Ankur Arora Murder Case - Case

Study
Dhanraj Jethani , co-producer, Ankur Arora Murder Case(AAMC) is faced with a
debacle if he should take up the offer of producing a new movie after co-producing
a major box office flop.

Prelude
Ankur Arora Murder Case (AAMC) was a Vikram Bhatt movie that was inspired by
true events. It was Bollywoods first medical negligence drama. The first half
showcased hospital events & the second half turned in to a courtroom drama. Story
was written by Vikram Bhatt and movie was directed by Suhail Tatari. Star Cast was
Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra, Paoli Dam, Arjun Mathur & Vishakha Singh The plot
revolves around hospital events and then a courtroom drama. The backdrop of the
story was how an eight-year old boy, Ankur Arora was admitted in the hospital for
treatment and died in the operation theatre because of the doctors negligence. The
doctor attempted to cover up the incident by blaming it on an organ failure at the
time of the operation. This led the mother of the child to fight for justice.

Pre- Release Buzz

The promotional activities of the movie kicked off with a press announcement that
created buzz because the director Vikram Bhatt was working on a film genre with
which he was not associated as he generally worked on horror and thriller movies.
The movie adopted Integrated Marketing Communications strategy and a clear
positioning statement was devised. The movie targeted audience above the age of
13 who enjoyed meaningful cinema woven with entertainment. The messages that
would drive the promotional campaign would be injustice and that medical
negligence should be considered simple murder and anyone could be a victim of it;
the poor, the rich, or someone living next door.

Integrating Marketing Communication

The company spent more than 2.4 crores in running their marketing campaign. It
invested more than average industry marketing budget with 40% of movie budget.A
mix of advertising, social media marketing, public relations, out of house publicity in
the form of billboards, digital displays was adopted. The PR activities included
reports of appointment of a doctor by the production house as a full time advisor at
the location to ensure that the movie had no errors from the medical perspective.
Print media ran a weeklong smaller signed campaign which was designed to
highlight several prominent and other celebrities who had been victims of medical

negligence. Company ran an effective social media strategy. It was the 1 st TIME
Bollywood Movie Creates an Online Event. It also made reference to one of the
episodes of the much renowned television show Satyameva Jayate where it made
use of the facts and numbers relating to medical malpractice in India. To appeal to
the Indian youth, they tried to tap the change movement among the young
generation. The campaign Light a candle for Justice, a virtual event of Facebook
was launched that provoked users to join the movement of spreading awareness,
courage, hope, protest and justice. The marketing team decided to miss some key
promotional tools and tactics like City tours by star cast were not incorporated, inserial promotion and merchandising.

Box Office Disaster : Problem Analysis

Scheduling and Star Cast problem: The movies release date was postponed
twice. The movie did not have bankable stars in them. Low marketing budget was
the prime reason behind it. The cast was not strong enough to draw in audiences
into the theatres. Entertainment quotient was lacking. The movie failed to match
the buzz it created through media channels.
Movies with serious content but having a strong star cast had done well to draw in
audiences into the theatre. Movies like Special 26, No One Killed Jessica tasted
commercial success because they had bankable stars in them.
Niche and Grim Theme of movie: AAMC was meant for a niche audience who
enjoyed meaningful cinema that diverged from the ordinary but still entertaining.
Audience for Indian movies is predominantly the youth. They neither connect with
death nor mother-child bond. The public reviews pointed out that the movie was too
niche for them. The positioning statement of AAMC When Hope Kills gave
negative perception and thus the key messages based on positioning statement
turned out in negative light and turned people away. Also the most prominent star
K.K.Menon was portrayed in shades of grey which could have backfired considering
how the Indian audience wants their favorite actors to feature in roles that are not
evil centric. Some of the critics also hinted at the weak execution of the movie
which had a poor screenplay and lacked surprises
The Controversy: The Britannia case was also a big setback where the company
claimed damages of up to 10 million INR because of the disrepute the movie trailers
had brought in to its brand image. The PR team failed to manage the situation
which led to an event based news article appearing in all leading newspapers
regarding legal notice sent and the response from ASA.
Ineffective Market Communications Campaign: Despite of dedicating 52
percent of marketing budget in Television promos, it failed to capture the peoples
imagination through it. The amount spent should have been more focused on songs
and music and not on dialogues. The movie failed to strike connection with general

public. Also cable and satellite rights revenues are increasing , so more focus should
have been spent on in-serial promotions . Go-to-market was delayed multiple times.
The campaign 1 Who was Ankur Arora was not supported by any advertisement
turned out to be a mistake.
Failure of PR Team: The PR team failed to stop negative publicity of Britannia case
and also failed to highlight the donation given to cancer patient at premiere
showing and donation of equipment used in movie to hospitals. This could have
brought movie in positive light and could have increased audience connect with the
movie.

Recommendation and Conclusion:

1. Something could have been done for those who are suffering from the negligence
of Medical negligence, and in this way film could have been promoted to engage
people more actively.
2. A brand identity should have been created using merchandising.
3. Some budgets could have been allocated to country wide tours and in-serial
promotions.
4. A song could have been included in the promotions based on the movie theme to
connect with the audiences in a better way.
5. Film characters should have been promoted more for personalisation .
Even though the movies script and screenplay were well acclaimed by critics, the
movie could not even recover 17% of its budgeted cost. By looking at the
challenges (above) which were suffered by the movies marketing strategy, we
surely have a perfect example of how a good product can be an epic failure if not
marketed well.