Delhi 6: Billu: Dev D, A study in Strategy
Let me draw your attention to a very prudent Marketing principle:
“THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MARKETERS NURTURE THE STRONGEST RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR MOST PROFITABLE CUSTOMERS”
Delhi 6 is releasing this Friday. The net is agog with good news out of New York about the movie. Good to hear. UTV, again, as usual has done a tremendous job of getting the film to its required junta. The songs and the music are doing wonderfully well and are able to lend to the movie’s marketing a whole lot.
In fact, this brings me to the above principle. Delhi 6 was announced to the world some two years ago and R O Mehra took some time to get together his principal cast. But, he had done his script and had taken pains to give A R Rahman a complete narration of the screenplay. Rahman , on his part, started with his homework and it then took a painstaking process of much over a year before he got all the tunes in place. Tunes that were from all over the place, various types of music, even a devotional number that he had safeguarded for about nine years!
ARR knew Rakeysh’s story. He also could get the spirit of creativity. He nurtured it. So, look at the product we have at hand. ARR strove to provide us through Delhi 6 music the strongest relationship – love and honesty. These were tunes that were not hatched up in a Rum and guitar session. These were not ditties that were composed at 6 am in the morning because Shreya Ghoshal was not going to be available for another 3 months as she was going away on a Live tour! This was not poetry that was hatched up with stock words such as “Soniye”, “Munda”, “Mar Jaawan”! This is lyrics, as we know it from the “Aaa chalke tujhe main leke chaloon” days. Prasoon Joshi may not write another single line at all but shall be remembered for “Arziyan” forever. This is what I mean when I say “Strongest Relationship”.
When this kind of a relationship is created at the outset, the rest of the movie is created with the same fervour and devotion. I can very well imagine the cast, high value ensemble that it already is, would feel when confronted with such writing and such music. Top your best, shall have been the cry in unison. I can definitely say with complete confidence, even without getting a minute peek into the film, that Vijay Raaz, Dipak Dobriyal, Divya Dutta, Rishi Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Waheedaji, Om Puri, Pavan Malhotra, Sheeba and the others would have just been driven by some unseen power to deliver acting standards that they themselves had not touched before. Such is the power of sturdy, hard, painstaking, honest work and craft!
The Marketing principle also stated “Profitable customers”. Fortunately, Indian cinema, the unique Entertainment juggernaut does have the entire country’s population as its “profitable customer”. Movies made with utmost honesty with true regard to story, plotting, music, language, idiom and communication shall always be able to reach out all the customers.
Billu – a moderate movie with a simple cast except Shahrukh Khan has not seen hysteria at the Box Office. Why? For me and many other people, it is that entry of Shahrukh and his dalliances with three heroines, promoted as they were. So, what happened?
a) It became a mass movie that converted into a multiplex movie
b) It was a multiplex movie all along but had tried to break into other markets too
I really have no problems with either marketing premise, but was the story or marketing true to its form. No!
Ideally, the movie was to have 3 – 4 nice songs from the heartland, like the location of the movie, based on new sounds, but heartland, with good and clear lyrics, not the Urdu symbolisms that fail to enthuse the normal paying people and that good cast to do some even more pithy lines of dark humour right through the movie.
But what we got is a Shahukh Khan starrer where he has pontificated about the goodness of our film industry. C’mon, people can see through all of this! So, Monday onwards the movie is taking a huge dip. At best, it will scrape through somehow and a thundering performance by Irrfan shall be consigned to the back pages of tabloids.
On the other hand, Dev D, a movie, that had an entirely different form, style, content and visual appeal has managed to stick through the last ten days quite merrily. The reason is very apparent. Kashyap and UTV focused on getting their customer right with the right story, the right pitch, the right music, hummable lyrics, easy to understand dialogues, everyday pronunciations and generally kept the vim and vigour flowing. Kashyap has gone on record saying that he bounced it off his mother too.
This is the hallmark of a good Producer, manufacturer or service provider. They keep it simple to make it easy for the customer to see some value in it. Thereby, a Brand is created and generates mindspace and heartspace.
Delhi 6 is on its way to become a huge trendsetting blockbuster.
Dev D has shown what a good small film can do.
Billu is where it is!!
The Best Startegy is still the best product, a great movie shall still result from a well told story and its accompaniments, other gimmicks can be kept back in the garage!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Indraneel, I just wrote something similar on the ‘myth’ of a target audience. Your artcile reminds me of mine. (http://passionforcinema.com/the-myth-of-the-target-audience)
Honest marketing will never go out of fashion and hopefully never fail too. I am keenly looking forward to Delhi 6 myself!!
Yes, Arati, our posts are similar. I wanted to give a preamble on Delhi 6’s imminent success.Heh!
@ Indraneel….
Thoughtful article. I think it also explains why a OSO works. But what intrigues me the most in my profession ( Media Consultant- work with a company whihc comes out with TRPs every week) is that a marketing blitz can easily sell a mediocre product much more than a craftily and meticulously prepared one. Like a Delhi6 will never outdo a Ghajini or a Singh is King.
The myth” A good product will sell itslef” has to be broken by all “Content-Driven” Creators.
A marketing blitz only brings the customer close to a product, in this case the movie, but if the content lets you down, there is no way one can stop a bad WOM to ruin the chances of the whole strategy. SIK is a case where many distributors have complained that it is actually a flop because they have not got back ROI. Ghajini worked because of its novelty factor, Aamir in an action piece, and that is what Aamir promised, nothing more, if you notice carefully. He was true to character, always has been, never has gone with unearthly promises. Even, Mangal Pandey, his so called flop was not promoted through dubious means, he flogged the story and his get up!
Content any day is the king & so if that’s well made use in all promotional strategies, I see no reason why the movie shouldnt work.Regarding Billu while I wouldnt disagree with you, I need to point out that the movie has been made in a resonable budget & I think its been sold at a decent cost too.So that being the issue, almost everyone may just about make some money on it- but yes not its not a money spinner I agree.
@sethu: and don’t you agree that this movie could have been far better placed, structured and connected to its consumers.
Indraneel,
I am somewhere in between yours and Shreyansh’s viewpoints.
Delhi 6 might disappoint some audience if they are not expecting a film about communal harmony etc.With the trailers hogging the channels,it is very easy to believe that it could very well be a nice lovey-”dovey” story of an American born Indian falling in love with an Indian born Delhi girl.
Ghajini–yes,the trailers did not mislead the junta.They got what they were expecting.
Kuselan and BB failed for very same reasons–misleading the junta with its over-the-top “star” songs.Billu the barber took a backseat.
You are very right in nurturing relationships (your explanation was very right).How you would nurture a strong relationship with the customer (in this case..aam junta)..is by nurturing a strong relationship with the cast and crew,music etc.
Nice article…makes you think.But as i said,i agree with you completely….while Sreyansh is not off the mark either.
Nice read.
RR
@Indraneel- yes there’s always a scope for improvement
too bad that in case of a movie, its difficult to do something after it releases.
Nice read.. However predicting that Delhi-6 or for that matter any movie will be a success IMHO is not wise. That too without seeing the movie and purely speculating based on promos/trailers.
But I do hope the movie is good and it succeeds and also hope that your prediction comes true.
Indraneel,
Fantastic article. I was going to write something similar comparing Billu and Luck By Chance. Both have “Superstars” in supporting roles but look how each has marketed it. I had read the story of Billu long before I saw the trailers. Irrfan plays the title role for chrissakes and you could not even see him in the initial promos. That to me was indication enough that the producers are not sure they have a good film. Another example is Krazzy4 when they went all out with Hrithik and SRK dancing…leaving the true cast out of the picture. Same story in my opinion – meagre content so have people come into the theater at least for one weekend by showing them superstars.
Luck by Chance on the other hand, got it right(although whether it found any audience willing to accept it is another issue). The trailers esp. with the video of “Sapnon se bhare naina” was bang on to set the expectations for what to expect in the movie. But at least they did not give in to the temptation of promoting Hrithik’s circus dance video …at least in the beginning. Surprisingly (or not), after the movie opened weakly, the Hrithik video has been doing rounds like crazy on the tube.
The point is I don’t think SRK had it wrong. He is a great marketing guru…perhaps better at it than acting. I think he CHOSE to market it in the way he did because he knew the content is not going to get audiences to come watch the movie.
The basic plotline seems to be like NRI coming to India and discovering cultural inheritance.This trend of main protaganist as NRI started in Swades.I think that ROM hasn taken leap in the same genre with more romantic and cultural backdrop.The music of A R Rahman is brilliant and much better than Slumdog Millionaire.It reminds me of his capabilities as music composer of Dil se,Roja,Rang de basanti and Rangeela. Indraneel,Your preview was to the point.I liked it very much.
@RR..Thanks, and one does not have to agree always, heh!
@Shawshank..not prediction, but more marketing truths here!
@Himanshu..SRK may be a marketing guru, and as he says he is in the entertainment industry, maybe he knows better, but his brand of perception management does not enable the product to go a long way..remember Kaal..just for once, let him try and allow the actual product to do the talking, I am sure many people would love to see an honestly good story on screen, instead of the 31 star combo or the three heroine fix, or Minissha in bikini and such perception!!
SRK is getting onto a very dangerous track of “I know best”!!
@yayaver..no matter how we portray ourselves as a society some things would never change, our love for good music and its usage in films..its the easiest way out for a producer, insist on good nice music..works, always..and look, OLLO, Dev D, Delhi 6, even while doing very different stories have got the music bang on..so there’s hope yet!
If SRK did not come up with those item numbers for ‘Billu Barber’ no one would have come to watch this movie.Whatever little audience the film has is because of that.Inspite of being a superb actor Irfan Khan don’t have any capacity to attract audience.SRK has done whatever he can do,but sometimes inspite of best marketing also films fail at boxoffice
Hi Indrneel,
Good article.
The content and the music will create the buzz for the film automatically if it is good. Aggressive marrketing will only ensure good 1st weekend. Take the example of Ghajini and RNBDJ – Ghajini was promoted heavily and ensured good 1st 4 days and RNBDJ was not marketed aggresively due to mumbai attacks had very good 2 weeks (record 2nd week collections).
bahut funde khol rahe ho guru
Indraneelda, I watched Billu Barber last night and really liked it. It was really nice to see a rural milieu after a long time, that too such a pretty one. I don’t watch any promos or trailers and I don’t read anything about a movie as far as possible so that I can watch it with an unjaundiced mind.
)but aren’t coming to watch a genuine movie like Billu. Raja Sen’s rightly said that one should take the children to watch it.
So all I knew about Billu was the Krishna-Sudama angle and the hajam controversy. And I quite like it when I watched it. The opening credits were very nice to start with. Irrfan of course was superb. I even liked SRK’s speech at the end, although the item numbers were kind of jarring. I’m sick of seeing firangs wriggling in the background.
I’m really surprised as to why people flocked in droves to see an absurd movie like Rab Ne Paka Di Khopdi (hope no one at YRF reads this comment
I haven’t seen the promos, so could you please elaborate on why you think people aren’t coming to watch it.
@Indraneel: Delhi 6 is all over the place and I can gather the story because I read about films and follow articles on the Net. The problem I noticed, when I saw Delhi 6’s promo for the first time in the theatre with parents and friends who have no clue what it is about, they were not very excited. In fact, they found my excitement strange. They said “Story pata nahi chal rahi.. Kuch exciting nahi lag raha. Serious type hogi” All they know is that it has Masakalli and Abhishek Bachchan. I said “Its directed by they guy who made RDB! It has Prasoon’s lyrics, Rahman’s music, such a brilliant cast!” They just repeated “Exciting nahi lag rahi”. I could only be amazed.
You think Delhi 6 could have given the audience some more peek into the film? For me, I loved the promos and marketing. Maybe that’s also because I would have seen the film even if the promos whould have sucked. But for many others like my family and friends, maybe a hint on the story would have helped more. What they have shown, is probably not enough. Or exciting enough.
@sharath – I would like to turn this theory on its head, I would say that if SRK had taken strands out of the main story, cast and music, then marketed that with all earnestness like Aamir did with Jaane tu..maybe, this would have been much better!
@Rohit – Thanks, Yes, music does play a very big role..
@Arati- to me the peeks along with the songs are just enough, curiosity is an unknown quantity and how it is channeled differs..and that is why marketing calls this phenomenon teasers..
But the elements that are seen on TV/screen already are joint family, mata ki chowki, community disturbance, youth in love, family intrigue, etc. Great songs to back all this up. It is definitely interesting…
@kenny – my two bits, this is a mass movie, simple story, straight narration, simple name “Billu” and appeals to simple people..the people who would not pay Rs 250 for a ticket, simply because they cannot afford it always..its marketing should have taken single screens into consideration..not the glitzy three heroine prancing..
@ RAVI RAJU….. U r right when u say that promos of Delhi6 are telling something different.My dad said” its a love story between Hindu Gal and Muslim Boy”.which may.may not be true.
Thus there is need of specific TG marketing, for different startum of people.
An SRK,Aamir movie will def, get the openeingsl while a Rakeysh Mehra+AB movie, might not get such opening. They just cant rely on WOM to spread.
@Arthi- Delhi 6 is certainly missing the “Buzz”. i think,only “Cinema Educated” viewers are waiting anxiulsy for it. Its “thanda” for a layman.
@Indraneel- What about a different strategy to “Cinema Educated” and Layman?
@Indraneel
i find article very confusing and though i agree with conclusion, i don’t see why it should be conclusion of this article, just because of Billu, may it was market reaction for Priyadarshan and SRk for previous false performance, otherwise SRk starer earns good money only on the basis of hype and song.or may be it was recession. Why so low occupancy for Billu? as someone said it was wrongly positioned.
I mean Billu’s failure are not driving me to your conclusion.It might be true that people are turning content driven , that conclusion is not built in this article.
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Is good marketing strategy=more songs on more channels?
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I think one of the factors Succes of UTV is, the way they make and show Promos and Trailers , the old song strategy still there-but at the same time their trailers try to tell something. On the other hand Billu’s trailers were just songs. May be audience(this no PFC people ,comman man or intended TG) are now sensitive enough understand “good trailer s could be more reliable than ONLY ITEMS NUMBERS”
Same for Delli 6, just seeing promo it increase your interest in storyline.And now that could be a strategy
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i am sorry but there is no strategy in saying
“The Best Startegy is still the best product”
“Best product do well” is a fact.
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But one could say “best strategy could be to make promos that increase interest in best product and differentiates itself as very good content from other products. Also increasing chances that best product reaches its intended TG”
regarding Delhi 6, I believe the trailers are not misleading at all. its just that the promotion in India is based primarily on songs as it is supported by Music Rights owner company. I believe that Rakeysh Mehra is more confident of the film and is heavily depending on Word of mouth which even I am very sure is going to be really good according to my gut feeling. But the worst thing is its release timing. Last year Jodhaa Akbar was also released in similar time and got an underwhelming opening of 25 crore nett despite high expectations. I really hope Delhi 6 does better. It would have been much better if they pushed it to last week of MArch as after that time no big film is releasing and the exams are also over. I dont really expect a big opening but i am hoping it has a long run based on string content.
so is billus a failure at box office ?? any links for any source
Indraneel: What you are talking about is honest filmmaking..not successful marketing. And I really think that Delhi – 6 is going to suffer from unclear marketing. Mind you, the film may pick up late because I think it would be honest filmmaking..but the marketing is insufficient and the promotion of the product is confusing.
Dev D is a classic case of honest filmmaking and excellent marketing. Billu is a mediocre product and the promotions(it is not marketing; only promotions – hope you got the difference)were misleading.
In recent times, the film that had great marketing was Ghajini. You say 8 packs and everyone will know what film you are talking about. You have a Ghajini cut and everyone will know whose fan you are.
Hanuman was another product which was decent and the marketing was very good.
@shreyansh: audacious though it may sound, there are not too many examples of two marketing strategies. For a minute, lets move away from movies and see other content products like ads – Coke (Aamir ads), Surf (Lalitaji), Chlormint (humor)and others of its type have attempted to reach out to the whole junta without any prejudice, and did a good job of it. See the products, are they in any way absolute necessities in our life. We can do without any of these. But the interest and hunger for the product was built.
Similarly, if a movie teaser/ad/publicity campaign is to be done – it HAS GOT TO EXPRESS THE PRODUCT, in all senses and reach out to as many people as it can.
Remember Rangeela and how it generated interest through the music, Urmila and just flashes of Aamir (Aamir was a surprise, and worked very well). Could not Billu be promoted on similar lines?
@ Anand – I agree with you on the Ghajini front. You are right. But, with music being the pivot of Delhi 6, the essential is to get the music out ASAP and generate curiosity with the teasers and they are doing it quite well.
Heh – promotions is a marketing strategy too!!
Indraneel – nice article. Very insighful! I think distributors (both here in the US and in Bollywood) go with the new mantra of “get the suckers in the door on the opening weekend and recover your money”. Anything beyond that is a bonus
That would explain the over-prodcuced teasers, trailers and promos that don’t really convey what a movie is all about but creates enough buzz to drag us into the doors on the opening weekend.
In case of Bollywood I would also add the news media nexus to the equation …jokers like Raja Sen, Taran Adarsh and the pack who give glorious reviews to duds. I know the audience is getting wiser and not falling for it as much as before.
Just out of curiousity – has anyone caught the premiere show of Delhi-6 at MoMA? Can’t find any reviews from that show. The only one I found on some World Cinema site appears to be some naive reporter smitten by the Bollywood buzz that Slumdog has generated ;)
But I just dont get one thing.Luck By Chance was promoted well,had a great content,all the stars,good great reviews…..still not earning enough money.Same thing happened with Lakhshya some years back.Has it got to do with the fact that LBC did not have good music?In hindi films music does help to get repeat audience.
@Anindya: LBC had 2 problems- it’s beginning was slow and the jokes were too industry specific so unless you follow bollywood everyday you will not get it. So aam junta did not relate to it! That’s all…otherwise it was a good film not great but just good. I am still surprised it flopped though!
Let’s see what happens with Delhi 6. I am hoping it will do well! There is a positive buzz in the internet about the movie and the songs are a rage all over!
one of the greatest advantages of delhi 6 is absence of any immediate competition. besides, iknow at least 3 big MNCs have booked their corporate shows in thefirst weekend itself. buzz is gr8, content looks mystifying, songs are a rage, sonam kapoor is all over the tv talking to rajeev masand, anupama chopra and the likes (talking the same thing everywhere, btw).
personally, i feel it wud b an honest but indulgent effort by ROM, and wud end up breaking-even at BO. i want to watch it more for the gr8 support star-cast that it boasts, rather than the lead pair (tame, IMO).
(btw, im a part of the corporate show this saturday eve.. )
I had loved the first part of LBC, and was somewhat bored by the second half of it. Yet, it is one of the greatest debuts, IMO. But I was amazed to find that all my other friends except for one, who have seen and loved LBC, liked the second half and could hardly relate to the first half…
The reason for this, I think, is that first half didn’t had a story while second half had. I liked the first half more, because I have been a movie fanatic since as far back as I can remember. I could relate to all the sequences of the first half and was able to appreciate the movie appreciation shown in the movie. While for most of my other friends its just a source of good time pass and entertainment. most of them like to watch a good story. And so for them, second half worked better and the first half was a bit tiresome.
Now comes the trickiest part.. How do you promote such a movie… I guess, its better to promote it keeping in mind the audience who are enamoured more by the story and care little for the storytelling. For audiences like me,you dont need to promote a film. You just need me to aware of its release.
@satyendra – good for you, enjoy and let s know here how was the experience!
@Azad – if it is a complicated story, you only take more time to promote, say start a little early and bit by bit explain the teasers to the paying public..maybe discussions with “in industry people”..do social takes..what happens to strugglers..anxiety..consciousness..etc..reveal but not enough..allow the songs to distill..spend that bit more to get much more..
In 1975, a radio promo came on, ameen sayani did it and it was about a disturbed introvert..good songs..a dying girl..a very helpless father..the promo used to keep twisting turning but never revealing the whole story at all..then, the movie released, very complicated but yet simple life..similar to LBC..it became a raging hit..the movie was Mili!!
It’s premature to predict ‘Delhi-6’s success. I don’t think the film is being marketed in any way. It’s just that the music has caught on and people are finding the promos very interesting. This will drive people to the theatres and the film will be a success if it doesn’t let them down too much. Where is the strategy? what are you talking about?
But your observations about Dev D are correct. Dev D indeed was positioned and marketed well.
As for Billu, it had a very boring premise and nothing in the promos looked interesting. All the promotion centered around Shahrukh giving ‘gyaan’ and his opinions on everything and everybody. TV channels played the ordinary songs shot on garish sets till people got nauseated. Who was going to go to theaters to watch those songs again. Tie ups with Javed Habib, Century Ply and Tupperware was an absolutly dumb and stupid move. After all, a poor product and wrongly focussed marketing can only spell disaster.
Dhulia- To a large extent I do agree with what you’ve mentioned about Delhi-6 & Dev D.As regards Billu I agree that there wasn’t anything path breaking in the marketing of the movie.But it looks like you’ve certainly not liked the movie & hence sounding so loudly against it.I mean
“TV channels played the ordinary songs shot on garish sets till people got nauseated. Who was going to go to theaters to watch those songs again”- its not like there was opinion poll on this right?
Sethumadhavan,
that’s my opinion. There hasn’t been a poll regarding anything expressed in this debate. These are our perceptions.
very interesting read know nothing of marketing thankyou for the gyan..eyeopener….but as a viewer who are the marketing targets we the suckers on behalf of us , wanted to say something.Every film is not a aamjunta film and cant be promoted thus is what is evident from billus state and delhi-6 again. unfortunately our country has a very strong audiance segregation ..multiplex and single screen..and whats more unfortunate is we try to satisfy all creating a false thirst and hunger when the wada pao eating finds cappichino in the content and coffee guy gets vada pao in the same film not in the marketing but in the narration itself where confusion begins. .sadly we have started fitting things because the tickets are 250..odd in some places.. the story telling is catering to marketing these days blindly and not the reverse , marketing should be customized to the film..we start telling a story in delhi 6 with full honesty and then remember the single screen and overdo in the simplicity..the only exception is DEV..d…i think the marketing gurus should tell the filmmaker you make your honest good film we will find the strategies to pull the crowd befitting the film…
Thank you Sutapa,you wrote:
i think the marketing gurus should tell the filmmaker you make your honest good film we will find the strategies to pull the crowd befitting the film…
and I absolutely believe in this..Dev D is in its 4th week plans, this is tremendous, an achievement in every which way..product comes first and then comes marketing..of course, a very complex film like D6 also manages to throw off marketers, but at least it is way better than SRK’s Billu work
The product is undoubtedly the most important part then comes the packaging/branding and marketing but it won’t be wise to say
a) If the product is good it will always sell
b) If the product is good no amount of marketing can help it.
Good Marketing is always beneficial and obviously if the product is good the scope of marketing gets increased and its easier to get more ROI. Given the fact that the fate of new film is decided more or less within the first three days of it’s release(FRI, SAT and SUN) it’s really important to market the films well and get a great opening. If people like the film, there will be an avalanche and if they don’t, chances are the film would have earned a significant bit of its investment cost in those three days(along with music and other rights)
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