Tomorrow, when Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor meet on a bridge on screen, insurance company Aegon Religare would silently wish the film audiences get the importance of life insurance.
A number of brands have tied up with the film Anjaana Anjaani, for co-branded promotion. While the brands hope to get mileage through the association, the producer would save a substantial sum of money, which would otherwise be spent on the film’s promotion. Home, office furniture and interior company Godrej Interio, Aegon Religare, and gojiyo.com have spent around Rs 4 crore in promoting their brands by associating with the film. None of these brands has been integrated in the film’s story and do not appear as brands in the film. “The film is about youngsters and the promotional activities and the brands wanted to tap the young audiences who would come out to watch the film,” said Pritie Jadhav, vice-president, branding and entertainment, P9 Integrated, the firm that did these outside film associations. Apart from these brands, DHL and Provogue have also tied up with the film for co-branded promotion.
Outside film associations are today being favoured over in-film placement, say experts. Unlike in-film placement, these brands do not feature in the film, but they use footage from the film to create TV commercials. They also do other on-ground activities for brand connect with customers.
While in-film branding has been in Bollywood for a long time, outside associations started growing only in the last five years.
Brand experts say though film-branding is not the main medium for marketing brands (just two-three per cent of the ad budget of most big brands), it is cost-effective and a bonus. For producers, it is a win-win, as it helps to reduce publicity budgets a minimum of 15 per cent. However, brand owners are also waking up to the risks of in-film branding and opting for outside associations. “The prospects of a brand getting visibility through in-film integration depends heavily on the fate of the film at the Box Office. It is a high-risk, high-return proposition. If a film does not do well, all efforts and investment go waste,” said Pradeep Pandey, VP, marketing, Aegon Religare.
It also makes sense money-wise, according to him. “If we had to do an in-film branding exercise, it would have cost us double of what we paid. In India, the quality of in-film placement is also not that great. It is safe to do co-branded promotion, as we get the stars we want for our ads at lower cost and the risk of visibility is also mitigated, since it does not depend on the success or failure of the film,” said Pandey.
Aegon Religare has done out-of-home publicity of the brand through the film in 40 cities and spent Rs 1.5 crore in the co-branded promotion. Godrej Interio launched an offer where buyers of furniture stood a chance to meet the stars of the film. Aegon Religare motivated its sales force by offering the sales target achievers an opportunity to meet with the lead pair of the film. The companies can air the co-branded TVCs for two months after the film’s release. Gojiyo.com has reached out to the younger generation in the virtual world, where people get to meet strangers (like the theme of Anjaana Anjaani) and then party in 3D characters in the virtual world.