Market Strategy-Impact of the Evolution of Marketing - Movies in India-Literature Review Writing Assessment Answer

Market Strategy-Impact of the Evolution of Marketing - Movies in India-Literature Review Writing -Assessment Answer 

Task:

How has the evolution of technology impacted the marketing of movies?

Indians are known to be extremely passionate about two things - cricket and films. It is natural for any Indian to look up to a film star or a cricket player and idolize them (Venkatesh and Swamy,1994). The Hindi film industry, popularly known as Bollywood, is currently worth more than USD $640 million and also comprises of the world’s largest ticket market with over 3.3 billion tickets being sold every year (Thakkar, 2018). From content-driven cinema to commercial blockbusters, Bollywood makes the most number of films in the world. Today, India is celebrated as one of the nations churning out more than a thousand big-budget productions a year, out of which more than 250 films are of Hindi language. Bollywood has gone through a significant transformation while compared to Hollywood, in terms of being recognized as a formal industry, corporatization, professionalized management and increased emphasis on promotion and marketing to attract audiences (Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, 2018). For an industry having an annual income of over $961 million, spending a substantial amount on marketing was not common (Forbes 2007) until recently, when the trends started to change. The entertainment industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy. Having said that, Bollywood employs over six million people (Deloitte, 2016). According to a PwC report in 2009, the domestic box office revenue is accounted for Rs. 81.2 billion and overseas collection is Rs.10 billion. Based on reports by FICCI Frames and KPMG (2009), Indian film industry was estimated to touch Rs. 168 billion by 2013. The budgets for marketing a film have grown from 6% of the production budget to about a global average of 15% (Garden and Awards, 2018). Further, marketing costs of films have risen from 15-20% in 2010, to 30-50% in the present (Deloitte, 2016). This report also states that the costs have been controlled by the production houses by adopting efficient marketing strategies like digital marketing. Philip Kotler defines marketing as “a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products and services of value with others” (Kotler and Keller, 2016). In the current era, movies are marketed in the form of promoting the songs, clippings, trailers, promotional tours, star interviews, audio launches and reality shows mostly on television and webcasts. This is done by providing the audience with exclusive film clips that show movie stars talking about their experience in filming a few scenes and how they were shot. In addition to this, TV and movie lovers are being exposed to ‘digital home entertainment’ because of which the number of people going to the cinemas has reduced (Mohr,2007)Therefore, traditional production houses have now started relying on advertising and digital media interaction to market movies. Movie marketing now has become very innovative and its presence can be found across the internet and it is only becoming more scientific in its approach. Most importantly, film stars have started getting involved in the marketing process which itself is a significant change (as cited in Dailyhunt, 2018). As established, marketing of the movie and its promotional process has evolved over time and has become one of the integral elements of the movie business. Thus, “film promotion has been now considered as important as actual making of the film” (Bhattacharya and Dasgupta, 2014). A lot of research has been done with respect to changing trends in marketing focusing on movies in the West. But, not a lot has been said about the Indian Film Industry.The purpose of this study is to understand and to shed light on how this growth has also led to the growth of the Indian movie industry. In addition to this, through this research, we will be understanding and exploring how this industry is shifting from traditional marketing methods to non-traditional ones. Although studies on the role of eWOM are mostly restricted to online reviews especially on blogs and communities, and not social networking platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, this study focuses on all social media platforms. It is an analysis on how the shift in the entire marketing process has influenced the audience engagement in the movie.

Research Questions:

1. How has the evolution of technology impacted the marketing of movies?
2. What role did marketing have in the growth of the movie business?
3. What new strategies is the movie industry adopting to promote their product?

Literature Review:

“Screenwriter William Goldman famously wrote that nobody knows any- thing about which movies will succeed” (Waldfogel, 2016). In today’s environment that is constantly prone to change, movies are struggling to remain profitable. Having said that, factors like piracy, digital threats, competition, overlapping movie campaigns, media fragmentation and audience saturation are driving the producers to increase their marketing budgets so that they are invested efficiently towards gathering the most audience on the opening weekend (Mohr, 2007). To survive in this fast and competitive film industry, one must understand the nuances connected to popularising the Bollywood movies and market them before they release, in a way where they achieve this. Marketing has always existed in the industry, but not in a way that it exists now. Irrespective of the content of the film, the way it has been marketed before the release brings in the audiences to the theatres, and therefore marketing ideas selling the film is responsible for the film’s initial success. It has slowly grown into one of the main things that have an impact on the movie’s performance at the box office.Thus , according to Chand (2009), the entertainment achieved through the ‘hype and hoopla’ created by film marketers goes down a long way in predicting the film’s success. Due to the short shelf life of a film in the market, it is important for them to compete in the minds of the viewers which makes marketing them an even more complex process. Each movie is unique because of its cast, storyline, movie etc., and its limited life span in the theatres (Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, 2018). They also differ in terms of the length of the movie and the use of songs and dance as a major component of the content (Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, 2018). The marketing of Indian cinema captures many features of the Bollywood film industry. Hand-painted billboards and wall paintings are one of the first forms through which cinema was advertised which slowly evolved to signboards, posters, music and radio, film magazines, television, public relations to now social media (Ciochetto 2013).India’s first full length movie Raja Harishchandra released in 1913. Its first publicity poster consisted of the venue and the time of the screening and it was the only way the movie was publicly marketed. Following this release, in the year 1931, Ardeshir Irani used the theatrical release poster of his movie Alam Ara and got it published in the local newspapers applying the catchphrase “all talking, singing, dancing” to establish the significance of the surfacing of sound system in Indian cinema (Bhattacharya and Dasgupta, 2014). They also analysed that the major hits of the 1950s used hand-printed posters which were mostly ‘Out of Home’ publicity like wallpapers and billboards. Over a period of time, there was a shift towards radio sector. They cited Kumar (2012) who said that currently there are 250-300 million radio users and the new trend that allows radio access through mobile phones has given radio a better position for film marketing. In the present scenario, radio contests, film star interviews, live coverage of premiere events, winning movie tickets and a chance to meet the actors etc. have become very popular. Airplay of the hit tracks of the movies and promoting the movie soundtrack is one of the most central promotional strategies. Fan clubs that have evolved around celebrities have also come into existence which plays a very important role in marketing a film. A lot of movies started entering the ‘100 Crore Club’ and this has become a benchmark figure which every movie wants to achieve mainly because of the hype and buzz created around this term. Aamir Khan’s ‘Ghajini’ tie-up with Van Heusen became a huge success and strengthened the promotion of the film. Apart from this, its presence was also found on TV, print, outdoor, Internet and mall, and cinema activation, making it India’s first 100 crore club member. The second member being 3 Idiots, the unique marketing idea included tour across seven cities in India to connect with people to generate curiosity about the film (Sharma, 2008).The big production houses are at the position they are at now only because they have been able to establish their forte through strong marketing channels. It is important for any growing production to demonstrate the difference between their movies through proper marketing techniques.(Chand 2009). Keeping in mind the perks of being active on social media platforms, production houses have “jumped onto the bandwagon by registering themselves on social media platforms simultaneously by creating brand pages” (Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, 2018). Because of the growth of the media today, marketing through traditional techniques has become immensely difficult. (Mohr,2007). While Mohr discusses the changing trends in marketing, he also points out that according to Court (2004, p. 2), consumers are becoming more selective about the kind of advertisements they watch and the ads they trust in. Most of them feel like they are “constantly bombarded with too much advertising” Hence, because of the increase in alternatives, the whole movie-going experience needs to be compelling to attract audiences.The number of internet users reached 174 million in 2012, about 25% of the size of TV viewers in the country, and was expected to reach over 60% of total TV viewers in 2017 (KPMG 2012). In India, 25% of internet surfing time constitutes social media and such a platform is hard to ignore for marketing. The current spend on digital marketing is more than INR 1.8 million, only on Facebook and YouTube (NDTV 2013). For example, Yash Chopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan trailer received 30,000 likes in the first week of its release on YouTube, breaking records worldwide. Additionally, it became the most shared Indian trailer ever, having been shared 429,400 times on social media (Pinkvilla, 2012). Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur utilized social media effectively to create attention. The sequel was marketed through a pseudo-election campaign that took place on Twitter. Similarly, a digital app was created for the movie Barfi on YouTube where people could make Ranbir Kapoor dance and smile. The app was completely viral and was hailed by the Google India team as the best online innovation done on YouTube.In their paper discussing about merchandising in motion pictures, authors Lubbers and Adams cite Charles Dixon who said that media organizations these days “make brands”. Referring to movies like Batman and Rugrats, Dixon mentions that these brands are exploited through “film, broadcast and cable TV, publishing, theme parks, music, internet and merchandising” (Business, 1998, p.57) He also cited Soter (1992) who said that because of this, Batman earned USD 251.1 million in its initial theatrical release and an additional USD 500 million from the sale of licensed products like t-shirts, mugs, soundtrack albums, etc. (Lubbers and Adams, 2004).Ghajini and 3 Idiots are benchmark examples of how social media platforms have been used. The makers of Ghajini launched an exclusive website followed by two other websites to create curiosity around the story of the movie. The movie’s Facebook page had also gone viral. Where as, with respect to 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan challenged people in the country to find him while he roamed in disguise. These movies went on to be the biggest record breakers in 2008 and 2009 respectively.(Filmfare, 2016)

In 2010, Salman Khan’s Dabangg broke the records of 3 Idiots to become the highest opening day collector and weekend grosser. They promoted the movie heavily through social media where Salman Khan personally interacted with his fans on Twitter through ‘Chulbul Pandey’’s profile which was created on the name of his character in the movie. This movie had a marketing budget of Rs. 12 crore, which is 40% of the movie’s total budget. (Bhattacharya and Dasgupta, 2014).

Ra One had the most elaborate marketing campaigns in the history of Indian cinema. For this, the actor Shahrukh Khan collaborated with Google AdWords to personally interact with his fans online. A social media live action game was also launched and was adapted to smart phones and tablets. A graphic novel was designed around the main character which was distributed to over 3.3 million homes. (Bhattacharya and Dasgupta, 2014) Movies like Golmaal 3, Ready, Singham, Bodyguard, Don 2, Chennai Express, Gulaab Gang, Kahaani, Barfi, Kick and Rowdy Rathore, to name a few, have had successful digital marketing campaigns.

Viral marketing is an internet driven strategy and it is popular because it captures the attention of the audiences because the message is “perceived as entertaining, fascinating, and/or newsworthy” (Mohr, 2007).Chandan Dasgupta discusses the way that social media has become a key player in the data set for determining people’s moods. In doing so, he has referenced Asur and Huberman (2010), according to whom, users browse information and opinions from these various sources that help them make informed decisions. Their sentiments are analysed through their social media activity. He also concluded that this kind of marketing bridges the gap between WOM and ideas. When people post their feedback online, especially on platforms that have become immensely popular for expressing opinions, access to that database, particularly for a movie studio, plays a large role in forecasting the performance of their upcoming film. This kind of research allows experts to arrive at significantly accurate predictions about the movie with the analysis of what information is readily available on the internet (Gaikar, Marakarkandy and Dasgupta, 2015).

That being said, social media has transformed the approach in promoting a product due to its nature and also allowing the consumers to freely influence each other’s opinions. Real-world performance can be indicated by social media through analysing the sentiments expressed on different mediums. After understanding how the film industry is adopting social networking technologies, Westland (2012), concluded that the digital marketing directed towards the release of a movie increases film revenues by 64%. This technique also expands the search activity to 48%. It has also been pointed out by Westland (2012) that “marginal increase of Internet social networking activity is predicted to result in a threefold increase in search intensity related to a film. The analysis shows that both budgets and the level of Internet search activity are important factors in the revenue generation of films, and Internet social networking campaigns lead to higher revenues.” Collecting such data will help strategise and modify future marketing plans. (Gaikar, Marakarkandy and Dasgupta, (2015), Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, (2018), Eliashberg et al., (2000)). In relation to that, the Markov Chain Model talks about how “at any point in time with respect to the movie under study, a consumer can be found in one of the following behavioural states: undecided, considerer, rejecter, positivespreader, negative spreader and inactive.” This model allows researches to take in consideration various WOM interactions among the population (Eliashberg et al., 2000). Although, marketing variables like movie theme acceptability, promotion strategy, distribution strategy and movie experience influence the transitions among the various stages in the model.“According to McKinsey & Co., and as reported by Renee Dye (2000), motion pictures and broadcasting are two categories that are highly driven by buzz.” (Mohr, 2007). While exchanging views about how movie studios develop an integrated social media strategy to drive box office sales, as cited in Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, Swami has said that “companies constantly adopt various social media platforms to access new consumers and engage the existing ones through implementing a variety of promotional strategies involving these platforms. Such promotional strategies are particularly important in the entertainment industry (e.g. movies) due to the experiential nature of these products, which requires value co-creation by the producer and the consumers”. However, contrary to popular belief, Yang et al., (2012) argue that when it comes to movies that appeal to a large group of audiences, marketing has to be done through various channels rather than just focusing on the attitude of the audiences. Keeping in mind the varied reactions of WOM from different people, considering just WOM is not advisable. Marketing managers will only be able to increase the rate of return by “finding the most relevant and effective WOM strategy specific to their products”. In addition to this, Dasgupta also argues that social media marketing has a substantial amount of limitations to it. While doing so, they cited Kanupriya who pointed out the frequency of fake reviews and paid likes. According to a report by Gartner, by 2014, 15% of the ratings were fake and paid. Facebook pages also lack official content and are not appealing to those who want to know the content of the movie. On the other hand, while analyzing text mining techniques, Chiang et.al pointed out that irrespective of the negative or positive comments, the frequency of discussion directly impacts the box office which proves that eWOM is an important marketing tool. Marketing campaigns are deliberately designed in a way where individuals are encouraged to pass on a message. According to Wilson (2000), these tactics “create the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence” (Mohr, 2007). Despite all the fake fan pages, negative tweets and posts, social networking platforms are the only ones that have the greatest level of audience engagement. Hence proving the fact that social media is a game-changer.

Methodology:

Having established the basis of a theoretical point of view of the thesis, a qualitative research approach is proposed for this study. This kind of research is often associated with phenomenology. In his book about qualitative research, Sharan cited Patton (2002) who said “by phenomenology Husserl (1913) meant the study of how people describe things and experience them through their senses. His most basic philosophical assumption was that we can know what we experience by attending to perceptions and meanings”. The data collected in a qualitative study includes feelings, vocal and facial expressions, and other behavior. Thus, the data consists of transcripts, notes from observations and a range of documents collected by the researcher. It is proposed to begin in the month of May and the interviews will contain questions pertaining to my understanding of the current scenario of the industry such as the following: “What major changes have you made to your marketing strategies to keep up with the recent times?” The goal of this thesis is to study the impact marketing has on the business of a movie and how evolution is technology has affected the way marketing is being practiced in the Indian film industry. Since box office success is related to people’s popular opinion, following these lines of thinking, semi-structured interviews will be the primary research approach. The case study approach is adapted for this research where I aim to target four different production houses belonging to the Indian film fraternity. I would like to do a side by side comparison of two movies from each studio, the marketing strategies they have adapted and the resulting box office numbers. The interviews are aimed at being open-ended, conversational, and semi-formal. The interviews are aimed at taking place via telephone or video conferencing platforms, namely Skype. Each interviewer will be given a consent form seeking their permission to transcribe and record their interview.

This Market Strategy Literature Review Writing Assessment has been solved by our experts at My Uni Paper. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our Experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.

Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turnitin file), an expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.