Only internet, mobile for this film's promotion

On May 15, Excel Productions’ Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD), directed by Zoya Akhtar, will launch its first promo (film’s teaser) on Aircel networks and online. Subscribers will be able to access two-three minute promos on their mobile devices. Typically, till now, film makers launch the first promos in film theatres or TV to a targeted audience group.

With close to 800 million mobile subscribers and value-added services like Bollywood ringtones and downloads making up almost 75 per cent of this market, Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment, which is co-producing the film with Farhan Akhtar, is confident of generating viewer interest. “We are breaking the rules by prioritising our theatrical launch on a medium like web and mobile, which is where people consume content nowadays,” he adds.

The India Online Landscape Report says there are 100 million users of the inter, with 40 million of these accessing via mobile phones. So, Sidhwani will release promos and trailers of the film first on the internet. The first batch of consumers on Friday in theatres are anyway aged below 35 years, claims the survey, and this same segment forms the ‘single’ largest age group among internet users. “ZNMD essentially targets youth and is about a road trip that three friends undertake. We felt that marketing online would fit perfectly with the film,” says Sidhwani.

The film stars Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin.

Other benefits
A key benefit of using Internet-based marketing methods is the ability to track very specific information about those you market to. On YouTube, for example, a film’s producers can see how many people watch the videos, where they are coming from and which videos they watch the most. A dedicated website can also help in tracking metrics that can reveal details about visitors. “On the digital front, the RoI is immediately measurable. This is huge, because we can make immediate decisions on how to adjust certain online marketing campaigns or how to target the audience before the film is released in theatres on July 15,” says Sidhwani.

Earlier, the Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na film hit reportedly spent half its budget on marketing. On average, say trade analysts, the online share would be around 10 per cent of the film’s marketing budget. The Anurag Kashyap-directed film Dev D also used internet effectively. The film’s song, Emotional Atyachaar, was uploaded on YouTube under the official UTVMotionPictures channel, and received 25,000 views in just three weeks. The official trailer was uploaded two months before release and till date has been seen 272,000 times. Dev D’s producer, UTV Motion Films, kept regularly uploading videos of the film songs every seven to 10 days, giving it plenty of mileage.