Best Marketing Gimmicks of 2011

BODYGUARD The makers of Bodyguard spared no expense to ensure a hat-trick of Salman Khan hits. The co-producer, Read More">Reliance Entertainment apparently lined up a marketing and print budget of around Rs. 22 crore. Bodyguard Contest The makers of Bodyguard came up with a contest wherein the participants would win a chance to be Kareena KapoorRead More

BODYGUARD

The makers of Bodyguard spared no expense to ensure a hat-trick of Salman Khan hits. The co-producer, Reliance Entertainment apparently lined up a marketing and print budget of around Rs. 22 crore.

Bodyguard Contest
The makers of Bodyguard came up with a contest wherein the participants would win a chance to be Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan's bodyguard for a day. The idea was to make people live the life of a bodyguard and know what it is like to protect a big Bollywood celebrity. The contest had people going berserk and the entries kept pouring in non-stop. In fact, in just one day, a whooping 2.5 lakh people from Kanpur applied to become Salman's bodyguard.

Trailer and Music launch by Shera
Salman, who is known for his kind gestures, asked his real life bodyguard Shera to unveil the trailer and launch the music of his film. Shera was very touched with this gesture. As he thanked Salman at the event he went on to say that he will take all bullets that come the way of Salman Khan if he has to. He also added that Salman is an amazing personality who can sacrifice anything for the people he loves.

Kareena felicitated B-town bodyguards
Salman Khan had to fly to America just four days before the release of his film as he for the treatment for his jaw pain, but his co-star Kareena Kapoor went ahead with the promotions. Just a day before the film's release, Kareena felicitated the bodyguards of big Bollywood stars like Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and others.

RA.ONE Touted as a savvy marketer, Shah Rukh Khan very well understands the need and power of marketing and when you are making Bollywood’s most expensive film, Read More">you have got to go all out with the promotions. Ra.One had possibly one of the longest marketing campaigns in the history of Bollywood movie marketing spanning overRead More

RA.ONE

Touted as a savvy marketer, Shah Rukh Khan very well understands the need and power of marketing and when you are making Bollywood's most expensive film, you have got to go all out with the promotions. Ra.One had possibly one of the longest marketing campaigns in the history of Bollywood movie marketing spanning over a period of approx 10 months with tie-ups worth Rs. 52 crores with over 30 brands. SRK's magnum opus Ra.One redefined the ways movies are being marketed in India.

First look unveiled during World Cup telecast
SRK gave Ra.One the best start ever by showcasing a 10 seconds teaser over 6 months before release during the first quarter finals of World Cup Cricket, 2011. The frequency of these teasers was at least once every hour ensuring that no one misses having a glimpse of 2011's most anticipated film.

Magnificant Audio launch
With over Rs. 10 crores being spent on its music launch, the audio launch of Ra.One was the grandest any film has ever had, with King of B-town in his superhero avatar landing on the stage from top and lifting a car like a superman. This is the first time ever that the entire audio launch was telecast on TV.

Merchandising
As far as Bollywood is concerned, we have not yet seen any film with such exclusive movie merchandise products. Ra.One is the first movie in India to come up with an all exclusive store having merchandise for the people to purchase. Products like piggy banks, pencil box, notebooks, sippers and lunchbox were sold as a part of this movie's promotional gimmick.

Video Games and Comics
While video games related to movies is a very popular concept in Hollywood, for the first time in Bollywood, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) along with Red Chillies released a Play Station 3 game for Ra.One featuring all the characters. Also, it was the first movie to come up with a comic series showcasing the characters and promoting the film. Even iPad and Android apps were available for Ra.One movie.

Online Marketing
YouTube launched the official customized 'Ra.One channel'(a first for an Indian film) of the film, where several song and theatrical promos were released to the public, along with videos of the film's making, events and uncut footage. There were also videos of Shah Rukh sharing his thoughts and views on Ra.One and more. While Ra.One's official Facebook page has more than 3 lakh likes page, the film also had a tie up Google+, Google's social networking platform.

Other Tie-ups
The other tie ups include kiddies favourite McDonald's where the Happy Meal included G.One toy action figures, Godrej Appliances 'G.ONE MEIN EK BAR OFFER', Horlicks Nerolac, Western Union Money Transfer, UTV Indiagames, Videocon, Nokia, Coke, ESPN Star Sports and Cinthol amongst others.

The aggressive marketing worked as Ra.One went on to break all box office opening records.

DELHI BELLY One witnessed how Aamir Khan’s marketing strategies are as unique as the man himself. The marketing magic of his earlier films were applied to his experimental film Delhi Belly too, Read More">a film that was rejected by may producers till Aamir khan decided to take it under his wings. Aamir Khan came up withRead More

DELHI BELLY

One witnessed how Aamir Khan's marketing strategies are as unique as the man himself. The marketing magic of his earlier films were applied to his experimental film Delhi Belly too, a film that was rejected by may producers till Aamir khan decided to take it under his wings.

Aamir Khan came up with the following unique marketing strategies:

D.K. Bose Success bash
One has to say that, Aamir made it possible by making the 'controversial' song Bhaag D.K. Bose a semi national anthem, courtesy its unique marketing strategies. For the first time ever a bash was held for the success of a super hit track.

Karaoke Jukebox
An interactive video channel on YouTube was created, wherein the movie makers had created a Karaoke Jukebox containing the film's songs. Users could select any of the eight different tracks and also read its lyrics on the jukebox.

Reverse Psychology
Telling people not to do a something is sometimes the best way to get the work done. Aamir used this reverse psychology by telling people who had reservation about the film's content not to watch the film, which made audiences further curious about the film and they went to watch the film.

Funky T-shirts
The hugely popular Delhi Belly tracks were incorporate in their funky T shirts promoted widely by the Delhi Belly trio.

They say that ‘If you can flirt with a Bollywood film’s marketing, then nothing can stop it from becoming a blockbuster’. Well, the year 2011 saw aggressive marketing of many Bollywood films. While a few paid rich dividends to its makers, Read More">others didn’t. Bollywood Hungama looks back in the year gone by and brings toRead More

They say that 'If you can flirt with a Bollywood film's marketing, then nothing can stop it from becoming a blockbuster'. Well, the year 2011 saw aggressive marketing of many Bollywood films. While a few paid rich dividends to its makers, others didn't. Bollywood Hungama looks back in the year gone by and brings to you a handful of films that was marketed in many creative and aggressive ways.

RAGINI MMS

In order to promote her supernatural theme based film Ragini MMS, the ever so dynamic Ekta Kapoor came up with the following unique marketing strategies:

Auto-rickshaw tie ups
She did a tie up with around 2500 auto-rickshaws in Mumbai, each of the rickshaws sporting a sticker "Ragini Ka MMS dekha kya?" Ekta reasoned it saying that since Ragini MMS was a solid product, different ways of marketing a film without splurging was important.

Blood stained beds
Being a paranormal film, a blood stained bed with the words "Ragini was here!" were placed at many multiplexes, which caught on like wild fire amongst the cine-goers.

'Punch The Pervert' Application
This was an application on Facebook, for which the status message read as 'Run for cover, perverts'. The application was intentionally released on the International Women's Day and was intended to hit out at all the pervert men through the networking site.

Midnight Premiere
Ekta took one bold step that nobody had ever even thought of, by planning a horror theme-based midnight premiere for her film.

With all this and more, this film went onto rake in the moolah for Ekta, who is rightly called as the Czarina of the silver screen. Take a bow, Ekta!

Read More">DON 2 The team of Excel left no stone unturned when it came to the marketing aspects of the film. Don says The “Don says…” one-liners posted weekly on YouTube became the new catchphrases. Catchy dialogues from the film like “Don Ke Dushman Ko Ye Baat Hamesha Yaad Rakhani Chaiye Ki Don Kabhi Kuchh NahiRead More

DON 2

The team of Excel left no stone unturned when it came to the marketing aspects of the film.

Don says
The "Don says..." one-liners posted weekly on YouTube became the new catchphrases. Catchy dialogues from the film like "Don Ke Dushman Ko Ye Baat Hamesha Yaad Rakhani Chaiye Ki Don Kabhi Kuchh Nahi Bhoolta..." became a rage with the audience. These dialogues were showcased at cinemas halls and even washrooms, thus trying to catch more eyeballs.

Comic fare
The comic book titled "Don: The Origin", was officially launched at Mumbai's first ever Comic Con Express, where the books were distributed to fans free of cost. The comic is on the origin of Don and fills in details on the making of Don, thus acting as a prequel to the sequel.

3D Invitation
Famous newspapers carried a front-page invitation from Farhan Akhtar for the 3D music premiere of the movie on Google +Hangout - with a pair of 3D glasses. The strategy was to attract audiences as the movie was released in 2D as well as 3D.

"Meet the Don 2: Mission Berlin" Contest
Microsoft India came up with "Meet the Don 2: Mission Berlin" Contest, a once in a lifetime opportunity to take a free trip to the beautiful, historic city of Berlin and also to meet SRK.

Don 2 Bobbleheads
SRK's became the first Bollywood star to have 'bobblehead' figurine of his character from Don 2.