 "Viacom18's teaser exercise for Gabbar is Back")
With this film, Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali reunite with action hero Akshay Kumar in the lead. Fighting for a cause, Gabbar – an aam aadmi himself – believes in standing up for what is right and is seen battling grassroots-level corruption in his unique, albeit brutal, manner.
Talking about the activation, Rudrarup Datta, vice president (Marketing) at Viacom18 Motion Pictures, said “The name Gabbar strikes the fear of the original Gabbar Singh and with this campaign, we have created witty hoardings, motion posters and other branding elements that warns one against corruption. The objective was to engage with the real janata at the grassroots level. As the film is an entertainer with a message, our campaign reflects the same.”
Driving synergies with the film, the marketing teaser campaign for 'Gabbar is Back' revolves around the aam aadmi and his problem with rampant corruption all around. Each branding element was customised for this campaign and integrated with the original dialogues for Gabbar Singh, the character of the villain in the cult action film 'Sholay'. For example, on a cup of team or a poster, the messaging reads "Chai Piyo, Chai Paani Nahi". Similarly, a poster in a pan stall reads "Rishwat Ka Chuna Khaaya, AB Goli Kha".
The Campaign Game
On-ground: The Gabbar poster was inserted in 50,000 lunchboxes with about 3500 dabbawalas sporting the Gabbar pneumonic T shirts. 10,000 Rickshaws across 21 cities, 370 buses covering Maharashtra, 15 hoardings across the Delhi Metro, 10 hoardings across the Mumbai Metro, 150 platform hoardings across Mumbai railway stations, 2 local trains with branding, one each on the Western and Central lines, 35 hoardings in petrol pumps across Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and 4,500 Meru cabs across four cities were branded with witty Gabbar creatives that warn against corruption. Moreover, 8 lakh branded Gabbar teacups were distributed with 14,000 danglers and 7,000 posters across 3,000 tea shops and 4,000 paan shops in 13 cities. Furthermore, Gabbar branded tags were stuck on LPG cylinders going to 100,000 households in Mumbai, while anti-piracy posters were installed in 2000 entertainment retail stores in three cities.
Print: Innovation ads in leading publications
Radio: A strategic tie up wherein the teaser posters were distributed at 500 teashops and paan stalls across 17 cities where their channel plays.
Digital: Reaching out to a vast fan base, the campaign has so far got 6,790 Facebook likes, 1,611 Twitter followers, and 10574 Instagram followers in a few days. Four different teaser trailers were launched on four leading film trade portals with exclusive tie-ups for each of the videos. The first teaser alone garnered over 5 lakh views on day 1.
The hashtag #GabbarTeaser trended on Twitter India for five hours, reaching 7.5 Mn+ users. The hashtag #GabbarIsBack reached out to 9.3 Mn+ users even before the launch of official properties. Memes that were both witty and topical were created and floated across social media and Whatsapp.
Gabbar is Back releases on May 1, 2015. Shruti Hassan, Sunil Grover and Suman Talwar essay pivotal roles in this movie along with a special guest appearance by Kareena Kapoor Khan.