Idiots rule

‘Idiots is short for I do it on my own terms and the marketing revolved around this philosophy. It didn’t fit any format and was non-conformist’

3 Idiots may have been a tearjerker in some parts, but the producers of the film are laughing all the way to the bank. In the domestic market, the film has so far made Rs 335 crore; overseas, it has grossed $16 million (Rs 71 crore). This makes it the biggest Bollywood film of all times. The budget for the film, which released in December 2009, was Rs 35 crore. The investors have multiplied their money more than ten times in less than six months.

The makers of the film put the success down to many things. “I truly believe that it’s the script of the film that’s most important, and 3 Idiots was an inspiring script and finally a well-made film,” says the film’s producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. But in today’s cinematic world, it’s common knowledge that successful films are those which are promoted well. And 3 Idiots happens to be a case study in that. “The brand was an extension of the title — Idiots. According to me, the word idiots is short for I do it on my own terms; and the marketing revolved around this philosophy. The marketing didn’t fit any format, and was non-conformist in approach,” says Chopra.

Still, there was a method to the madness. Three months prior to the film’s release, Rohit Sharma, the CEO of gaming portal Zapak.com, presented Chopra and Aamir Khan, the lead actor of the film, with a digital strategy. The two were so impressed with what they saw that Sharma was asked to handle the entire marketing operation.

Of course, the digital media was used strongly. One of the first things the company did was launch an alternate reality game on idiotsacademy.com where Khan said that he will travel through India, leaving clues about his whereabouts, and participants had two weeks to find him. Along with that, the marketers of the film used Facebook extensively to make a point. A profile called Pucca Idiot has been created that has more than 100,000 fans.

“But the key thing that set us apart was that we didn’t do the conventional newspaper ads and media blitzkriegs; instead, we relied heavily on public relation events,” says Sharma. By that he means each promo and song of the movie was unveiled at separate events with the entire star cast. “This created a lot of buzz around the brand,” he adds.

For distribution, Chopra signed on the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group. Executives at Reliance BIG Pictures left no stone unturned. Distribution was neatly divided into domestic and overseas territories. In India, the film was released across 1,850 screens, making it the largest opening thus far. “We made sure the domestic market was fully penetrated with the maximum number of shows at multiple timings. But what really worked for us was the fact that of the 50 million people who watched the film first, about 15 million came back to watch it the second time,” says Reliance BIG Pictures COO Kamal Gianchandani.

Equally important was the overseas market, where Chopra wanted wider coverage. For this, Reliance Mediaworks CEO Anil Arjun and his team first did a thorough population study and mapping of the region. “In California there are over 400,000 South Asians in certain pockets of the state; we therefore decided to penetrate theatres where the South Asian population was particularly strong,” says Arjun. The movie made it to 26 locations in California as against the traditional 10. Further, it managed 400 prints abroad, the highest ever for any Bollywood film.

To market the film overseas, the company used on-ground activities, intensely using email, posters and flyers to reach its target audience. In addition to that, the movie was strongly advertised at the metro stations and the local media. As for the positioning, Reliance Mediaworks decided to tweak its strategy a little. “People there are more keen on watching love stories; thus in all our posters we promoted Khan and Kareena Kapoor to highlight the love angle,” adds Arjun. All this worked wonders for 3 Idiots internationally, giving it as much as 20 per cent of its overall revenues in a category where it usually stands at about 10 to 15 per cent.