As the film lovers are going bonkers over the posters and various creatives of movies set up by different bollywood film production companies (and their marketing agencies), it’s time for a simple novice to express his attractions and repulsions about the campaigns.
First thing to be noticed are the large hoardings near the Juhu Chowpatty or the 4 bungalows. Hoardings of Hisss and Raktacharitra shall definitely catch your attention if you are driving through the linking road traffic. If you ask me instantly, both are quite repulsive. I believe myself to be the ideal target group for both the films; a fantasy horror (hisss) or a gory political action drama (Rakta)- they do are the kind of films which I would like to see in a theatre. But the point here is, what shall I choose, if I was shown both the creatives-
Hisss...
First of all, the badly photoshoped image of Mallika standing with her arms stretched up and her hair covering her (supposedly) naked torso, makes her look like a malnourished naagin (which might scare the WHO) that doesn’t scare me a bit. Mallika’s looks are not at all suggestive (if that’s what they are meant to be) but are more like “Oh god! I am naked!”. This might be a straight slap on the face of the ‘experienced’ photographer, but that’s the message being sent. Moving on to the next issue- the copy or the tag line- Revenge has a new sound. This drops the whole positioning of the film and makes it a cheap B-movie. Adding on to these hilarities, the ‘catch-phrase’ to attract viewers to theatres is, Scary, Sexy, Go for it! Well, that I guess reminds me of Kaanti Shah’s movies. What is to be noticed in this kind of positioning is that the film lacks a content that can appeal to its right target audience, and hence has degraded itself to be a B-movie (with stars) and is begging the crowd to watch the film.
Something that separates the good and the bad campaigns is the way in which they hold the subconscious attention of the viewers. A simple example that can help me support my point is the Taashi store campaign carried out recently throughout the Linking road stretch. A week and a half long teaser campaign with bon mots did catch the attention of passer bys and made them wonder about the brand, the gathered inquisitiveness accumulated in the subconscious minds of the target groups, later would attract them to the stores after the campaign revealed itself to be of a Shoe store at Linking road (notice the brilliant media plan as well!). Now, some might argue on my dare to compare a film with a shoe store brand, but isn’t a film a brand for the marketers? Brands, only have wider horizons in comparison to a film. How will a campaign’s lucrativeness drive the viewers to the theatre is million dollar question!
Lucrativeness can go to any extent. Talking about Hisss, the teasers and theatricals that went out couldn’t really portray the ‘essence’ of the film. I shall like to talk about a concept what scholars call the ‘pakad’ (origin Sanskrit) of the film. In other words, this is the essence of the film, the soul of the film that need not be shown in the film, but is the essential adhesive for the organic unity of the film. The promos, theatricals, creatives and the overall campaign should be a part of this organic unity, respecting the pakad of the film. A fine example of a trailer that goes with the pakad is the theatrical of The Legend of The Guardians (animated, 2010). The more the marketers move away from the pakad, the more the campaign moves away from the subconscious minds of the target group. The pakad can be anything, from a simple emotion of the character to the brilliant usage of time and space. Say, in Hisss..., the pakad might be the revival of the age old myth of ‘revenge of the lady cobra’. Instead of positioning the film as the story of revenge and the sexiness of Ms Sherawat, a campaign revolving around the traditional hindu myth could have been more appealing. Instead of Mallika dancing to the naagin tune as PR stunts, a serious awareness campaign could have been carried out where the myth could have been discussed both scientifically and mythically. The sense of inquisitiveness of the target group could have been exploited. Instead of piggy banking on the controversies about ‘topless Mallika’ (that’s passé), some serious work could have been done. But again, the script is the super power. The campaign would fail if the script doesn’t stand up to the campaign.
Raktacharitra
Raktacharitra is based on a real life story of a naxalite turned politician, set in a gory plot of cutting heads and blood dripping axes. The tone of the film is dark and sepia-ish; while the story is said using ‘punch’ dialogues and glorification of characters. One can easily compare the style with Sarkar and Sarkar Raj. The plot also speaks about the feeling of revenge. Are these messages transferred through the creatives also? I would say a definite yes. The creative looks gory, cluttered and portrays the central characters- Vivek Oberoi and Shatrughan Sinha (minus his moustache) as ‘dirty’ politicians. Analyzing the creatives, one look at the hoarding would definitely convey that it is a period film (yes), a heavily loaded gory action film (definitely) and uses a language that is certainly not for family audience. The clutter indicates the winding plots and the ‘stories within stories’ structure. The photos of the cast (movie stills) goes well with the essence of the film- revenge and hatred. If this is the pakad of the film, then definitely the positioning is well done and can grab the target group’s attention. However, it does have flaws.
With these simple examples it is definitely clear about the importance of creatives in luring the audience. Besides these holistic approaches, there are certain intrinsic aspects as well. The font face of the film is an important aspect. Raktacharitra has a unique font face that says the story’s motive in a nutshell, while Hisss fails to do so. The font background is also quite important, while Raktacharitra(written in red) uses a darker background, improving its visibility and making it to stand out; Hisss written in black over a darker background that doesn’t make it stand out. This intrinsic detailing sends a positive signal about the seriousness of the film as a whole and strengthens the organic unity.
A special mention about Raktacharitra 2 and why did I say both the creatives were repulsive. Raktacharitra 2 has a catch phrase that reads ‘after Rajini the Robo, it is Suriya the Ghajini.’ This obviously drops down the expectations after the creatives of Raktacharitra 1. Such a creative won’t really attract the crowds in Mumbai who are pretty serious about the films they buy tickets for. Whereas this kind of positioning will be quite effective in the south territory where the stars rule the script and the story formula holds no good. Interestingly, building the positioning of a film over the star power, doesn’t help to lure the audience to the theatre. Say a film that has Sharukh Khan playing a street beggar; obviously the creatives cant have Shahrukh’s large cutouts portraying a smile; the motive and the pakad go for a toss and so does the film’s revenue! But what Rakta-2 has done is different, the creative is a movie still of Suriya and it has just introduced Suriya, pretty decent thought but the copy lets you down, never mind the other creatives might just bring back the organic unity.
Why were both the creatives repulsive? At the first look, both the creatives appear cluttered (except the single face of Mallika for Hisss.). A single message doesn’t come across. Comparing the creatives with those of The Dark Knight (English, 2008), which had a single character- either Batman or Joker and Joker’s mark was there in all the creatives. The message that came across was the film would be a serious battle between batman and joker- bang on! While Hisss as discussed earlier confuses the viewer as what the story is, so does Rakta which sends out more than one signal regarding the story, rather it tells the overall plot in a nutshell! (Vivek Oberoi, Shatrughan Sinha, the men on bikes, crowd, blood, swords, axes....that’s the story!) The pakad of the film doesn’t come out clearly and effectively. Thus a perfect creative will be the one that sends out a single major signal which is the essence of the film.
Marketing is like building a bridge between the viewers and the film. It’s up to the marketer what kind of bridge he wants to build that would suit the right kind of viewer to come for the film!
