a comprehensive study on the marketing factors of the recent ...

IJFMS Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2014 ISSN 2349-2309 © Blue Square Publishing House

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON THE MARKETING

FACTORS OF THE RECENT BENGALI FILMS

CONSIDERING INDIAN MOVIE INDUSTRY

Mr. Jyotirmoy Mazumder,

Head,Department of BBA (H),

Tarakeswar Degree College,

West Bengal, India

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ABSTRACT

Bollywood or Tollywood, both use marketing tools for various promotional factors in film business.

Hindi movies have gone global with higher gross income, whereas South Indian films have also

reached some clusters to grow business. Various genre films have been produced in top six local

language films, except Hindi. Distribution has gone digital, along with increase in multiplex, but

unfortunate decrease in single screens pan India. Bengali cinema gained some budget & marketing

expenditure to boost its business, increasing the gross income, but far behind from even South Indian

film success. Hence, various film promotion techniques are used with increase in audience research,

where Word of Mouth plays as a major tool across all demographic levels.

Keywords: Marketing, Strategy, Film promotion, language film, genre, film industry, single screen,

multiplex, research, brand, Word of Mouth.

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Introduction

The Journal of the Bengal Motion Pictures Association had coined the word, Tollywood - way back in

the thirties- to describe a certain kind of „progressive‟ (read „Westernised‟) cinema produced by

Calcutta‟s Tollygunge Studios (Derek Bose 2005). The film industry based in Kolkata, West Bengal, is

sometimes referred as "Tollywood", a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge, a neighbourhood of

Calcutta where most of the Bengali film studios are located, and Hollywood. Tollywood was the very

first Hollywood-inspired name, dating back to a 1932 article in the American Cinematographer by

Wilford E. Deming, an American engineer who was involved in the production of the first Indian sound

film. He gave the industry the name Tollywood because the Tollygunge district in which it was based

rhymed with "Hollywood"(Wikipedia 2012).

The prime six big language film markets, as described by National Film Development Corporation

(NFDC) in current years, apart from Hindi, are – Telegu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada and

Malayalam. The importance of marketing strategy hence arises as compared to Hindi Film Industry. In

recent years, The box office collections for Bengali films has started to reach figures as high as Rs 5-6

crore, which is a significant increase from the past half decade. Films such as „Bhuter Bhobiswat‟,

„Baishe Shrabon‟, „Autograph‟, „Mishor Rohosso‟, „Chander Pahar‟, „Shobdo‟, „Muktodhara‟ etc. have

walked the tightrope between box office and critical fame with dexterity. A good story or script has

become a main key for this success.

Nevertheless, the mainstream Bengali films also remain more or less successful. Investment by various

major producers, in a range up to 6-8 crores, has been seen with a focus to good glossy picturisation to

catch the market. Big houses have entered to invest due to which FICCI has come along to help this

industry now. A chain of both multiplexes and single theatre movie halls are now used for the

promotion and to run the films. But there arise the question of marketing strategy of the films. Bengali

films are not that way been marketed as done in Bollywood pattern or any other South Indian Film

industry. Producers are not yet ready to spend some money on the promotional activities of the films in

larger manner. Their primary focus in only the South Bengal market, neglecting the North Bengal

market as the population are low there and rest of the country where Bengali culture remains and other

people may also see the films with subtitle. In adverse, the numbers of single theatre halls have come

down, piracy has gone up, more tax has been levied and effect of television is diminishing the

importance of movie going.

In the 1980s & 90s, the Bengal film industry went through a period of turmoil, with a shift from its

traditional artistic and emotional inclinations to an approach more imitating the increasingly more

popular Hindi films, along with a decline in the audience and critical appreciation. Over the last few

years, Bengali cinema has been on the comeback path and produced commercially successful films

with original & remake content. The Bengali film industry is moving into a phase where both a good

script and proper promotion are required for a film‟s commercial success. Increasingly, as Bengali

films vie with Bollywood films for audience pull, film makers need to have a marketing and promotion

strategy to attract film buffs. Further, while critically acclaimed films in Bengali have failed to draw

crowds largely because of their poor publicity; smaller yet effectively marketed and distributed films

are drawing the audiences‟ attention. EIMPA (Eastern India Motion Pictures Association) plays a

significant role about all aspects of film in this part of the country to promote and support film industry.

Hence, it is important that Bengali films targeted at the urban audience focus on effective promotional

activities in addition to the content. Further, investment in exhibition infrastructure, leading to the co-

existence of multiplexes and single screens, along with the right price can offer consumers a

compelling theatrical experience. Exploring newer content delivery platforms, focusing on digital rights

management, effectively promoting films and continuing to focus on local content development are

measures that could propel this industry to a luminous future ahead1. Even, opening of new „Prayag

Film City‟ or a govt. sponsored new film studio at Uttarpara, is a new face of this industry. From an

average of 40-50 films in 2006, now it's producing more than 100 films a year2. The market for Bengali

films can be expanded to a 340-million-strong Bengali audience in Bangladesh, West Bengal, Tripura

and Assam. The industry could truly flourish if films from this state have a proper distribution

1 FICCI Frames-a symphony of art-media & entertainment in east india-bengal-2011

2 http://in.news.yahoo.com/directors-ideas-power-bengali-cinemas-resurgence-073245236.html;

http://ibef.org/entertainment&media_industry

network3. So, by looking at this market, it seems very clear that the topic for research is very much neo

and relevant for analysis. Lastly, talking about the biggest blockbuster of Bengali movies, „Chander

Pahar‟, is important as it crossed the barrier of Rs. 20 crores‟ gross income as the first Bengali movie

ever, and ran over 100 days since last week of December, 2014.

Objective

The objectives of the interest area may be described as given below:

To analyse the changing behaviour during last decade

To find out the turnaround factors for further development of production

To know how the marketing strategies in recent years have been utilized

To identify the impact of television and other media among viewers

To judge the impact of various promotional factors in film business

In essence, the objectives are all related, yet differ from one another to form the findings in an all

square manner.

Cinema of India

The necessary steps for almost any film can be boiled down to conception, planning, execution,

revision, and distribution. In a typical production cycle of a film, these main stages are defined as:

Development

Step outline · Film treatment · Script · Screenplay · Film finance · Film

budgeting · Green-light

Pre-production

Breaking down the script · Script breakdown · Storyboard · Production board ·

Production strip · Day Out of Days · Production schedule · One liner schedule ·

Shooting schedule

Production

Cinematography · Principal photography · Videography · Shooting script · Film

inventory report · Daily call sheet · Production report · Daily production report ·

Daily progress report · Daily editor log · Sound report · Cost report

Post-production

Film editing · Re-recording · Sync sound · Soundtrack · Music · Special effect

(sound · visual) · Negative cost

Distribution

Distribution · Film release (wide · limited · delayed) · Road show

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_West_Bengal

Historically, all mass marketed feature films were made to be shown in movie theaters. The

development of television has allowed films to be broadcast to larger audiences, usually after the film is

no longer being shown in theaters. The movie theater pays an average of about 50-55% of its ticket

sales to the movie studio, as film rental fees. The actual percentage starts with a number higher than

that, and decreases as the duration of a film's showing continues, as an incentive to theaters to keep

movies in the theater longer. However, today's barrage of highly marketed movies ensures that most

movies are shown in first-run theaters for less than 8 weeks. There are a few movies every year that

defy this rule, often limited-release movies that start in only a few theaters and actually grow their

theater count through good word-of-mouth and reviews. At the end of 2010, it was reported that, in

terms of annual film output, India ranks first, followed by Hollywood and China. Enhanced technology

paved the way for upgrading from established cinematic norms of delivering product, altering the

manner in which content reached the target audience, as per regional tastes. Indian cinema found

markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened. The provision of 100% foreign direct

investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox,

Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. etc. Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV,

Viacom 18, Adlabs, Sun Pictures etc. participated in producing and distributing films, sometimes by

collaborating with foreign firms also. Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in

India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock

Exchange of India, making the commercial presence of the medium felt.

The South Indian film industry defines the four film cultures of South India as a single entity. They are

the Kannada, the Malayalam, the Tamil and the Telugu industries. Although developed independently

for a long period of time, gross exchange of film performers and technicians as well as globalisation

helped to shape this new identity, currently holding 75% of all film revenues in India. The Indian

Diaspora consists of millions of Indians overseas for which films are made available both through

mediums such as DVDs and by screening of films in their country of residence wherever commercially

feasible. These earnings, accounting for some 12% of the revenue generated by a mainstream film,

contribute substantially to the overall revenue of Indian cinema. Music in Indian cinema is another

substantial revenue generator, with the music rights alone accounting for 4–5% of the net revenues

generated by a film in India.

The figures below indicate the rise/fall in production of films in major Indian languages in 2011 as

compared to the year 2010(source: CBFC)-

Language Films certified in 2010 Films certified in 2011

Bengali 110 122

Telugu 181 192

Tamil 202 185

Malayalam 105 95

Kannada 143 138

Marathi 116 107

Hindi 215 206

TOTAL INDIAN FEATURE FILMS RELEASED (CELLULOID): 1274(2010) 1255(2011)

The maximum number of certificates for Feature Films “Celluloid” were issued from the Mumbai

Region followed by Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata as indicated below(as per the CBFC

2011 report) :

MUMBAI 689 (462 Indian and 227 Foreign), CHENNAI 218 (202 Indian and 16 Foreign),

HYDERABAD 164 (All Indian), BANGALORE 159 (All Indian), KOLKATA 118 (All Indian). Other

language films with high number of releases are Bhojpuri, Gujrati, Oriya & Punjabi.

Now, there is a certain thematic classification, or „Genre‟, of Indian feature films, derived by CBFC

which are given below-

Social, Crime, Comedy, Drama, Action, Horror, Thriller, Devotional, Children‟s film, Fantasy, Fiction,

Historical, Murder Mystery, Sci-fi, Biography, Mythological, Political, Spoof/Satire, Vengeance,

Patriotic, Legendary, Suspense Thriller, Mystery.

Out of these, most films are being certified as Social, in any language.

Market size of six major local language film markets:

Language Households(million

in home state)

households

(million)

Cable & Satellite

households(million)

market

size(INR

million)

Tamil 17.7 16.4 15.9 13500

Telugu 20.9 15.1 14.8 9000

Bengali 20.3 9.5 8.6 7000

Kannada 13.5 10 9.9 6200

Malayalam 8.1 7.6 7.1 6600

Marathi 24.9 16.8 14.9 4100

Source: IRS Q3 2012; Industry discussions conducted by KPMG in India

Distribution – Digital dominance is here:

Over the past few years the industry has steadily shifted from releasing films with physical prints to

digital distribution. The share of the digital format has increased from roughly 50 percent in 2010 to

around 80-90 percent in 2012. Digital distribution has enabled films to broaden their reach and do it far

quicker than ever before. Distributors are now able to capture revenues in a shorter time frame by

having same-day release across theatres and pre-selling cable & satellite rights. Most films now garner

about 60-80 percent of their revenue in the first week of release.

Box office success in the first week is considered critical and marketing plays an important role in

determining turnout. Some reports indicate that pre-release marketing budget is found to be highly

correlated with the opening weekend success of a movie. With this trend increasingly becoming

prominent, advertising spends are on the rise. Print and advertising (P&A) budgets witnessed a 20

percent Y-o-Y increase in 2012 with marketing spends dominating. In 2012, on an average 60 percent

of P&A budgets were spent on promotion and advertising of the film. Film marketing activities have

progressed beyond posters and promos with the aggressive use of new marketing tools on social media,

portals, search engines and even activation. Use of social media has become an important component of

pre-release marketing strategy for any movie. Some players have gone a step ahead and developed

mobile apps for promoting their movie.

In 2012, the average film marketing costs ranged anywhere between INR 80-120 million. For high

budget films, this went up to INR 150 million and for low budget films, in some cases, it exceeded their

production cost. As per industry estimates, for a low budget film, a minimum budget of INR 35 to 50

million is required to ensure a decent commercial release for the film. However, the economics are

different in South India where marketing budgets are still low at INR 15 – 20 million per film. It is

anticipated that as media clutter grows, marketing budgets for films will continue to climb in order for

products to get noticed.

Domestic theatrical revenues continues to be the main source of revenue for the film industry, with 76

percent of its revenue coming from this channel and this trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable

future. However, the landscape is undergoing drastic changes. With screen density of only 8 per million

as compared to Indonesia (141), US (117), China (31) and Brazil (10), India continues to be heavily

under screened. With lower real estate prices in smaller towns and the leeway to launch a no frills

cinema, the exhibitors are able to considerably bring down the cost per screen. Keeping in mind

demographics of these cities, the prices of tickets are lower than those charged by multiplexes in the

metros. For instance, while a regular PVR ticket price ranges from INR 100-275 in Delhi/ NCR, it

ranges from INR 40-90 in Ujjain and INR 50-150 in Bilaspur. With digitization likely to provide

greater clarity in terms of TRPs, Video-On-Demand (VOD) services, and greater number of movie

channels, the demand for all genres of films on cable and satellite platforms is expected to increase. The

theatre-to-television window is reducing with movies being broadcast on television within 60 to 90

days of their theatrical release.

Film Industry Performance:

Revenue

million)

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

(projected)

Domestic

Theatrical

80.2 68.5 62 68.8 85.1 92.4

Overseas

Theatrical

9.8 6.8 6.6 6.9 7.6 8.3

3.8 4.3 2.3 2 1.7 1.4

Cable &

Satellite

Rights

7.1 6.3 8.3 10.5 12.6 14.1

Ancillary

Revenue

3.5 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.4 6.2

Total 104.4 89.3 83.3 92.9 112.4 122.4

Source: KPMG in India analysis, 2013

According to CBFC, Indian Short Celluloid films range accordingly- ADVERTISEMENT – 1153;

TRAILER – 444; Total - 1771. Also, India has one of the largest broadcasting industries in the world

with approximately 800 satellite television channels, 245 FM channels and more than 100 operational

community radio networks.

Bengali cinema

In 1993, the Bengali industry's net output was 57 films. But in 2010-11 season, it crossed an annual

production of 100+ films, with a maximum budget limit of around 5-6 crore in a film. New genres are

evolving, apart from typical romance films, which are getting some big hits, even running 100 days.

The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first "bioscopes" were shown in

theatres in Kolkata. However, the first Bengali Feature film, Billwamangal, was produced in 1919,

under the banner of Madan Theatre. Bilat Ferat was the IBFC's first production in 1921. The Madan

Theatres production of Jamai Shashthi was the first Bengali talkie. The 'Parallel Cinema' movement

began in the Bengali film industry in the 1950s. A long history has been traversed since then, with

stalwarts such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and others having earned international

acclaim and securing their place in the history of film.

Budget & Marketing :

The Primary Production Houses, in 2010 era, are Sri Venkatesh Films & Dhanuka Films among other

producers in Bengali films. In 2012, Bikram Singha, starring Prosenjit, a remake of a south Indian film,

was produced over a budget of Rs. 6 crore, setting a new benchmark for the Bengali film industry. 2013

saw the biggest production of a Bengali film, when „Chander Pahar‟ happened at a marvel cost of Rs.

15 crore, including all expenses, and setting new benchmarks. Even a song now costs up to Rs. one

crore for its making with video production. But these are few in numbers. Most movies don‟t cross the

limit of one crore mark for production and marketing. 70 Bengali movies were released every year and

were produced with a budget of Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 1.5 crore per movie in 2008. Other regional movies

like the ones in Tamil and Telugu would have a budget of Rs 40 crore as on 2008. There are at least

three south Indian films which grossed more than 100 crore INR, being domestic film only, which is a

landmark itself. Many of the most critically acclaimed Bengali films were low-budget films, including

Satyajit Ray's famous The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959). The first film in the trilogy, Pather Panchali

(1955), was produced on a shoestring budget of Rs. 1.5 lakh ($32000) using an amateur cast and crew.

All his other films that followed also had low budgets, with his most expensive films being The

Adventures Of Goopy And Bagha (1968) at Rs. 6 lakh ($80,000) and The Chess Players (1977) at Rs.

20 lakh ($230,000).

The Bengali film industry, which had been a beacon for the country's film industry until the 1980s, is in

a turnaround mode. At a time when Bollywood continues its roller-coaster ride, there are cheers in the

Bengali film industry with several commercial successes. The dark period of the 1990s when Bengali

tinsel town was on a steep decline seems like a nightmare that's best forgotten. And, with the money

pouring in, producers from other States are now knocking on the doors of Bengali directors. Industry

sources say that the best proof of the comeback is seen in the increasing number of cinema houses

showing Bengali films. In 2012, only 350+ theatres are showing Bengali films. Earlier, a film by

award-winning director Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (The Tale of a Fallen Girl)

produced by Arjoe Entertainments netted nearly Rs 7 crore through sale of overseas rights against a

cost of Rs 60 lakh. Haranath Chakraborty‟s film Sathee (Companion) created a record by recouping

over five times its production cost. Loose and unorganised production activities, dominated and

dictated by providers of capital led to proliferation of sub-standard films, which were most often

commercial failures. The recent successes have come through some concerted effort by Parallel Cinema

which has tapped the domestic market, even while scouting the overseas ones, hitting the festival

circuit somewhere in between. As such, celluloid creations of award-winning directors like Kaushik

Ganguly, Gautam Ghosh, Rituparno Ghosh and Aparna Sen started bringing money for their producers.

However, at around the same time, movies in the commercial circuit (directors like to call them

mainstream cinema) also started doing well, supported strongly by the response from the semi-urban

areas. The big Bollywood banners such as Reliance Entertainment and UTV are now showing interest

in funding Bengali films, sometimes joining hands with local players like Grassroot Entertainment of

Actor Jeet, creating a new line of production & distribution of films. Hollywood houses like Columbia

Tristar have made their debut in distributing Bengali movies. According to industry experts, several

issues need to be addressed to build on this resurgence and consolidate it. These include inadequate

infrastructure, which often compels moviemakers to go outside the State for facilities pushing up costs,

poor marketing and distribution and increasing competition from Bangladeshi films.

New technology introduction like cube digital, digital filming etc. may have earned a big change in

bengali films‟ movement, but piracy has done a marvelous loss so far. Both in digital pirated copy or in

pirated dvd/cd, the films have been widespread and the theaters started losing business from late 1990s.

Apart from television showing, this made people from going to theaters for watching the films. But

still, people are now again moving to theaters due to new stories etc. and the industry has started

reviving since 2005. Films remain the study area of mass communication. But the marketing of films

has become a significant role player now-a-days. Hence, to see changes in this industry on current

basis, various resources has been analysed over years. But going through the recent magazines like

Anadalok, Cinema Ebong(in Bengali language) or news supplementaries like Patrika of Anandabazar

Patrika, Popkorn of Sanbad Pratidin, t2 of The Telegraph, Calcutta Times of Times of India etc. give a

clear outline that where the Bengali film industry is approaching. A regular analysis of the different

genre films by them is being seen. Apart from that, the interview with various actors, directors,

musicians, producers, script writers etc. are now been published. Developments of new films are often

discussed in these print media. But out of 169 screens of Qube digital platform in West Bengal, only 30

are in North Bengal. UFO Moviez claims to have installed their technology in 228 Bengali screens

across West Bengal. This shows the growth of digitisation in large scale, but only concentrating the

focus area in South Bengal only. Where Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or even Karnataka are at a high

rate of digitisation of theatres with numerous screens, Bengal is far behind (see appendix).

Let‟s take one example of a film, named “Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2”, released on 11th

April‟2014, by

so far the biggest Production house of Bengali film industry-Sri Venkatesh Films. They produced &

released the film across south Bengal area in 68 single screens and 17 multiplex screens, whereas in

north Bengal, they released the film only in 13 single screens and 02 multiplex screens, along with two

releases in Agartala, Tripura, taking the total count of screen releases to 102, which is a modest number

for this film as the film has no star graded actors at all.

Now, the same Production house released a Hindi film “Aatma” almost one year ago, on 22nd

March‟2013, as distributors in West Bengal. They released the film across south Bengal area in 128

single screens and 18 multiplex screens; whereas in north Bengal, they released the film only in 16

single screens and 04 multiplex screens, taking the total count of screen releases to 166.

In recent years, the film which was released with most screens in West Bengal was “Dui Prithibi”,

again produced & distributed by Sri Venkatesh Films, with 292 screen releases across West Bengal, out

of roughly 350 total screens existing now(EIMPA or Eastern India Motion Pictures Association

records). 2013 also saw high first weekend earning for the hardcore commercial Bengali films like

„Boss‟, „Khoka 420‟ etc., grossing Rs. one crore within 3 to 5 days, making the grand total to 5-6 crores

for the film till it runs. Tenure has fallen for the films like it used to happen before the year 2000 when

films used to run 50-100 days, but instead of that, now the model of earning the expenses is the same

that of Bollywood, i.e., quick return in first/second weekend of the release. But, it is not possible to

gain the usefulness of the model throughout the market as most of the screens in Bengal are still single

screen with very low ticket price, and even in multiplexes, for the Bengali films, the ticket price is

comparatively low than that of Hindi or English movies.

There is a certain problem of piracy also. Movies are leaked quickly like what happens for Hindi

movies. Another problem is that of not reaching the mass market of less populated districts in both

north & south Bengal. People are now watching movies in TV, after the world premiere happens.

Content is another problem as many films are basically remakes of other south Indian films. Hence,

people are not getting interest to go for movie-watching as it is only glossy, but not contemporary or

practical, especially in case of commercial films.

Film Promotion

Film promotion is the practise of promotion specifically in the film industry. As with all business it is

an important part of any release because of the inherent high financial risk; film studios will invest in

expensive marketing campaigns to maximize revenue early in the release cycle. Marketing budgets tend

to equal anywhere between half or three times the production budget. Publicity is generally handled by

the distributor and exhibitors.

Techniques:

In theaters

Trailers are a mainstay of film promotion, because they are delivered directly to movie-goers.

They screen in theatres before movie showings. Generally they tell the story of the movie in a

highly condensed fashion compressing maximum appeal into two and half minutes.

Film posters- a common tool to promote.

Slideshows - stills, trivia, and trivia games from the film, shown between movie showtimes.

Standees (freestanding paperboard life-size images of figures from the film)- a theatrical

standee is a large self-standing display promoting a movie, product or event. They are typically

made of cardboard, and may range from large self-standing posters to three-dimensional devices

with moving parts and lights. Standees are typically displayed in theatre lobbies or music stores

in advance of film or music releases.

Cardboard 3D displays, sometimes producing sound.

Television and radio

Hollywood movie distributors spend about $4 billion a year(in 2012) to buy paid advertising

(30-second TV commercials, newspaper ads, etc.) and over half that total is placed on broadcast

and cable TV, which are the main vehicles for advertising movies to audiences. TV is effective

because it is an audio-visual medium – like film – and can deliver a vast audience quickly,

which is crucial because films typically don‟t linger in theatres more than 4–6 weeks.

Product placement: paid active or passive insertion (as on-set posters, and action figures) of

film brand in drama or sitcom shows, or as passing mentions in dialogue.

Extended placement: full episodes of television talkshows, entertainment news programs, or

network news programs, devoted to compensated exposure of the film, stars, clips, director, etc.

o In addition, interviews with actors and directors which are filmed en masse at a hotel

with local and national entertainment reporters which are featured on local news shows,

programs on cable networks.

Production and paid broadcast of behind-the-scenes documentary-style shows.

Advance trailers, longer previews, or behind-the-scenes footage on rental videos and DVDs.

Internet

Creation of standalone studio-sponsored per-film websites.

Viral marketing: free distribution of trailers on movie-oriented websites and video user-

generated-content websites, and rapid dissemination of links to this content by email and blogs.

Includes alleged leakage of supposed "rushes" and "early trailers" of film scenes. In recent

times, mostly used to attract the youth in any language films.

Paid advertisement in newspapers, magazines, and inserts in books.

Cross-promotion of original book or novelization, including special printings, or new cover

jackets ("Now a major motion picture.")

Comic special editions or special episodes.

Merchandising

Paid co-branding, or co-advertising of a product with the film.

Promotional giveaways: branded drink cups, toys, or food combinations, at fast food chains.

A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small,

cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product

launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads".

A teaser trailer is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming film, television program, video

game or similar, usually released long in advance of the product, so as to "tease" the audience.

Promotional tour

Film actors, directors, and producers appear for television, radio, and print media interviews,

sometimes showing a clip from the film or an outtake. Interviews are conducted in person or

remotely. During film production, these can take place on set. After film release, key personnel

make appearances in major market cities, or participate remotely via "satellite" or telephone.

Music release

Releasing the film music, or music videos, before the actual release of the film can also be

considered a form of advertising. A popular tune is believed to help pull audiences into the

theaters. Using personal channel of the producer in this regard is a much used phenomena in

local language films.

Audience research

There are seven distinct types of research conducted by film distributors in connection with domestic

theatrical releases, according to "Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition." Such audience research

can cost up to $1 million per film, especially when scores of TV advertisements are tested and re-

tested. The bulk of research is done by major studios for the roughly 170 major releases they mount

each year that are supported by tens of millions of advertising buys for each film. Independent film

distributors, which typically spend less than $10 million in media buys per film, don‟t have the budget

or breadth of advertising materials to analyze, so they spend little or nothing on pre-release audience

research. When audience research is conducted for domestic theatrical release, it involves these areas:

Positioning studies versus other films that will premiere at the same time.

Test screenings of finished or nearly finished films; this is the most well known.

Testing of audience response to advertising materials.

Tracking surveys of audience awareness of a film starting six weeks before premiere.

Exit surveys questioning film goers about their demographic makeup and effectiveness of

marketing.

Title testing in an early stage.

Concept testing that would occur in development phase of a film before it is produced.

With Social Media grabbing about 25 percent of the internet surfing time in India, this medium is rather

hard to ignore. India has more than 70 million social network surfers(in 2013) – a potentially large

platform for digital marketing. These consumers are already being targeting by the film industry.

Disney has demonstrated how to leverage social media on a large scale. It engages with millions of

consumers through more than 1000 social media accounts. It has pages and accounts across Facebook,

Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube for every movie it makes, for all its theme parks and for Disney

merchandise. The company has more than 3.5 million followers online - The goal is to recreate the

Disney magic online.

Now comes a Word of Mouth framework, derived by Yong Liu, as given below-

Source: Yong Liu, Journal of Marketing, July 2006, pp74-89.

The above diagram is showing the importance of Word of Mouth for the movie success. In recent

times, Bengali film „Bhuter Bhobissot‟ got huge success with this, whereas, very recent Hindi film

„Queen‟ as also gained commercial success due to WOM.

The industry no longer has to rely solely on its instincts when it can leverage statistical tools and

frameworks to define a target audience for a genre and assess the market potential of a concept.

Analysis of basic parameters such as demographics, income distribution and consumer behaviour

parameters such as genre preference, spending and media consumption pattern -by age, gender,

geography, language, income bracket etc can unravel the mystery behind erratic audience behaviour.

Once the target audience has been decided, content can be refined through focused group testing to

ensure that the content turns out to be relevant and appealing. This can be done by using various testing

tools such as Concept Testing, Content Development and Audience Pre-testing.

• Concept testing and development enables a production house develop the theme of movie

• Audience pre-testing helps production houses make necessary changes in the storyline to make it

more appealing while the reactions also help distributors focus their marketing strategies. There are

mixed opinions on pre-testing, some producers have only limited or no faith in this process, believing

that the treatment of a story can make or break a movie, there are others who strongly support the

practice

• Companies can also use Pre-release Awareness Testing to gauge the effectiveness of their marketing

efforts and make necessary changes to the game plan to ensure maximum impact

The final stage of any movie lifecycle is to convince prospective audiences to buy movie tickets. The

art of marketing a movie is fast evolving and becoming innovative and scientific in its approach.

Shorter box office windows, low attention span, high cost of watching movies in theatre and

availability of alternate entertainment options such as web, mobile, TV etc have added to movie

marketers‟ onus of creating extensive buzz and interest to attract the audience to theatres. Movie

marketers can employ tools to define which platforms should be used to engage prospective audience

and continuously assess whether the efforts are creating positive results.

Now, let's have a look at the innovative ways through which producers have publicized 'Chennai

Express': Game Development; Lungi Dance as promotional video along with Rajnikanth factor;

Promotion on TV; Posters in different languages; Tie-up with products; Fashion shows; Social media

platform; Video game.

The highest grossing film in India so far, „Dhoom 3‟, has been involved with low profile marketing

strategies, unlike other Aamir Khan movies of recent years. Yet the film became biggest hit of all time

in Indian cinema with total gross of Rupees 560 crores, after being released on 25th December 2013. At

first, a title logo & score of the film was released, followed by motion poster & first teaser. Then

arrived a game, and finally arrived the theatrical trailer. Then Aamir Khan appeared in „kaun banega

crorepati‟ and the publicity campaign included tie-ins with 17 brands.

Looking at Hollywood‟s biggest success story with a worldwide box-office gross of about $2.8

billion, Avatar is often proclaimed to be the "highest-grossing" film ever, but such claims usually refer

to theatrical revenues only and do not take account of home video and television income, which can

form a significant portion of a film's earnings. Once revenue from home entertainment is factored in it

is not immediately clear which film is the most successful. Titanic earned $1.2 billion

from video and DVD sales and rentals, in addition to the $2.2 billion it grossed in theatres. While

complete sales data is not available for Avatar, it earned $345 million from the sale of sixteen million

DVD and Blu-ray units in North America, and ultimately sold a total of thirty million DVD and Blu-ray

units worldwide so far. After home video income is accounted for, both films have earned over $3

billion. Television broadcast rights will also substantially add to a film's earnings, with a film often

earning as much as 20–25% of its theatrical box-office for a couple of television runs on top of pay-per-

view revenues; Titanic earned a further $55 million from the NBC and HBO broadcast rights, equating

to about 9% of its North American gross.

Conclusion

Hence, it can be derived that major promotional activities and other tools of marketing need to be

addressed properly by the local producers and distributors in Bengali film, as there is no certain model

or philosophy of marketing present. As per the KPMG-FICCI report of 2013, West Bengal tops among

all states for the percentage of literate population not reading any newspaper-60%, where Kerala has

that number at the lowest at 17% with Tamil Nadu at 34% & Maharashtra at 36%. With this, how can a

poster be successful to promote a film, after being printed in newspaper in West Bengal? Also, social

media has not yet a massive reach to all the age groups and cluster of demography/geography. Also, the

above report indicated that the number of movie goers has not increased in decades in any state, only

the price hike has made the films gross the higher amount. This has to be changed with the marketing

tools, by releasing the films across various regions, where ever the Bengali speaking people reside,

taking some necessary steps by producers. Protection from piracy must be taken care of by both the

producers and govt. All these may bring the success of Bengali films in long run.

Appendix

West Bengal Census 2011

High Dense districts Population Low Dense districts Population

North 24 Parganas 1 Cr. North Dinajpur 30lakhs

South 24 Parganas 81.53 lakhs South Dinajpur 16.7lakhs

Kolkata 44.86lakhs Kochbihar 28.22lakhs

Nadia 51.68lakhs Jalpaiguri 38.69lakhs

Burdwan 77.23lakhs Darjiling 18.42lakhs

Murshidabad 71lakhs Purulia 29.27lakhs

East Midnapur 59.43lakhs Bankura 35.96lakhs

West Midnapur 50.94lakhs Birbhum 35lakhs

Howrah 48.41lakhs Malda 39.97lakhs

Hooghly 55.2lakhs -- --

Total of 10 districts 6.41 Cr. Total of 9 districts 2.72 Cr.

Total Population: 9.13 Crores

Source: pp629, Poschim Bongo Porikroma, Manorama Yearbook 2014 Bengali version.

Qube digital formatted number of theatres:

State Total Number of theatres

Tamil Nadu & Puducherry 637

Andhra Pradesh & Telengana 726

Bihar 54

Gujarat 80

Karnataka 272

Kerala 146

Maharashtra 42

Rajasthan 47

Uttar Pradesh 88

West Bengal 169

Total in India 2405

Source: http://www.qcn.in/theatres

Total 19 districts exist in West Bengal in 2014 which are listed below:

South Bengal districts North Bengal districts

North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas,

Kolkata, Nadia, Burdwan, Murshidabad,

East Midnapur, West Midnapur,

Howrah, Hooghly, Bankura, Birbhum,

Purulia

North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur,

Kochbihar, Jalpaiguri, Darjiling,

Total of 13 districts Total of 6 districts

References

1. A.Lent, J. (1990). The Asian Film Industry. Christopher Helm Ltd.

2. Bal, X. &. (2011). Emoti-coms--A marketing guide to communicating through emotions.

Harriman House.

3. Bose, D. (2005). Brand Bollywood: a new global entertainment order. New Delhi: Sage

Publications.

4. Dudrah, J. D. (2007). The essential Bollywood.

5. Jansson-Boyd, C. V. (2010). Consumer Psychology. McGraw Hill Education.

6. Liu, Y. (2006 July). Word of Mouth for Movies: Its Dynamics and Impact on Box Office

Revenue. Journal of Marketing , 74-89.

7. Poschim Bongo Porikroma. (2014). Manorama Yearbook 2014 Bengali version, 629.

8. Panda, B. (2008). Cinema-New audiences New horizons. Bhubaneswar: Rudrakshya.

9. KPMG-FICCI. (2013). The power of a billion: Realising the Indian dream.

10. FICCI-KPMG. (2011). Indian Media and Entertainment Report.

11. CBFC. (2011). Annual Report.

12. JSTOR Film Quarterly,62(1) (Fall 2008),40-45

Websites:

1. http://in.news.yahoo.com/directors-ideas-power-bengali-cinemas-resurgence-073245236.html-

24/04/12

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_West_Bengal- 30/08/12

3. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/cii-task-force-to-help-bengali-film-

industry/419102- 12/10/12

4. http://digital-conversations.blogspot.in/2013/08/chennai-expresss-marketing-express.html -

05/04/14

5. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhoom 3 - 05/04/14

6. http://www.ibef.org/media & entertainment industry - 05/04/14

7. http://www.qcn.in/theatres/West-Bengal - 05/04/14

8. http://www.ufomoviez.com/UFO_Pre_Lang.aspx - 05/04/14

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