Spider-Man 3 casts its web

MARKETING: As many as eight brands are spinning promotional campaigns around the movie.

Tobey Maguire might be spinning webs to save New York City from the evils of the world, but marketers in India are spinning webs around one of the most awaited movies of the year.

Percept Pictures, which is marketing Spider-Man 3 in the country, has roped in as many as eight brands for promotions around the movie.

Says Navin Shah, CEO, P9 Integrated, "This is probably the first time any Hollywood movie has got so many sponsors." Percept Pictures would be spending close to Rs 10 crore on marketing activities around the movie.

Brands such as Ceat, Baskin Robbins, HDFC Standard Life, Yamaha and travelguru.com are some of the brands that are doing promotions around the movie.

For instance, Baskin Robbins has launched limited edition ice cream called Spiderman flavours, which will have extra cream in the form of a web. HDFC has launched a campaign depicting security and protection, something it says is associated with Spiderman.

Sony Ericsson, meanwhile, has launched four special edition handsets before the release of the movie. The handsets come loaded with features like Spiderman games, movie clips and wallpapers.

Says Sudhin Mathur, general manager, Sony Ericsson, India, "We are confident that these fun phones with customised Spider-Man 3 features will be a hit with customers."

Sony Ericsson was also associated with Spider-Man 2 and has done promotional activities around Hollywood movies such as Casino Royale and Star Wars.

PVR Cinemas, too, is planning a lot of activities around the movie's release. For instance, special Spiderman masks are being distributed among children going for the movie along with a goodies bag.

Says Gautam Datta, marketing head, PVR Cinemas, "It's a movie with huge fan following and deserves a special kind of buzz, and we are doing just that."

Rediff.com has launched a campaign which talks about unlimited storage just like the unlimited webs that Spiderman can spin. But not much has been seen on the kind of promotions that have been happening.

Shah explains, "It is because the real buzz will start during the first weekend as there aren't any big releases planned for the next three weeks and we hope that people would be flocking to see the movie." Spidey might not have the legendary fan following of James Bond, but there are enough fans and marketers looking to enhance that base!