Success of a movie depends on its marketing

Today, promotion of a product is not limited to only advertising (as many would think so) through the interactive medium, but it is the whole marketing strategy that is actually making a lot of difference in the end.

In the modern day world of motion pictures, audience is the most erratic part of the whole chain. Since, with varying human moods fused with rapidly changing business modalities, it becomes quite a challenge to convince the audience as a whole unit through a piece of moving pictures. This is the chief reason why the frequency of flops has gone up significantly in recent times. Honestly speaking, this could well be labelled as a resurgence of the Indian film industry, all over again. To make the matters more competitive for the film makers, suddenly from nowhere a huge chunk of audience has now got very cautious relating to their selection of film. This is the prime reason why in only a span of last eight to ten years, Indian Film industry has churned out some excellent masterpieces in the world of motion pictures. Latest movies like 'Kaante', 'Black', 'Zinda', 'Lagaan', ' Taare Zameen Par' and many more clearly reflects that today's Indian movie makers are open to all kinds of issues and are willing to experiment with the new and out-of-the box ideas. But the question arises then why it is only the likes of 'YashRaj Films', 'Dharma Productions', always manage to steal the show from the more potentially-rich candidates??

The answer lies in their excitingly packaged but marketing strategy. Yes, film making is no longer a creative domain but has subtly metamorphosed into more of a business venture, where despite the stakes being high, scores of people come and try themselves out. Obviously, the very word 'marketing' now means a lot to the film makers and especially to the production houses. Remember, RajShri Banner's 'Vivah' starring Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Arora. A one of kind film in its own way, 'Vivah' set the cash registers ringing for the man 'Sooraj Barjatya', who despite having made the likes of 'maine pyar kiya' and 'Hum aapke hain Kaun?' was facing a tough time to gain the foothold in the constantly changing film industry until 'Vivah' saw him home. But 'Vivah' would not have struck gold, if it would have gone the stereo-typed way of promotion. The chief credit of this hit goes to the marketing strategy team of 'Vivah' which took the channel of Online portals to promote their films. An entirely unique initiative in this direction, 'Vivah' got over-the-moon response from its Online audience (where it was released simultaneously) which constituted a significant part of its total audience.

'Tashan' too was a similar attempt but only with a hint of difference. With a heavy ensemble cast, 'Tashan' managed to built-up hype, earning itself the dubious title of 'most awaited film of the year 2008'. YashRaj Banner's marketing strategists were quick to recognize this change and there by entered into numerous alliances with several websites by launching exclusive promos, trailers for its global audience. The result, well, by the time film released, 'Tashan' had already managed to recover a lot of investment.

But is a good marketing strategy enough to bring such a huge impact? Absolutely not, 'Vivah' ruled the hearts owing to its final product while even aggressive marketing strategy was not able to turn the tables for 'Tashan', which was panned, both by critics and audience. But a contrast of opinion can be cited, as it was only the awesome marketing strategy that saved 'YashRaj' banner from hitting the nadir to a large extent. Features like 'buy movies Online' and 'earn a chance to win a date with your favourite stars' might work as a promotional strategy but ultimately it is the product that makes the actual difference.