With a new initiative, You Matter, Reliance MediaWorks’ Big Cinemas wants to turn its theatres into more-than-just-movies destination. The 30 million customers who walk in annually to watch movies on its 268 screen across 78 cities had little reason to view them any differently from other multiplex chains in their cities. Now, Big Cinemas hopes that the two surveys it has recently conducted will arm it with the right insights to differentiate itself more clearly. Reliance MediaWorks’ chief executive Anil Arjun says, “A movie’s distributor creates the destiny of the movie overall, but as exhibitors we have to create the destiny a film will have in a given neighbourhood. Through the drive called You Matter, we will become consumer-led rather than distributor-led.”
Big Cinemas Brand and Marketing Head Archana Jhangiani explains, “We realised that we had not made any efforts to understand the scores who walk into our theatres — a powerful source of information. The surveys that followed will help us tailor our products and campaigns to be more relevant to our customers. With the resulting customisation, Big Cinemas would move on from an informational to a conversational brand.”
To understand its audience better, Big Cinemas roped in market research agency IMRB for a six-month study of 40 catchments — localities which could include more than one of its 104 theatres and spanning 3-5 kilometres — to find out the neighourhood’s demographics, psychographics, entertainment and general consumption, share of wallet that cinema theatres command and even the company people prefer when watching movies in a theatre. In addition, it conducted dipstick surveys to gauge the local preferences for food and beverages and even its brand image compared to competition.
This is how it is tweaking the product. First, Big Cinemas will go beyond the usual popcorn, nacho and samosa fare and offer food items following local tastes. Its theatre in Jalandhar, for example, will host a kebab corner, while Metro Cinemas, its south Mumbai theatre, will offer salads apart from the usual fare. Arjun says, “The groups of four and more (families or friends) who would come in for the evening shows at Metro expressed a need for healthy, freshly-made and light food. Hence, freshly-baked pizzas and salads were introduced.” Such ‘Fresh’ counters would also be rolled out elsewhere and will include burgers as preferred by youngsters. While the scale might differ, other theatre chains such as Cinemax too offer more options such as crepes, waffles and chaats.
Next, it has worked on bundling offers according to the audience segment. “We are rolling out pricing slotted for the different audience groups who walk in at different times of the day,” points out Jhangiani. In areas with a strong student population the chain will have ‘Bargain Mornings’ which will offer food and beverage combos with tickets in the mornings, when students were observed to frequent the theatres. In areas dotted with call centres, Big Cinemas would stock up on breakfast options for the young crowd who troop in for a movie early in the morning before heading back home after a night’s work. Not ignoring the precocious consumption habit of kids, the chain has also introduced children meals and will soon organise children’s movie brunches on weekends at some of its theatres.
The bid to localise its theatres has also led the chain to choose the mix of regional cinema carefully. Jhangiani says, “In Mumbai localities such as Mulund and Chinchwada, Telugu films run very well because of the Telugu migrant population. We have rerun films in that language to plug the need when there are no new Telugu movies released in Mumbai.”
Arjun feels such efforts would also lead to more effective in-theatre promotions for other brands that advertise on-screen and off-screen. On its part, Big Cinemas will reach out to neighbourhood haunts such as coffee shops with fliers informing about show timings and offers to promote its You Matter campaign. Families would get to see them on their housing society’s notice boards. An improved website which allows user reviews apart from ticket bookings would further its interactive drive.
