fanaah or the animated god Hanuman; they can be spotted on T-shirts,
on your kids toys, around youngsters’ necks, even in your refrigerators and many more
such places not marked for them earlier.
Riding on the popularity of these films, makers in India are going the George Lucas
(Star War maker) way whose merchandise till date has reportedly touched $20 billion in
estimated revenue. The figures in India haven’t skyrocketed to such heights but with the
way things are shaping up, merchandising is fast making headway.
The reasons are more than the fact that merchandise is an established revenue stream;
it not just serves as link between fans and brands but also provides a great publicity
base and a recall factor for the movies.
The makers of Krrish tied up with Pantaloon Retail India Limited for manufacturing and
marketing of Krrish merchandise. For Rang de Basanti the makers joined hands with
Coke for exclusive limited edition coke bottles, which had the images of the stars on it.
They also came up with a limited collection of Spirit of RDB T-shirts with Provogue. For
Fanaah Yash Raj Films had three different products, including a pendant sported by
Aamir Khan in the film. While Adlab films struck a deal with Mattel toys for the
Superman toys apart from T-shirts, key chains and bags for Superman Returns.
Paid co-branding (Eragon in American Chopper-two episodes), or co-advertising (Aston
Martin and James Bond films) of a product with the film
Whatever may be the benefits attached, merchandising is a proven winner with a huge
potential to be explored and filmmakers are all set to take a plunge in it.

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MUSIC AS A PROMOTION TOOL
One of the most popular Indian music forms is the Filmi music. Hindi film industry,
popularly known as Bollywood, along with Indian regional film industries, produces
thousands of films a year, most of which are musicals and feature elaborate song and
dance numbers.
It is because of the huge popularity of the Indian film music that a large number of
talented music directors, singers, composers and lyricists are attracted to the Indian
Film industry. India is a land of great musical heritage. It is mainly because of the same
reason that almost all our means of entertainment are inspired by music. The Indian film
music has given a number of great music talents over the years. Some of the notable
are Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, K L Sehgal, Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, R D
Burman, S D Burman, A R Rehman, Khaiyyam and many others.
Indian Film Music is said to have begun with the release of Alam Ara in 1931. In the
early years of Indian cinema, the music was mainly classical and folk in inspiration, with
some Western elements. The most fascinating part of Indian film music is its evolution
with time. The Indian film music experts have always experimented with new things to
cater to the changing tastes of music lovers. Another trend in Indian film music is that of
integration of some popular regional languages such as Punjabi, Oudhi etc. Though in
the process of evolution, music experts have flirted with western influences too yet the
Indian flavor has always remained there.
Earlier music was a part of the films and was mostly used only when the song gelled
with the flow of the movies; but these days music is used as a vital tool for promotion of
movies. Movie soundtracks are released as tapes and CDs much before the movie is
released. Earlier, radio was the main media of Film music but with the coming of
satellite TV and FM radio the scenario has completely changed. An elaborate music
release function is held for even low budget movies as it is an important way of
garnering attention. Any music release function is usually covered by the press and a
few television channels (specially dedicated to covering news about the film
industry).There are a lot of movies which have been box office successes despite a bad
story line; music being their saviour. Movies like Aashiq Banaya Aapne,Gangster,Woh
Lamhe, Jhoom barabar Jhoom, China gate, Bas Ek Pal Anwar,Dum,Aks are classic
examples of such movies. Variations in this include multi star caste songs , item
numbers etc. with a peppy or racy beats which also attract viewers. There is also a new
trend where old hit songs are being re-mixed and used in movies to attract audience.
Thus, music is used as an important promotional strategy for films these days.

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HOLLYWOOD MARKETING STRATEGIES IN INDIA
With increasing literacy levels, the demand for international fare among the English-
educated Indians is growing. Post-globalization, the well-heeled urban Indians,
especially growing mid- and high-income segments, is rediscovering the magic of
cinema in the plush multiplexes. And for them, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and Julia
Roberts are as good as Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, and Rani Mukherjee. Indian
audiences watch Hollywood films for what they cannot get in Bollywood films. Indian
films center on family and romantic themes and seldom do they offer big-ticket action or
jaw-dropping visuals. Hollywood offers the latter, which is why films offering that style of
entertainment do well.
As recently as 2005, foreign films accounted for only about 5 percent of about $1 billion
in theatre tickets sold annually here. But Hollywood profits in India are growing at 35
percent a year, and the US film industry is becoming more aggressive.
Hollywood's Major Initiatives in India:
 Simultaneous release of blockbuster films and India release within 3-4 weeks for
other major films, vis a vis the time difference between US and India release,
which was as long as 6 months to a year, about 4 years back.
 Dubbed versions supported by localised consumer-centric campaigns take
playability of Hollywood films beyond metros, thereby adding to ticket sales.
These dubbed versions contribute almost 50 per cent of the company's revenue.
Spider-Man 3 was dubbed into Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bhojpuri. The massive
global release meant that poor villagers in central India were able to queue up
the same day as audiences in Los Angeles to see the film, dubbed into a local
dialect.
 Increase of almost 100 percent in the marketing and publicity budgets for all
Hollywood films by the major studios. Hollywood is promoting its big-ticket films
like any other big Bollywood release. Premieres are being held here. There are
tie-ups with corporate’s and there is even merchandising at a small level.
Promotions of Hollywood films are being adapted to suit the local taste and
flavor. There were paintings of the action figure on Mumbai trains to promote
Spiderman 2. Media penetration and internet usage has created greater
awareness for Hollywood films in India, right from the time they are promoted in
the U.S., which increases once the film opens there. U.S. Reviews and Box office
figures are flashed across Indian media and the buzz continues with the Indian
media giving space to these films till their release in India. Because of the
multiplexes, Hollywood studios could release a good number of their films in the
country.

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Here we take the example of promotion of Spiderman2 which created a benchmark for
Hollywood movies’ success in India.
To promote Spiderman 2, Sony Pictures went all out. Sony BMG especially created a
single for the movie sung by the famous Pakistani band "Strings". Sony's Indian
television arm, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), was tied in to promote the film
through their high visibility programs such as Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi /Yeh Meri Life Hai.
Another Sony TV outfit, SET MAX, specially created a program called "Spotlight,"
hosted by Mandira Bedi, their brand ambassador and a celebrity in India. On both SET
and SET MAX, the Spiderman was shown swinging in and out as and when the
channels IDs appeared. AXN also had a Spiderman bug (the image of Spiderman) on
their logo on a 24x7 basis. Sony Ericsson launched their first branded phones in India
(Spiderman 2 mobile phones). These phones were promoted through a tie-in with the
film. Sony Electronics also played a part. Their first major film promotion in India was
through their hi-end retail stores "Sony World". Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
promoted the film through their DVD and VCD sales for Spiderman (the first part).
The era of Bollywood v/s Hollywood has ended. It's now an era of coexistence, courtesy
multiplexes which have added capacities.
MESSAGES AND STYLES USED FOR PROMOTION OF FILMS
The publicity of the movie is about highlighting appealing aspects of the movie to the
audience. The messages a publicity campaign try to convey to the audience vary based
on the type of film and the target audience. The style in which these messages are
delivered also varies. However the style has to be attention grabbing and interesting
enough for the target audience to think about the message or remember the message.
Generally the messages are about the strengths of the movie. For example the lead
actors, director, banner or the subject of the movie, music can be considered as
strengths of a movie.
However, sometimes messages that arouse sentiments in the audience are also used.
Lagaan and Gadar are good examples of successfully using the audience sentiments to
their advantage.
LAGAAN
The theme of the movie was a tightly guarded secret. Posters and teasers gave no hint
of what the movie was about. The movie music was promoted. The music was very
successful. This generated an enormous amount of curiosity for the movie among the
audience. The movie was released all over the country at the same time. This

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generated a big initial week collection. However since the length of the movie was 4hrs,
only 3 shows per day could be screened. This resulted in some losses. After the first
weekend the marketing strategy was changed and the cricket match in the film came
into focus. India is a cricket crazy country. How can Indians ignore an India vs. England
match set in the British raj era?
GADAR
This is a good example of how the public sentiment can affect the fortunes of a movie.
The advertisements aroused public sentiments by highlighting Sunny Deol’s rhetoric on
Pakistan and showcasing partition riots in graphic detail. This movie of the masses used
the lay man’s sentiments of patriotism to its advantage. The Music of the movie was an
added advantage.
Both Lagaan and Gadar enjoyed great success after the first week because of the good
quality of the movies. Mouth to mouth publicity played a major part in the success of
these movies. It is said that people in villages travelled in trucks and tractors to the cities
to watch Lagaan and especially Gadar. We can safely conclude from these examples
that if a movie successfully appeals to public emotion, then it is sure to generate a good
mouth to mouth publicity.
To analyze various messages and styles used by film promoters, attributes and factors
relevant for promotion of 3 different films of different genres were analysed from
promotion and publicity point of view.
Film 1 - JODHA AKBAR
 Period film and a love story
 Sole release of that week.
 Star cast of Hritik Roshan and
Aishwarya Rai.
 Hrithik - aishwarya chemistry after success of Dhoom 2

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 Ashutosh Gowarikar is the director with a great track record.
 Good music and meaningful lyrics.
 Larger than life portrayal with grand jewellery and costumes.
 Tie up with Tanishq for Jewellery.
 Extremely lengthy narration of the story. (4hrs)
 Controversy surrounding historical facts created buzz
Film 2: HANUMAN
 Animated movie with an Indian mythological character as the lead.
 Kid’s movie. The cute face Bal Hanuman
and his pranks appeal to child audience.
 Brand Hanuman used for merchandising.
 Hanuman fighting with devils in new
Hollywood styles (Matrix)
 Movie making a statement on current state
of affairs.
 Hanuman is already known to the Indian
audience. (No need to make people aware
about hanuman and his super powers.)
Film 3: OM SHANTI OM
 ACTOR - Shahrukh Khan
 Catchy music.
 Recreation of the 70s setting.
 Expectation and curiosity generated for the
debutante Deepika Padukone
 Promotion on TV shows – all music &
reality shows like Koffee with Karan
 Promotion in cricket matches coinciding with the release.
 Director Farah Khan - Reputed for good Choreography Sharukh’s Six pack Abs
hype
 Multi star song sequence - “all hot girls” created a hype
 Released during Diwali – audience looking to kill some free time
 Controversy related to Manoj Kumar created hype.

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MASLOW PYRAMID AND MOVIES
People are asked “Why do you
watch a movie?” The most common
answer is “For Fun.” Where does the
need for having fun fit in the Maslow
Pyramid? If the Maslow hierarchy is
used in a rigid way, this question
may not be answered. To
understand this we need to find out
what does having fun mean to
different people when they say they
are watching movies for fun. It could
mean deriving pleasure, enjoyment,
and entertainment. However these
are end results of some need being
satisfied.
In order to relate a particular 'doing it for fun' behaviour to the hierarchy of needs we
need to consider what makes it 'fun' (i.e. rewarding) for the person. If a behaviour is 'for
fun', then let’s consider what makes it 'fun' for the person - is the 'fun' rooted in
'belongingness', or is it from 'recognition', i.e., 'esteem'. Or is the fun at a deeper level,
from the sense of self-fulfillment, i.e. 'self-actualization'.
Needs given by Maslow pyramid applied to needs exploited by movie promoters:
1. Biological and Physiological needs
Sex appeal of stars, item songs, sex scenes are targeted at exploiting the Biological and
physiological need of sex. All these are used while promoting such type of films to
attract audience.
2. Safety needs
A thriller, horror or an action movie gives a chance to virtually experience fear and thrill.
Thus a person may experience fun by imagining danger. (Forgoing safety for
experiencing thrill). The promoters highlight this thrill factor in there promotional
campaign.
3. Belongingness and Love needs
Watching a movie with a group of friends or family satisfies the need of belongingness.
Also a lot of movies are made with love as the central theme keeping young couples
and there need to express love in mind. Watching cult movies like science fiction or

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watching movies as a fan of a particular actor or director give movie goers the feeling of
belonging to the cult or fan club. Film promoters have used this need for promoting
movies like Harry potter, star wars, Rajnikanth movies etc
4. Esteem needs
Movies influence people. The choice made by people for fashionable clothes seen in a
particular movie or the jewellery design displayed in a movie leaves a mark in the minds
of the audience. If these things catch on with the audience, the audience tries to own
the same type of dresses or jewellery as shown in a movie. This gives people a chance
to “show-off”. For example many women bought Tanishq Jewellery worn by Aishwarya
Rai in the movie Jodhaa-Akbar. These women indirectly promoted the movie through
the jewellery. Thus the promoters of Jodhaa-Akbar used the esteem needs of these
women to publicize the movie.
5. Self-Actualization needs
Inspirational movies like Swades, niche class movies like Namesake, art movies, are
movies with mature topics. These movies deal with conflicting human values and
promotion of such movies is targeted towards a thinking mature audience.
HOW MOVIE MARKETING WORKS?
It's three days before Christmas and you're out doing some last-minute shopping
downtown. Sitting at a traffic light, you see a bus drive by with a huge ad for the latest
Disney movie, something about a purple unicorn. You saw something last night on TV
about the crazy special effects they used to make the unicorn fly. Huh, you think, maybe
your kid would like to see it.
At the mall, it seems like that unicorn is everywhere. They're selling stuffed unicorns in
the toy store and offering unicorn rides next to the line for Santa Claus. (Speaking of
special effects, how did they get the horns to stick to those ponies?) You buy a Coke at
the food court and darn it if the can isn't purple!
Back at home, you turn on the TV and every commercial break has a different trailer for
the unicorn movie. You go online to check the latest headlines and there's a big
interactive banner ad featuring that lovable unicorn at the top of the "New York Times"
Web site. Literally everywhere you look, someone or something is reminding you that
the unicorn movie opens on December 24th! Guess where you'll be on Christmas Eve?
Hollywood movies grossed $26.7 billion worldwide in 2007. No other form of
entertainment comes close to equaling the earning power of movies. One of the main

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reasons movies are so successful is that they're sold to us so effectively. Movie
marketing is the art and science of convincing consumers to buy movie tickets.
Although the movie industry takes in billions of dollars a year, very few Hollywood
movies actually make a profit. That's because it costs a tremendous amount to make a
major studio movie. The average production budget of a major studio movie reached
$70.8 million in 2007. But to sell that movie to the public, studios spent another $35.9 on
marketing for a total budget of $106.6 million per picture. Hollywood relies on a few
runaway hits each season to make up for the majority of films that fail to break even.
The uncertainty of the movie business makes the job of the movie marketer even more
important. Whether a movie is Oscar worthy or downright lousy, the movie marketer has
to figure out a way to fill those seats at the multiplex. Keep reading to learn the basics of
movie marketing, some proven techniques and why it's such a challenging job.
MOVIE MARKETING BASICS
Movie marketing is also known as movie advertising and movie promotion. Every major
Hollywood studio and movie distribution company has an internal department devoted
to promotion. The promotions department is responsible for designing and implementing
an effective, cohesive advertising campaign across several different media platforms,
including theatrical movie trailers, newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the Internet
and billboards.
The movie business is cyclical and seasonal by nature. Major studio releases are
clustered during the summer, Christmas and long holiday weekends like Thanksgiving,
Memorial Day and Labor Day. With so many high profile movies fighting for the same
audience, movie marketers need to figure out how to make their films stand out from the
pack.
In recent years, the general tactic has been to "go big." For expensive, blockbuster
movies, the marketing campaign alone can cost as much as half of the total production
budget. So if a film costs $80 million to make, the distributor might spend $40 million on
advertising and promotion. In 2007, the average marketing budget for a theatrical
release from a major Hollywood studio was $35.9 million.
The hope, of course, is that all of this marketing money will pay off in ticket sales. One
of the most important indicators of the success of a movie marketing campaign is the
gross box office sales from the first weekend of a movie's release. Opening weekend
sales are a direct reflection of how much buzz and excitement has been generated by
the promotional campaign.

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Even if a movie stinks, strong opening weekend numbers can be enough to break even
or earn a small profit for the studio. It's not uncommon for large Hollywood movies to
make over 40 percent of their gross profits in the first week of release. Once the word
spreads that the movie isn't worth the money, some blockbusters experience huge
drops from the first weekend to the second. The most notorious example is Ang Lee's
"Hulk," which grossed 47 percent of its total earnings in it's opening weekend, then
made 69 percent less in its second weekend.
Every movie is different and the promotions department must figure out what type of
campaign will be the most effective at reaching the target audience.
 Newspapers: 10.1 percent
 Network TV: 21.6 percent
 Spot TV (purchasing commercial "spots" from individual TV stations): 13.9
percent
 Internet: 4.4 percent
 Theatrical trailers: 4.2 percent
 Other media (includes cable TV, radio, magazines, billboards): 24 percent
 Other non-media (market research, promotion/publicity, creative services): 21.8
percent
 In the next section, we'll look at the specific strategies that movie marketers use
to convince moviegoers to fork over $8 or more for their films.
MOVIE MARKETING STRATEGIES
The theatrical trailer is often the first chance to promote a movie to its target audience.
Starting up to a year before the release of a major studio movie, distributors run movie
trailers that are meticulously edited and audience-tested. The idea is to give moviegoers
a taste of the laughs, special effects and plot twists of the studio's upcoming releases,
while leaving them wanting more. It's an art form that's usually handled by special trailer
production houses.
About the same time that the first trailers hit the theaters, the movie studio will unveil an
official Web site for the film. Typical movie Web sites allow visitors to view multiple
versions of the trailer, watch behind-the-scenes interviews and mini-documentaries,
read plot synopses, download cell-phone ringtones and desktop wallpaper, play games,
chat in forums and even pre-order tickets. The official movie Web site is only the
beginning of a much larger Internet marketing campaign.
As the release date of the film draws closer, movie marketers try to get early favorable
press coverage in newspapers, magazines and on entertainment TV shows. The main

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movie publicity tactic is something called a press junket. At a press junket, journalists,
entertainment reporters and movie critics are flown out to a special location for a day or
weekend of interviews with the stars and creators of the film. The actors,
directors and screenwriters sit in separate rooms and the reporters are brought in one
by one to ask their questions.
Press junkets are highly controlled environments where interviews are often attended by
a publicist, who make sure interviews never veer from positive topics. If you've ever
seen a TV interview with an actor sitting in front of a poster of their movie, that's from a
press junket.
Weeks before the movie opens nationwide, the promotions department starts an all-
out publicity blitz. The idea is to bombard the public with so many images and promos
for the movie that it becomes a "can't miss" event. Movie marketers will plaster the sides
of buses with huge ads, place billboards all around the city, run tons of teaser trailers on
TV, place full-page ads in major newspapers and magazines, and the movie's stars will
show up on all of the major talk shows.
The Internet is proving to be a prime spot for these publicity blitzes. Promoters can
place rich, interactive ads on the Web sites most trafficked by their target audience.
They can also release behind-the-scenes clips, bloopers and other viral videos on
video-sharing sites like YouTube. Or they can release different media clips and let the
fans create their own trailers.
Another popular strategy is to use highly visible product tie-ins and corporate
partnerships. For marketing children's movies, the Holy Grail is getting promotional
goodies in McDonald's Happy Meals.
One final movie marketing strategy is the publicity stunt, an orchestrated media event
where someone does something incredibly silly, dangerous or spectacular to draw
further attention to the opening of the movie. An example is when the promoters of "The
Simpsons Movie" transformed dozens of nationwide 7-Eleven convenience stores into
replicas of Springfield's own Kwik-E Mart.
Unfortunately, movie promotion is not an exact science. Read about some common
problems with movie marketing in the next section.
A well-researched script forms the back-bone of a good marketing strategy. It is through
your research that you define your audience based on which you project your returns

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and that and only that can help you formulate a foolproof budget. There is nothing better
than a film whose time has come.
• Dil Chahta Hai was made based on the pretext that the size of the urban Indian
population is growing everyday and maybe they would like to see some reflections of
their lives. Expectedly, the film did extremely well in Mumbai and Delhi, but was only
semi-successful in Dhanbad and Hoogly.
• Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham was made on the pretext that Indians love ‘larger
than life’ films, and ‘demonstration effect’ in the middle income group Indians is the
highest. It was estimated that their aspiration levels were beyond belief. K3G happened
and was a super hit.
• Jhankaar Beats did very well in Mumbai. India’s financial capital is fast aping a
London or a New York. The fast life people are leading, the city itself decaying and
aspirations skyrocketing. Finding pleasures in simple things and relationships is
something that city dwellers crave. Jhankaar Beats played on these emotions.The film
was a semi-hit.
• Kal Ho Naa Ho: Well, there are films that do not need research. Just pick up the
story line of an age-old hit film, give the reins in the hands of King Khan, add dollops of
Manhattan, some good music and Hollywood style packaging and what you have is a
super hit.
You Got It: There is no ‘Formula’ no Longer
For years (if not since the very inception), in Bollywood what has worked are formulae:
two brothers separate in the Kumbh Mela. One becomes a police officer while the other
decides to take off on the wrong side of law. Needless to say, the mother or sister or
wife or girlfriend goes and gets herself raped and the protagonist takes his revenge. The
story does not end there. The villain most probably turns out to be the hero’s father; the
good old love-triangle; re-birth; double-role; hero is poor, heroine is rich or vice-versa,
feuding families; and the list continues.
Every few years, the formulae change, but the basics remain the same. The four
formulae this season are:
• Big stars, a rich ambience in the foreground and the hint of an age-old script in
the background
• Crossover or unconventional cinema ranging from the ABCD (American Born
Confused Desi) to the slapstick and spoofy themes

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• The underworld (a la Dawood Ibrahim) and over the top ghost-based thrillers
(from Ram Gopal Verma's factory)
• Indian, patriotic, shaheed and the Line of Control: all elements that appeal to the
average Indian and are fuel enough to keep the fires burning even for otherwise weak
films
• Castaway: Although recent revelations by a private television channel have cast
a spectre over it, but the perfect casting for a film is an extremely significant and
professional exercise, and not necessarily associated with the ‘couch’ (ouch!) word. The
starcast in a film is of prime importance to the overall marketing strategy for the product.
There are broadly three categories that one can look for:
• The Amitabh Bachchan/Shahrukh Khan category
• The Arjun Rampal / John Abraham category
• The ‘Anybodyelse’ category
Unfortunately, the casting of any film today has more to do with the demand of the
distributors and/or the price of the actor concerned, than with the appropriateness of the
actor for a particular role or character.
So how casting should really be decided? While doing your researches, do ‘focused
group discussions’ and ‘characterisation exercises’. When casting for the role of a
school going protagonist, ask the respondents and the group members to put a face to
the characters mentioned in the screenplay. The trends in Bollywood today are such
that the whole phenomenon of film making is catering to an audience profile of a 30-plus
age-group and so it is no surprise that the superstars we have are in that age group.
The actor in maximum demand today in Bollywood is 60-plus. So, for a film in which
your lead character is between the age-group of 16 to 18 you have three very scary
choices:
• Cast a 30-plus ‘superstar’ and pray that his screen presence and/or acting skills
carry your film through and also satisfy the distributor
• Cast the only star who exists in the 16-18 category: Shahid Kapoor, a one-hit
wonder (actually only a semi-hit), and hope that before the release of your film he is not
seen in a film like Style
• Cast a complete fresher. Kill your relationship with the trade and distribute your
film on your own.

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I know I am not doing much good to my profession as a film-marketing consultant by
scaring you away even before you put your time and money into this industry. But now
that you are prepared for the worst let us go and take a look at the logical way of
promoting a film in this bizarre place called Bollywood.
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH MOVIE MARKETING
The trickiest part of movie marketing is that every movie is different. Every film is its own
standalone product with its own potential market segment. Just because your last kid's
movie was a huge hit doesn't mean that audiences will come in droves to the next one.
There's no formula for success, so marketers must be creative to grab the public's
attention.
Moviemaking is an inherently risky business. Movie marketers try to alleviate some of
that risk by heavily promoting expensive films. Unfortunately, in the process, they make
the films even more expensive by adding on a huge marketing budget. There's always a
chance that the marketing campaign will stink just as bad as the movie, and suddenly
the studio has thrown away twice the amount of money. For example, Oliver Stone's
epic "Alexander" cost $155 million to make and $60 million to market domestically and
only took in $167 million worldwide.
The problem is that most big-budget movies are marketed to the widest audience
possible. Ads are placed on every TV network and stuck in every newspaper and
magazine. There's no focus. Chances are that with every blockbuster movie marketing
campaign, millions of dollars are lost on people who would never see the movie, no
matter how good it is.
One solution is the idea of the nichebuster, a smaller movie marketed heavily to a
highly specific audience segment, says skateboarding fans or religious groups. One of
the proponents of this idea is 20th Century Fox, which recently launched a division
called Fox Faith that will produce and market movies to a Christian, family-oriented
audience. This is called demographic marketing rather than selling movies according
to traditional genres like action, romantic comedy, thriller, etc
A final problem is that moviegoers are more media savvy than ever. While children are
highly susceptible to advertising, many adults recognize the publicity blitz for what it is:
publicity. Some moviegoers are starting to complain about the sheer magnitude of hype
that surrounds major studio releases.

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This is another reason why the Internet is proving to be a powerful marketing tool. If
studios play their cards right, they can capitalize on social networks, viral video sites
and other online communities to sell their movies for them. The Net Generation
moviegoer is much more likely to trust his chat buddy's opinion than some talking head
on Entertainment Television
WORDS WITH AMIR KHAN
“Dhoom 3”, the third instalment in India’s
only action movie franchise, has become
Bollywood’s highest-grossing film, raking
in more than 5 billion rupees ($80 million)
in global ticket sales.
Lead actor Aamir Khan spoke to India
Insight about the film’s marketing strategy,
why reality TV shows may not be ideal for
publicity and what he would change about his 2005 film “Mangal Pandey – The Rising.”
How was the marketing strategy for “Dhoom 3” conceived?
When we sat down for the first time, Victor (director Vijay Krishna Acharya) and the
whole team was trying to figure out what we wanted to convey for this film. And like any
other film, and this is something that both Adi (producer Aditya Chopra) and I feel very
strongly, what actually wants to make you see the film is the trailer. We wanted to let the
creative of the film speaks for itself. Over the years, certain conventions have been
formed and we looked at each convention for its own merit. Do we want to continue
what is happening, is it of any use to the film, or not?
Which conventions did you look at?
One of the conventions is that, typically, it is believed that going on big-ticket reality TV
shows gets you a big opening.
Weren’t you one of the first to do that during “Ghajini”?
Yes, I was and I am not denying that. But circumstances alter — I cannot do the same
thing I did five years ago. That doesn’t mean it is relevant today. We looked at each
convention in isolation. Will “Dhoom 3” benefit by going on a reality TV show — our
answer was no. Because in our opinion, what a reality show essentially does is it
amplifies the awareness of your film, but it doesn’t increase the desire to consume. I

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may be aware of your film and be very clear that I don’t want to see it. “Dhoom 3” didn’t
need awareness, people have been asking us for the last three years about it. I am not
saying there is no value to going on a reality TV show. If it was a film like “Peepli Live”,
which is a small film — we don’t have the budgets and cannot buy ad time. Our hands
are tied and I don’t have stars. So I go to a large show and raise awareness to a huge
audience that isn’t even aware of the film. The other big thing was not releasing our full
songs — that was a big decision we took. The thought being that we want you to enjoy
the full songs in the theatre. If I’ve seen the song on TV 20 times and on YouTube 20
times, when it comes in the film, I have already seen it, I have lost interest in those five
minutes. We’ve made a large-scale experience, so we want you to enjoy it like that. The
other advantage was the old advantage that Hindi films had. I love “Salaam-e-Ishq” from
“Muqaddar ka Sikandar”, but if I didn’t have YouTube then, or didn’t see it on TV, I
would go to the theatre to watch it. People used to do that, and that is why songs had
repeat value. “Dhoom 3” had “Malang”, which was a huge spectacle, and that creates a
desire in you to watch it for a second time. It could, at least.
So would you attribute the movie’s big opening to content being held back?
That could be the case. When you hold back, people want to know more about it. But
it’s a psychological thing, which you cannot measure. It has to be something you either
believe in or not.
How much of “Dhoom 3” and its success would you attribute to marketing?
It’s everything. It is the marketing, the stars, the franchise. And after the third day, it is
the content that speaks. The first three days is a combination of these three things —
who is your star cast, what the interest people have towards this film is, and how you
market the film. These three components will get you the first three days, no matter
what the film is.
Do you think this strategy would work for your other films?
For me, there is no such thing. Every film is different. Like “Peekay” has such a strong
visual component, even if there is no promo, and just a photograph, it might be enough.
When do you start thinking of this?
Closer to the film, as it grows organically. Because you need to know how the film is
turning out, how it is shaping up.
You said in an earlier interview that what matters is how well you’ve managed to
communicate your film to the audience. Any instances when you haven’t done

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that?
If I had to release “Mangal Pandey” again, I would change the name. The story is of an
Indian sepoy and his British officer — it is about two friends who find themselves on
opposite sides during a time of crisis. It is not the story of two men, not just Mangal
Pandey. With his title, you are not prepared for the role of the other man. Also, the title
gives you a feeling that he is going to vanquish the British, but that is not what happens.
The title is a big deal — it resonates with your film. The biggest learning I had was
during “3 Idiots”. The title didn’t track well at all, because people didn’t know what it was
called. I was told that my film wouldn’t get an opening because no one knew it was
coming. It’s an English title, and people cannot identify with it. If you ask them, will you
watch the Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor film, they’ll say yes. You and me will look at
a Tamil film and say oh, I want to watch a Rajnikanth film, because we can’t read or
pronounce the title. A lot of distributors will still tell you that English titles won’t work. We
live in a bubble, and we don’t think it is such a big deal. But it is very, very important.
CURRENT SCENARIO OF FILM INDUSTRY IN INDIA
With more than 600 television channels, 100 million pay-TV households, 70,000
newspapers and 1,000 films produced
annually, India’s vibrant media and
entertainment (M&E) industry provides
attractive growth opportunities for global
corporations. However, in recent years, with
near double-digit annual growth and a fast-
growing middle class, there has been a
renewed surge in investments into the country
by global companies.
Finally, there is the evolution of consumption of
digital content, which is at an inflection point in
India. Although internet penetration is currently
low in the country, the recent launch of 3G
services and the eventual launch of 4G are expected to bring a late surge in wireless-
based broadband adoption. In conjunction with India’s mobile phone user base of more
than 750 million subscribers, the scale and impact of the country’s potential for digital
content consumption is huge. This presents M&E companies, foreign and domestic,
with an exciting opportunity to develop digital businesses that cater to a new generation
of broadband users.
While there are many opportunities to tap, there are also unique differences and
challenges. Diverse content preferences and the low price point and high volumes of

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content consumption are some of the critical differences that global M&E companies
need to assess when entering the Indian market. Companies that understand and adapt
to the economic and social fabric of the country’s operating environment and that invest
in tailored content and services are likely to maximize their success. M&E companies
operating in India continue to be exposed to risks ranging from local competition to
fraud, corruption and piracy.
KEY TRENDS - The following are the key trends witnessed in this industry:
• Emergence of new sources of revenue:
Although revenues from the theater segment constitute around 60% of the overall
revenue generated for a movie, other revenue streams have begun to make a
meaningful contribution. The trend of pre-selling satellite and home-video rights gained
momentum in 2010, and has enabled producers to de-risk their business models. Even
films that are due for release in 2012 are witnessing negotiation for satellite and new
media rights. Revenue from new media, including mobile and online rights, is expected
to increase after the recent introduction of 3G services by mobile operators. In addition,
film production houses have the opportunity to monetize their content through gaming
on mobile and online platforms.
• Collaboration with international studios:
International film studios such as Warner Bros., Disney, Fox and Dreamworks have
entered collaborations with local film production houses to develop Hindi and regional
movies. Walt Disney, who earlier held a 50% stake in UTV, has now acquired a
controlling stake in UTV Software Communications2. Viacom18 has also entered a deal
with global movie company Paramount Pictures to market and distribute the latter’s
movies in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It has already ventured into production of
Hindi language movies, and the new deal is expected to help it create a distribution
network. Local film production can leverage the experience of these international
studios to expand their international reach and incorporate enhanced project planning
and cost controls. A case in point is My Name is Khan, which was distributed in
unexplored markets, with innovations such as taking the lead actors to the NASDAQ
stock exchange. The success of the movie demonstrates the potential of Indian films
abroad. • Rise of 3D cinema: 3D was a prominent theme in 2010 and has amply
demonstrated its significant potential with benefits such as enhanced audience
engagement, increased ticket prices and the exclusivity of the medium, i.e, the theaters.
The success of Avatar has taken 3D movie-making to new heights. Multiplexes could
look at the feasibility of investing larger amounts on 3D screens to meet the growing
demand to view 3D. Last year, the Bollywood film Ramayana, was also released in 3D.
Therefore, a new window of opportunity could open if Bollywood is able to produce high
quality 3D content. Releasing movies with spectacular special effects, such as in
Avatar, could be the answer to bringing people back to the theater. Rajnikanth’s

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forthcoming movie ‘Kochadiyaan’ may set the stage for motion capture technique based
movies in India.
• Rationalizing the movie slate:
In line with the global trend, Indian movie production houses have cut down on the
number of movies they release every year, mainly due to rising movie production costs,
which is leading to difficulties in securing funding for projects. The year 2010 witnessed
the release of around 150 Bollywood films, as compared to the earlier average of 300
films per year. A shift toward a portfolio approach for movies with small, medium and
large budgets is a positive development in the sector.
• Focus on niche movies:
The recent success of small budget, niche movies such as No One Killed Jessica,
Peepli Live, Well Done Abba and Dhobi Ghat has re-emphasized the importance of
content-driven films. While these movies are produced on tight budgets, strong content
and word-of-mouth marketing can bring high returns to studios. The success of such
movies has at best been patchy over recent years, but a few failures should not deter
industry players from backing good scripts with requisite funding. In addition, refined
audience tastes and the advent of miniplexes to cater to the tastes of targeted
audiences is likely to drive the production of more such movies, which is in sync with the
portfolio approach adopted of late by studios.
• Advent of digital cinema and the growth of multiplexes:
The growth of multiplexes has improved the movie-going experience for Indian
audiences and has led to increased per-ticket realization. Rising urbanization and
growing disposable incomes are also driving increased investments in multiplexes. In
addition, theaters with low seating capacities allow cost-effective screening of movies
that are targeted at niche audiences. Companies such as Real Image and UFO Moviez
have facilitated digitization of movies, which curbs piracy and enables increased release
of films across the country — a game-changing phenomenon whereby 60% of box-
office collections are realized in the first week of release of a movie. Thereby, a big-
budget Hindi movie, which would have been released earlier with 400–500 prints, now
enjoys a wider release with almost 1,000–1,500 prints being distributed. However, there
is still further ground to be covered. The average number of screens per million in India
is 12, as compared to the global average of 54. The number of multiplex screens in
India is expected to increase from 1,000 in 2010 to around 1,405 by 2013.
Focus areas
 Shortening of release windows:

MOVIE POSITIONING
In the last few years, the window available to a film to monetize revenues at the box
office has come down sharply as far as Hindi films are concerned. Therefore,
distributors flood the market with prints, looking to garner as high revenues as possible
during the opening weekend of a release. The implication of this trend from the point of
view of the industry is that the largest chunk of the revenues generated by a film flows
into the value chain within the first three days of its release. This necessitates
monetization of content across all media and platforms, including broadcast and new
media rights, merchandizing and gaming revenue.
 Piracy:
The country’s film industry continues to lose around INR 50 billion in revenues and
over 50,000 jobs every year due to piracy4. India is one of the top countries witnessing
peerto- peer file-sharing infringement worldwide. Curbing piracy will entail proactive
measures being implemented by state governments through initiatives such spreading
awareness against piracy and the formation of anti-piracy cells, similar to those
currently run in states such as Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
 Lack of transparent data:
Frequently, large foreign studios or investors indicate that they do not want to invest in
the Indian film industry because there is no way of verifying or validating the data made
available in the public domain about the amount a film has grossed and its profitability. It
is difficult to procure reliable data relating to box office collections and it is even more
difficult to gauge the producer and distributor’s share. While film experts may know and
can provide numbers based on their experience and network, there needs to be a more
transparent and reliable method to collect and make this data public.
 Planning process:
A Hollywood film typically takes 36 months to plan and 12 months to execute, where as
an Indian film takes 6 months in planning and 18 months in execution. While one can
suitably discount the differences due to the scale of Hollywood projects, the gap is still
significant. Indian film makers say that what they lose out in planning, they make up on
account of time- and cost-efficient execution. However, this can be refuted by pointing
out that efficiency can be achieved and revenues generated by being equally diligent at
the planning stage.
 Intellectual property:
The Indian film industry has gradually woken up to the relevance and importance of IP
in the work it creates — prequels, sequels, remakes, copyright or trademark for
catchphrases, superheroes, etc. More work, however, is needed, since as an industry,
we are still lagging far behind from defining and implementing a process whereby IP is
developed and nurtured in a systematic manner and results in creation of an IP bank.

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 Interaction with emerging technologies:
Industry players would do well to update themselves with new technologies and trends,
and prepare themselves to ride the wave. Increasingly, we are moving toward a
multiple-screen world with each screen having the ability to consume the same massof
IP in different forms. It is also imperative that the industry recognizes the importance of
valuable IP to which it has rights and needs to carefully apply itself before making this
IP available on the public media for an additional sum of money and focus on the big
picture.
 Film incentives:
Countries around the globe offer incentives of various types to encourage film
producers to use the former’s locations to shoot films. They generally provide benefits
such as easy processing of visas, discounts in accommodation and travel, location
tariffs to facilitate road or shooting permits, assistance in identifying locations, etc. This
results in multiple benefits such as a boost to tourism in these countries as well as to
local film production, the creation of employment opportunities, etc. The Ministries of
Information & Broadcasting and Tourism have now signed a MoU to provide incentives
to the film industry. According to the MoU, the Ministry of Tourism will provide budgetary
support for identified film festivals and offer single window clearance for permission for
shooting film. This is likely to create a film tourism vertical, which will promote India as a
filming destination to domestic and foreign film producers.
CASE STUDIES
THE HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE
Harry Potter is a cultural phenomenon that has completely redefined the way Hollywood
perceives children’s fantasy books. Eleven years ago, there was significant uncertainty
as to whether J K Rowling’s boy wizard could spin his magic on a wider movie-going
audience in the same way he had on avid book readers. The phenomenal success of
the movies is likely to have a lasting effect on Hollywood.
The Potter brand has brought in nearly US$20 billion in retail sales for Warner Bros and
its partners, and added US$1 billion to
the studio’s bottom line, making it one of
its most valuable film franchises. For
film studio, the Harry Potter franchise
has grossed more than US$12.1 billion,
with US$7 billion at the worldwide box
office for Warner Bros Pictures, and
US$5.1 billion for the Warner Bros
Home Entertainment Group and Warner
Bros Interactive Entertainment. Harry Potter is as an “evergreen” franchise for Warner

MOVIE POSITIONING
Bros and while eight movies, based on the seven books, have already been released,
the franchise will be kept alive in the memory through theme parks, video games and
digi tal initiatives, and also generates revenues for its creator – J K Rowling, Warner
Bros and its partners
RA.ONE
RA.One was perhaps the first organized 360 degree campaign for an Indian film and
had more than 25 brands associating themselves with the film in various capacities
Prime Focus
Prime Focus is a salient example of a collaborative effort between Hollywood and
Bollywood that is already making an impact on the global stage. From a modest
beginning in 1997 with four core team members in a garage in Mumbai, Prime Focus
has grown into the world’s leading visual entertainment services group, employing over
4,500 people in three continents and four time zones. The company offers services
including preproduction to final delivery. These include visual effects, creative 3D
conversion, video and audio post-production, digital content management and
distribution, digital intermediate, versioning and adaptation, and equipment rental.
Prime Focus has many firsts to its credit in the Indian post production market, including
offering India’s first high-end finishing system in 1997, the country’s first film scanning
and recording system in 2001, its first Spirit Datacine in 2003 and its first Motion Control
rig in 2004.
Prime Focus went public on the Bombay and National stock exchanges in India in 2006.
This enabled the company to activate its strategy to become a global enterprise. The
funding and its flotation was used to make significant acquisitions in the UK and US
markets, which enabled Prime Focus to offer cutting-edge services and technology in
London, Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver. Today, the company offers a unique
proposition —state of the art infrastructure and its Hub (a global digital pipeline), which
work in all of the world’s major media markets and provide access to the industry’s
leading talent worldwide and global workflows, and enabling clients to realize
substantial time and cost savings. Through its pioneering World SourcingTMbusiness
model, Prime Focus enables its clients to tap its global resources across continents as
well as its expertise across projects, locations, disciplines, sectors and time zones, and

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integrate “multi-local” offerings with a strong and collaborative network, which results in
major time and cost benefits for them. Prime Focus’s newest technology offering,
CLEAR, provides a global digital content services platform to organizations that deal
with content and are keen to exploit it across platforms. CLEAR, with its unique “hybrid
cloud” multi-platform content operations solution, provides a secure way to produce,
process, manage and deliver content for revenue-generating multi-platform
opportunities. Apart from servicing Bollywood and India’s regional film industry, Prime
Focus also serves major Hollywood studios with it’s multifold service offerings.
TECHNOLIGICAL DEVELOPMENT - VFX
The visual effects (VFX) industry is a rapidly evolving segment in India. It involves the
creation of live action imagery by using computer-generated effects. It is being
increasingly used by the visual media in India and can be broadly classified into the
following verticals — movies, TV show and advertisements. The segment is still at its
nascent stage with mainly low-end work being done in India. Domestic consumption is
fairly small, and therefore, the bulk of the work includes outsourced projects from the
US and the UK. However, the domestic market is seeing bigger budget movies and ad
campaigns, which are now open to spending more on VFX to provide an enhanced
visual experience to viewers
Key trends
 Outsourcing of work to India on the rise.
 Moving up the value chain
 Dominant domestic players setting up offices abroad
 Increasing consumption in the domestic market
FILMS AND TRAVEL AND TOURISM
The tourism boards of many countries, such as Switzerland, have in the past targeted
Bollywood to showcase themselves as destinations for high-spending Indian travelers.
Today, this trend has taken off in a big way, with Indians getting richer and many of
them taking foreign holidays. Typically, most countries offer tax sops in the form of VAT
refund ranging from 10 –20%, depending on the location and budget. Film production
companies are eligible for such refunds if they spend a certain percentage of their entire
budget filming in a particular country and using local talent. In the recent past, many
films have been extensively shot in foreign locations:
Movie Country
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Spain
Rockstar Czech Republic
RA.One United Kingdom
Don 2 Germany
Ek Main Aur Ek Tu United States of America

MOVIE POSITIONING
There are also ample opportunities for inbound tourism beyond popular destinations
such as Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan. Indian films can be a great platform to showcase
the country’s rich cultural heritage, variety of travel destinations and diversity in cuisine
to the world. Hollywood films can perform the same task if provided with adequate
facilities and incentives. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry
of Tourism havesigned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide strong
support to film tourism in a bid to give a fillip to the “Incredible India” campaign and
cinema as its sub-brand at various international film festivals and markets abroad.
According to the MoU, the Ministry of Tourism will provide budgetary support for
identified film festivals and offer single- window clearance permission to shoot films.
This is expected to create a film tourism vertical that will promote India as a filming
destination for domestic and foreign film producers.
THE BOLLYWOOD IMPACT
New Zealand inked a co-production treaty with India in June 2011 in an attempt to gain
from the Bollywood market, after realizing the benefits derived from various Bollywood
films shot in it. Furthermore, Spain and India are close to signing an agreement that will
facilitate and promote co-productions after the success of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,
which was shot extensively in the country.
 Ireland has been trying to attract Indian producers to shoot Bollywood movies in
the country to give boost to its tourism industry, and has taken various steps to
further its efforts — Ireland’s Minister for Arts and Tourism led a delegation to
India and met senior Bollywood executives, asking them to consider Ireland as a
filming location.
 The Singapore Tourism Board had allocated US$10 million to Bollywood
productions in 2006 for three years under its “Filming in Singapore” scheme,
which subsidized up to 50% of the expenses incurred by film companies during
their shoots in the country.
 The French Government has set up Film France to attract international film
shoots. It offers incentives such as refund of VAT on shoots by foreign film
crews. France is also offering financial incentives to attract Bollywood producers
to its shores.
Australia
 Australia has been a popular location with Indian filmmakers for quite some time.
 •The country expects its tourism industry to see a growth of more than 18% every
year until 2016.
 •The flow of Indian tourists to Australia increased by 20% from 2004–2006,
especially after the success of Salaam Namaste.

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 In 2006, around 45,800 Indians visited New South Wales. Their total spending
amounted to US$115 million.
 The production of Heyy Babyy injected around US$2.1 million into the state’s
economy.
Switzerland
 Bollywood films such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kabhi Khushi Khabhi
Gham and Mujhse Dosti Karoge have all presented Switzerland attractively to
Indian tourists.
 Switzerland hosts around 150,000 tourists from India and large number
Bollywood movies are shot in the country every year.
USA
 Many US states such as California, New York, Michigan, Nevada and Utah offer
incentives to film and television production companies from India.
 Many Bollywood movies have been shot in the US including My Name is Khan,
Kabhi alvida na kehna, Kal ho na ho, to name a few.
Canada
 Canada also offers incentives to producers of film, television, animation and
visual effects from India and has attracted many Bollywood producers, who have
shot movies in the country.

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