Entertainment with Advertising

Marketing professionals are always on the quest for innovative ways to reach their target audience in the most effective way. In-film advertising deals with the placement of a specific product/ brand in the movie in order to attract and persuade the target audiences towards buying the product/brand. This innovative advertising model is advantageous to both marketers and film producers.

Kunal Gaurav
Director Research & Publications Dhruva College of Management Hyderabad. The author can be reached at kunalgaurav2006@gmail.com

much cheaper than hiring individual stars to endorse them.2

Naveena Chawda
Student of PGDM (2011 Batch) Dhruva College of Management Hyderabad. The author can be reached at naveenachawda@gmail.com

Vashu Bhagnani, Renowned Movie Producer

On an average, 25% of Bollywood movies employ branded entertainment.1 Sanjay Bhutiani, Business Head of B.R. Films. The advertising agencies have of late realized that product placements in movies starring Bollywoods top stars bring the brands instant visibility and it is

he market is changing faster than ever before and marketers and advertisers are always looking for innovative ways to communicate with their target audiences. Today, movies have become an integral part of our lives and the impact of the movies on peoples lifestyle is very much apparent. In-film advertising deals with the placement of a specific product/ brand in a movie in order to attract and persuade the target audience towards the product/brand. In-film advertising has been gaining momentum not only in Hollywood but also in Bollywood and Tollywood. Movie and movie actors have an influence on the lifestyle of the people in the

society as very often we are inspired with what we see on the big screen. For effective in-film advertising, the profile of the targeted audience should first be identified and then depending on the script and the content of the movie, decisions have to be taken as to where the brands can be placed in the movies to have the maximum impact. The products/ brands have to be placed in the movie in such a way that the audiences feel that it is natural and tend to develop positive opinion towards those products/brands. The advertising clutter promoting countless brands in the market is today at an all-time high. In such circumstances, in-film advertising
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http://in.movies.yahoo.com/news-detail/ 36175/Fashion-earns-Rs-85-mn-in-filmadvertising.html http://www.bollywood.com/fashion-earnsrs85-mn-film-advertising Advertising Express January 2011 21

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In-film Advertising

helps advertisers and brand owners to penetrate this clutter in order to receive the utmost attention of the target audiences. This new approach of advertisement offers advantages to both the marketers and film producers; on the one hand, products/ brands get visibility at a premium price serving the purpose of the advertisers; on the other hand, film producers also receive revenues by sharing the screen space with brands. At the same time, the advocates of in-film advertising strongly believe that if a viewer watches a specific scene along with an embedded brand, the reminiscence stay in the viewers mind for a longer time.
In-film Advertising: Memory Never Dies

Over the years, advertisers have captured almost all the possible channels that would help them to promote their offerings. Cut-throat competition and increasing consumerism is encouraging marketers to find more creative and uncluttered ways to communicate with their audiences in order to win the market. In this backdrop, advertising products and brands in movies is proving to be a very innovative and effective option for the marketers. Although the idea of in-film advertising in Bollywood has come from Hollywood, it has over the years made a remarkable mark in Indian cinema too. Unlike print and TV advertisements, in-film advertisements cannot be ignored or muted and they ensure effective exposure of the products and brands to the movie viewers. This innovative way of advertising is target-specific and catches people when they are in a receptive mood. In-film advertising is one of the most innovative and cost-effective ways to expose the products/brands to the mass. In the early 1970s, the
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popular vehicle Rajdoot GTS was highlighted in Raj Kapoors popular movie Bobby, a film in which Dimple Kapadia made her debut opposite Rishi Kapoor. This movie portrayed a love story in which the leading pair fights against all odds for their love. In the movie, the lead song which became an all-time hit was picturized with the lead pair riding the Rajdoot GTS bike. The movie Bobby became a super hit at the box office and Rajdoot GTS became a very popular and favorite bike of the youth in the 1970s. The bike also became to be popularly called as the Bobby Rajdoot bike after this movie. Over the years, since Bobby has released, Indian cinema has transformed the art of movie-making and today movies are not only about entertainment but also about advertisements. In-film advertising gives an additional marketing push for the advertised brands even though the movie actors using (and in turn promoting) the brands may not be the brand ambassadors of those brands. John Abraham, Yamahas brand ambassador in India, promoted the Suzuki Hayabusa bike in the movie Dhoom . The movie Dhoom was an action thriller with more focus of bike chases and thrilling action sequences. The lead actor of the movie John Abraham (Kabir), a man with controlled temperament and ravenous craving for money, always keeps a Suzuki Hayabusa1300 CC bike and gives a tough time to the cops. The Suzuki brand bikes became very popular among the Indian youth after the movie and even before the bike arrived in the market. Competitive branding can also be done using the approach of infilm advertising. The Hindi blockbuster Ghajini , an action-thriller with strong romantic elements

promoted BMW, the high-end German automobile manufacturer, over Mercedes-Benz, also a highend German automobile manufacturer and closest competitor to BMW. In the movie, the lead actor, Aamir Khan (playing the role of a businessman) was shown riding a BMW while others (people working for him) were shown riding a Mercedes-Benz car behind him. Not only BMW car, even Van Huesen was prominently shown in the movie. Later, Van Huesen launched the Ghajini collection promoting the outfits used by Aamir Khan in the movie. The way Van Huesen was placed in the movie, Ghajini, not only benefitted the brand, even the personal image of Aamir Khan got a boost. In the movie, Aamir Khan plays the role of a business tycoon, which gelled well with the image of Van Huesen, depicting success and prosperity.
Fashion and Advertising In-film

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The movie Fashion was made under the banner of UTV Motion Pictures and Bhandarkar Entertainment and the movie released on October 29, 2008. The movie was directed by award winning Director, Madhur Bhandarkar. This movie depicted the journey of an aspiring model Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) from a small city to the city of dreams, Mumbai. In the movie, Meghna Mathur decides to make her mark in the field of modeling against the wishes of her parents without realizing that the journey from her small town to the fashion world is not a bed of roses. This movie effectively exposed the dark side of the fashion world and also showed the struggles of the aspiring model in her journey to become a super model. Although this movie

got an A certificate, which limited the audience size, this movie as well as the brands advertised in the movie got unexpected success. The producers of the movie earned Rs. 85 mn from in-film advertising out of the total investment of Rs. 220 bn on the movie3 before the release of the movie. The movie had already recovered almost half of its cost before it went on the floor. This movie successfully advertised numerous prestigious brands like Reebok, Lenovo Laptop, Sunsilk Shampoo, Cellucom and LG Electronics. This movie bagged number of accolades including the National Award for the Best Actress (Priyanka Chopra) and the Best Supporting Actress (Kangana Ranaut) in the year 2009.
In-film Advertising: The Chak De Way

Fast Market Penetration

In-film Advertising: A Profitable Option for Marketers

In this new millennium, where advertisers have exploited almost all possible modes of marketing communication; in-film advertising has edge over other modes of communication because of following reasons:
Cost-effective Option

The movie Chak De came on the floor in 2007 and was directed by Shimit Amin and produced under Yash Raj Films. The film featured Shah Rukh Khan playing the role of Kabir Khan, former captain of the Indian hockey team. This movie portrayed religious bigotry, the legacy of partition, ethnic/regional prejudice, and sexism in contemporary India through the game of hockey in a highly entertaining way. 4 This movie placed many brands like McDonalds, Puma, Bisleri and even a cement brand such as UltraTech Cement in a very natural way.5 In this film, UltraTech Cement was shown as being the official sponsor of the Indian womens hockey team, which was playing under the expert guidance of Kabir Khan in the movie. The vibrant women players wear UltraTech Cement branded official gear in the movie, flout all odds and beat the top international teams to be crowned as the world champions.

In-film advertising allows marketers to place the companys offerings along with the movie stars, which gives instant brand visibility and that too at a price cheaper than the price of celebrity endorsement. At the same time, one gets stars to represent their brands, at a fraction of the costs compared to that if the stars were roped in for celebrity endorsements.
Marketing Push

Nowadays, companies are considering in-film advertising as one of the most effective marketing tools for launching and advertising their products. Maruti Udyog Limited, the Indian arm of Suzuki Motor Corporation had entered into a deal for in-film advertising with Yash Raj Films for featuring Maruti Swift in the film Bunty aur Babli , starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee. Both the movie and the car were released in the market at the same time. This was the first time in the history of the company Maruti where a new model was featured in a Bollywood film as part of its marketing strategy. The way Maruti exploited in-film advertising to launch Maruti Swift was truly commendable.
International Level Branding

The strategy of placing some selected products/brands in movies, gives them an additional marketing push, even though the movie actors do not directly endorse the products. John Abraham-starrer Goal, which released in late 2007 had various brands like Reebok, Western Union and Gillette placed in the movie. Reebok, which also sponsored the clothing line in the movie, launched the Goal range of clothing across 535 outlets in India.
High Brand Recall

Brands/Products, if placed effectively in the film ensures high brand recall. The movie Baghban, a emotional family drama directed by Ravi Chopra where Amitabh Bachchan (Raj Malhotra) played the lead role

Days have gone where movies were made keeping the interest of the local audiences in mind. Todays movies are targeting the audiences at the international level and are therefore simultaneously offering an opportunity to marketers for international level branding. Yaadein is a 2001 released Bollywood film directed by Subhash Ghai and was filmed in India, Malaysia and the UK. Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan, and Kareena Kapoor starred in the movie which gave screen space to brands like the mouth freshener brand Paas Paas and soft drink Coca-Cola.
3 4

Ibid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chak_De!_ India http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/ advertising/200708224176.htm

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IN-FILM ...

The way UltraTech Cement exploited in-film advertising is the first of its kind of branding initiative in the history of the Indian cement industry.

heavily publicized ICICI Bank, Tata Tea, Archies, Ford and Tide; Baghban helped ICICI Bank gain a very high brand recall.

ADVERTISING

Exhibit: In-film Advertising in Bollywood Movies

Yaadein (2001) Directed by: Subhash Ghai Produced by: Subhash Ghai Starring: Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan, and Kareena Kapoor Brands: Paas Paas, Coca-Cola

Bunty aur Babli (2005) Directed by: Shaad Ali Produced by: Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Aishwarya Rai Brand: Maruti Swift

Baghban (2003) Directed by: Ravi Chopra Produced by: B R Chopra Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Hema Malini Brand: ICICI Bank

Ghajini (2008) Directed by: A R Murugadoss Produced by: Tagore Madhu and Madhu Mantena Starring: Aamir Khan, Asin Thottumkal and Jiah Khan Brands: BMW, Mercedes Benz and Van Huesen

Contd...

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Contd...
IN-FILM ...

Fashion (2008) Directed by: Madhur Bhandarkar Produced by: Ronnie Screwvala Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Arbaaz Khan Brands: Kimaya, Reebok, Lenovo Laptop, Sunsilk Shampoo, Cellucom and LG Electronics

Dhoom (2004) Directed by: Sanjay Gadhvi Produced by: Yash Raj Films Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra and John Abraham Brand: Suzuki Hayabusa

Chak De (2007) Directed by: Shimit Amin Produced by: Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra Starring: Shah Rukh Khan Brands: McDonalds, Puma, Bisleri and UltraTech Cement

Goal (2007) Directed by: Vivek Agnihotri Produced by: Ronnie Screwvala Starring: John Abaraham, Bipasha Basu and Arshad Warsi Brands: Reebok, Western Union and Gillette

Conclusion

According to Chuck Blore (2000), Advertising is the art of arresting the human intelligence just long enough to get money from it.6 Marketers are realizing that the attention span of the target audiences is
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http://www.globalissues.org/article/160/ media-and-advertising

becoming small day by day. Hence, they are always on the lookout to breakthrough the clutter of multitudinous brands and media vehicles. Movies have become an integral part of our life and marketers have discovered that In-film advertising helps a brand/product become a part of a movies content and in the pro-

cess gain audiences attention. The rising cost of conventional media, accompanied by the mounting clutter, has made in-film advertising a feasible opportunity for marketers to ensure long-term success in the market that is characterized by cut-throat competition.
Reference # 18M-2011-01-05-01

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