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Aamir, the canny masala marketer
As the reticent Aamir Khan blogs
about Lagaan's DVD release and taps
audiences for ideas for upcoming
productions, marketing of Bollywood
fare gets a new twist.
BY KSHITIJ BISEN
6 July , 2007
It came. We saw. It
conquered. It had to. Six years ago,
Lagaan had a quieter-than-is-the-norm
release in theaters across India. The
movie went on to become one of the
most successful films in Bollywood
history. When more and more fillum
producers are realizing the importance
being different,
Aamir Khan was perhaps the pioneer
already with Lagaan, seamlessly
selling a slightly less formulaic film
the non-formulaic way.
Lagaan: Clever Marketing
or Pure Cinematic Magic?
 Both.
If Lagaan owes its
success to anyone, it will mainly be
Aamir Khan. For he gave a new twist
to traditional marketing that is
employed by most film producers.
Lagaan's marketing went beyond the
packaging and started even before the
movie went into production. The good
thing is that the marketing is so
clever that it does not compromise on
the movie's creativity in any way. For
example, in-film advertising in
Aamir's movies is not executed in
obvious ways unlike, say, in Mahesh
Manjrekar's Viruddh where Sanjay Dutt
keeps eulogising about Elf at every
opportunity with close-up shots. Or
Amitabh Bachchan pointing out a Swift
in Bunty aur Babli, saying "Woh dekho
ORANGE Swift!"
Aamir is Coke's brand ambassador so
its only natural to have a Coke insert
in his movies. But the way he has
played it is extremely unobtrusive and
does not detract from the movie's
storytelling in any way. In Rang de
Basanti, it's only in the second hand
of the movie that Aamir is seen with a
Coke bottle and that too there is no
unnecessary mention of the product or
zoom-ins that breaks the rhythm of the
movie.
Rather than resort to obvious
shortcuts, Aamir has an indepth
formula for success, which is, to
start with, getting the best team
together in terms of screenplay, the
cast, the music, and direction. When
he picked up Lagaan's script from
Ashutosh Gowarikar, he knew he had a
winner in his hands.
Add to that the careful cast –
veterans from theater, an authentic
firangi cast, and a new comer Gracy
Singh, whose ‘unglam’ image suited the
role of a village girl to a tee. Aamir
hired maestro A. R. Rehman to do the
film’s music. Earthy, vernacular
flavour marked the soundtrack of the
movie. The songs were an instant hit,
and continued to rock the desi charts
for countless weeks. Rehman and
Prasoon Joshi are now an integral part
of any movie that Aamir makes.
Aamir Khan, as Bhuvan, worked
extensively on the character. As Aamir
reveals in his
blog, he had long discussions with
Mickey Contractor on how to potray
Bhuvan's innocence without
compromising on his strength. Mickeyy
suggested he curl his eye lashes to
add just the right amount of innocence
in his character. Aamir’s Bhuvan
became the ubiquitous messiah, modest
yet upright about his people’s rights.
Adapting marketing
strategies to movies
Aamir is probably the
first producer to try what FMCG
marketers do with their products
before launch: test marketing. It was
perhaps for the first time this
strategy was seriously adopted in
Bollywood for Lagaan. Aamir held
select previews of the movie with
people from different walks of life.
The final edit took into account
feedback from several group
discussions, and people’s reactions to
the movie.
The movie was to be released just
after the Gujarat Earthquakes when the
Indian economy was in the doldrums. At
such time, one could not afford a
flop. The movie promotions were kept
as low key as possible. This helped
the movie not raise expectations of
the audience, lest they be
disappointed
with the final product. That only
makes sense. The lesser the
expectations one has, the higher are
the chances of one finding something
above par. It worked for Lagaan, after
all.
Post-release, Aamir capitalised on
Lagaan's success with new promotions
like releasing comic books and
stationery based on Lagaan and its
characters.
Lagaan DVDs: The Sequel
to the Strategy
 Lagaan
on DVD has been long overdue. As Aamir
claims, the delay was because the
contract prohibited him from releasing
the DVD in India. The DVDs have been
available all over the world, however.
Again, for the first time in India, a
DVD release is preceded by measures to
test the waters. What better way to
get feedback than a
blog? Aamir is keen on getting
people’s reaction on how the DVD will
be received. Though the
blog has not been officially
announced, through clever seeding,
there seems to be good enough traffic
to begin with (Despite
his terrible grammar and spelling!).
Keeping the
blog private could ensure
manageable and representative
pre-product launch results.
Aamir discusses behind the scenes
happenings for Lagaan, and responds to
people’s comments on the
blog. This could help refresh
people’s memory of the movie, and also
usher in a bit of nostalgia. As we see
it, this is what a Rajnikant bullet
will achieve, if cut with a half-blade
in mid-air – hit two targets,
bulls-eye, simultaneously. With one
half-bullet, Aamir gets feedback on
DVD release, with the other half, he
markets the DVDs. But, will the same
non-formula work for Lagaan’s DVD
sales in India as well? It’s a matter
of time, and the evolution of the
Indian DVD buyer.
New marketing strategy:
Audience feedback for films in
production
Aamir is currently
producing the Hindi remake of Ghajini.
This time around, he is employing the
strategy of employing the equivalent
of dip stick surveys. In his
blog, Aamir asks his readers for
casting suggestions and gauges what
they feel about the remake and what
script changes would they like. Should
then ending remain the same or should
it be changed? Most of such posts in
his blog are flooded with user
comments with suggestions.
Other film-makers have blogs too but
they have not used it so judiciously.
In one stroke, Aamir has involved his
audience in the process of making the
movie ensuring their loyalty and
provided a first look of the movie at
zero cost. For the first time, users
get to see the making of the movie
before it is even made!
The Cola King
 Another
example of Aamir’s natural bent for
marketing (not connected with his role
as producer) shows through the Coca
Cola campaigns. At a time when Pepsi
was winning hands down capturing
markets in India, Aamir brought Coke
back into Indian homes. Playing
various characters, be it the
Mumbaiya small time bhai, the
Hyderabadi paan wala, the Haryane da
kissan, the UP ka collector sahib, the
Nepali sherpa, or the Bengali babu,
Aamir’s charm captivated people’s
hearts, and Coke regained its
declining market shares.
His various roles in the
Coke campaign brought a fresh new
perspective to Indian advertising. It
got more local, preferring to keep it
real to the milieu it was selling in.
It was no longer a taboo to portray a
typical Indian, less idealized, more
desi, and certainly more believable.
Bt what is interesting is that Aamir's
involvement went beyond just acting;
he was deeply involved with close
associate Prasoon Joshi in the
creatives and shaping the campaign.
Bollywood’s Marketing
Guru?
 Aamir
may or may not have read his Philip
Kotler, but he sure knows how to work
the Indian entertainment market.
Khan’s unconventional approach to his
career and his productions are proof
enough of the business acumen
Bollywood needs to convert its plots
and sub-sub-plots into money machines.
The days of press conferences and Page
3 parties with the hat ke
dropped in every sentence could
finally be numbered. Thanks to the
precedent set by Lagaan, and the
maverick at work – Aamir Khan.
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