ASIA-PACIFIC-JULY 2011 – The most recognized face in a country of 1.2 billion people and clearly the most prominent figure of Indian cinema is back this month on screens. Amitabh Bachchan’s latest release, “Bbuddah hoga tera baap” (in this context the expression roughly means: “Dull old fellow…must be your dad, not me!”). shows him as a comic 70’s style angry man. However the promotional trailers received mixed reactions. Few liked it, many criticized it because AB is already 70. It became a topic of discussion on Facebook, Twitter; leading to negative publicity for the film two weeks before its release.
Enter India’s most storied ad agency Lowe Lintas, creator of popular communications for clients such as Unilever, Bajaj, Tata Tea and Idea cellular, to name a few. R. Balki, chairman and chief creative officer and Ram Krishna Gopi Yadav, group creative director took up the challenge: how to create the right disposition towards a new release.
Often the solution to a problem is hidden in the problem itself. That’s where came the big idea: “Show lay people criticizing Amitabh for his role and blatantly calling him a bbuddah (old man).” The television campaign was crafted in such a way that viewers saw themselves in the TVC and felt as if it was them voicing their opinion. Every TVC ended with a fan of Big B giving the other person (the one criticizing) a piece of his mind. Four television commercials were created, generating responses on Facebook and YouTube.
Said Balki: “Gone are the days when you can do a film promo by putting together a few shots of the film and teasing the audience. It’s time the film industry treated a movie like an FMCG product and create ideas and communication around the product rather than just do product shots.”
Impressed with the buzz the Lowe Lintas campaign was creating, Abhishek Bachchan (Amitabh’s son and a top actor in his own right) wanted to be part of it. A campaign with junior Bachchan followed which took the idea one step forward.
Sabyasachi Mishra – Chief Growth Officer Lowe Lintas adds, “With this we are keen on a broader play in marketing in the movie industry and feel that
our twin competencies in branding and populist creativity give us a significant edge in delivering effective launches. The marketing of a movie is all about the right mix that can maximize revenue early in the release cycles. This is especially relevant in today’s socially networked world where people tweet, post status updates and blog reviews as soon as they walk out of the theater, and their reactions spread instantly. We feel that films that have a well thought-out branded campaign prior to release can impact ticket sales differently than the traditional approach.”
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