(Im+Ka) ran

Last time we hugged each other was Oct 2009. I've known him from the time we don’t know anything. We only just started hanging out from school, college, tuitions, Nakka, Urjanagar Bridge, Gandhi Chowk, Abids, and it went on like that. Last thing he asked from me was my passport size photo so that he can see the face regularly which he was seeing from last 18 years.

     In school, making friends was very easy. At that time we never care who the other person is, we just talk and became friends. You never knew that the person who is sitting next to you will become your best friend. The Same happened to me also. I was lucky that that we shared long time from school to Engineering and now also. And from what I remember, the first conversation we had was , where your Home is? He told me that he use to live somewhere in Ramnagar. And every time I use to go through Ramnagar with mom-dad I use to peep outside the car window thinking that it’s the place where my class friend lives and still now whenever I am in Ramnagar I think that this is the place of my best friend Imran.

            We are friend from the days we didn't know the actual meaning of friendship. I am not sure but Imran says that we are friends from Class 2. Between all these years his name changed many times Goa, Pathan, Refugee, Bakar and finally Immi. Every name has its respective incident. It was always a kind of confusion that we both were very different personality but shared many common attributes. Our names are having some sort of logical relation. Both of us have 5 letters in their names and 6 in their surname. Even our dad names are of 4 letters.  Our scores in examination were somewhat same as we use to seat next to each other in examination hall :P . Because of this we use to fail in same subjects this is the real friendship or height of copying. But we never lose our hope, after every result we make a commitment ‘bahut gaya is bar seriously padenge‘and we never took it seriously.

           I knew his interest but never thought of his likes and dislikes until a senior girl, in school, approached me for Imran. She asked me what Imran likes, what type of girl he likes, cute, sexy,??? In which type of dress he likes to see girl, bla bla bla….     If I would have directly asked him directly all these stupid questions he would definitely break our friendship there only. So I asked him indirectly and got the answer which no girl want to listen. Our interest were common , watching movies, making fun of friends, game lenna, TAAPING girls, commenting on their dresses, naming them, bunking the classes, organizing, etc. Beyond this we always fallowed Salman Khan and use to fight with everyone ki our Salman Bhai is the best.

    We created many termlogy which can only be understood between our groups.   In Junior college we created a very scientific unit called Tapping frequency. Behind every creation there’s a need and we did the same. Situation was very critical and confusing. There was good looking girl who use to look at both of us. Because of her we use to attend whole interval rather going to canteen or home. We were not sure whom she like or prefer more to see. So we started calculating her tapping freq. which means at what interval of time she look at us. Competition was really close Imran score was 1look/4sec and mine was 1look/3sec. But it was no use, we chu**** people were only calculating observation and our junior college ended. Imran missed many golden opportunities in life and am sure now he uses to regret these living in his African Country Mozambique . 

Many girls approached me for Imran. But he never gives damn to anyone. His perception was different if a girl approaches you she’s not good (because of Pathan incident in school). In engineering a beautiful girl was trying for Imran. I made her to talk with Imran but result was same with new reason “Shukla, potiyon ke chakkar me nahi jaana, padhai toh jaegi hi jaegi dost bhi nahi rahenge. Apan apne potto ke saath khush haina  ladkiyon ki kya jarurat”. He was not aware of that the lines he said were the best and every guy should follow it.  Because of this attitude he was always with us in every situation of life. He never cares what he’s losing but was only concern what he’s gaining for his friends. If I look back my whole life, Imran was always with me standing in queue for filling re-examination form or standing outside the class as a punishment. But whenever we were together we use to enjoy a lot. I still surprise why we use to talk a lot; even we can leave girls behind. During class before sitting together in same bench, he always says “saale aaj apan phir saath me baith rahe dekhna kuch na kuch honga”. Many times it happens because we have many things to talk about from girls to family, lecturer to politician, Chanda to Canada, gossip to fictional etc. World was too short for our talk. There are many thing which reminds me of Imran, sodawala before Jayant, Urjanagar bridge, bad PJs. Now I start liking songs of Himesh  because we laughed a lot after hearing it and also the movie Vivaah, where we were only one in theatre who were continuously laughing  on each and every dialogue (ex. Aap jal lenge?) and songs (Muze hakk hai).

               

Either I was right or wrong all these years, he supported me like a brother. That’s the reason God have not blessed me with brother because he knew Imran is there to do that part. Miss you Immi comeback soon.

Dabangg Strategies

         The campaign has been, for the most part, are traditional elements of a movie marketing push. Arbaaz traveled whole country to promote his new movie Dabangg with its star cast. Dabangg was home production film of Salman Khan and the producer was Arbaaz Khan. He knows it very well that marketing a big product like a movie can be very expensive business, when the product has limited shield life. After spending crore of money on making a movie, the Production House spends more on letting audiences know about it. Movies have to be a hit on their opening weekend, often on their opening day, otherwise they tend to disappear very quickly, and the Producer stands to make a loss on their investment.

        It's very rare these days to not have a movie hit the theatres without a web site promoting it. In the last few years, web sites have increasingly become part of the marketing mix for movie companies. From the official release of the First Trailer of Movie, producers make use of video uploading sites like YouTube as source of Viral Marketing. But this movie was made for mass people and to make it a big hit they have to come up with new strategies.

               Arbaaz adopted a new marketing strategy for Dabangg. He believes that his film can do business for more than Rs. 200 Crore if that film released in non-multiplex theatre for mass people. The ticket price in multiplex hall is more than Rs. 300 which is very high for a common man. So, common people watch movie by pirated CD/DVD which comes in Rs. 10-20. But if a new film is available in theatre for Rs. 20, 30, 40, 50 then any common man will like to watch film in theatre. So, movie was released across 1,584 single screen theatres for common people. This strategy worked against the piracy also, as tickets were cheaper, and number of people came to watch the movie.

          The story of movie was related with the states of UP, Bihar and hence it was necessary to tap the market of these states. Although Mumbai, Delhi were dominating areas for getting box-office collection but now-a-days North Indian movie market was also rising. Hence, promotion of the movie was done in local channels like Mahuaa. Even adding Item song Munni Badnam was a strategy to gain attention of people of these states.

             As film is an experience for audience hence it need to be clearly identifiable in its marketing — genre, stars, story, special effects, style all need to be presented to the audience so they can select the film on the basis of content. Stars are important ingredients of movie and Indian audience rush to theatre to get the glance of their star. Stars may also be considered brands, particularly if they are associated with only one type of movie. Audiences feel comfortable going to see Salman doing action and romancing with their Heroines. Brand loyalty plays the important role in success of the movie. Salman Khan has the career of 20 great years in Bollywood and from his first movie he was having big fan-following especially in small town areas.

          A film has to have the right release date –diwali, dushera,X-mas etc. and looking for Eid holiday it was released on that day only. Its release date was also depended on what else is being released at the same time. It would be pointless releasing any big action adventure movie the same weekend as another one simply because cinema goers would choose between it and the competition.

            Post-release promotion plays significant role in the success of the movie. Word-of-mouth has always been a factor in a movie's success or favour, but in today's socially networked world, it has become vitally important. Because of big fan-base of Salman Khan, People tweet, post status updates and blog reviews as soon as they leave the theatre, and their reactions spread globally and instantly. Hence in India, the film opened to an overwhelming response at the box office and packed cinema halls with single screens reporting 100% occupancy, while multiplexes reported 80-100% occupancy and the movie became the biggest hit of the year 2010.

Ques.      1. Discuss the 4 Ps used in marketing of the movie?

                2. Differentiate marketing strategy of Dhobi-Ghat and Dabangg? 

Marketing in Politics

                            Raj standing at the Gallery of his House, Krishnakunj, viewing the Mumbai city and was recollecting all the work he has done to accomplish his Uncle’s political dream. He was waiting for his friend Prakash Kadamkar, IIM-A graduate to discuss Marketing Strategies for his upcoming Party. Raj was Youth Icon for this uncle’s political party Shiv Sena. He was aiming himself to be next Face of Shiv Sena but Uddhav got that place. In front of his gate his servant was taking out big Shiv Sena poster of him and his Iconic uncle Balasaheb Thackarey.

               Intensifying the rays of hope, Prakash Kadamkar enters the house. From early days Raj knew the importance of marketing in politics and used to consult him about Sena’s activity. Raj asked him what should be his future strategies for making himself as new Brand in Maharashtra Politics. Prakash came up with the presentation describing his research and its conclusion. As per his research, from last three Legislative elections around 60% of voting was done. Out of that, 40% votes were casted for Shiv Sena. If Party is able to get at-least 10%, it can give tough to 100 assembly seats throughout the state. But for reaching desired amount Party should consider Muslim Vote Bank of Maharashtra which constitutes 8-9 % of population. Raj leaned toward him and gives him the smile. Now Raj has to position himself distinct from his Uncle who was known as Hindu Mascot.

                Raj Thackarey analysed the untapped market of Shiv Sena and made his new Party Flag consisting of Saffron, Green and Blue colour. Saffron showing Shivaji Maharaj’s Grace, Green signifying agricultural prosperity and Blue for peace & harmony. These colours can be perceived in different way also. His new Party Maharashtra Nirman Sena was segmenting Marathis and was targeting youth segment. People love to see next generation of Thackarey’s legacy, this was seen by the crowd gathered to see him. Brand Thackarey was beneficial to him but was also acting in negative way. Both the Thakareys were concern about Marathi Manoos and were limited till Maharashtra only. To be distinctive he started commenting about his cousin Uddhav and other party member of Sena. He was positioning himself as Youth Marathi Leader. That’s why he never dressed like his Uncle, who use to wear saffron dress and Rudrasksha mala, but he prefer to styled himself as common man of Maharashtra. To reach the youth, his speeches consist of Hassi ka tadka and famous Hindi film’s dialogues. He was not unaware of Viral Power of internet. He built his Party site and made several pages of his party in Social Networking sites. To remain distinctive in Maharashtra politics, he adopted local Marathi Language as way of communication. To get the heart share of Marathi people he started discussing Marathi Culture in his Rallies. For winning the heart of youth, he made Youth Leaders as MNS District Heads.

                          All this strategies were working for him but then also he was not getting that much recognition which he was expecting. Maharashtra Legislative Election was going to be held within 18 months. He was tensed and was finding the ways to get the Limelight on him. He switched ON the TV set and he saw Superstar Amitabh Bachchan giving speech in Hindi for his new Girls School in Allahbad. Raj smiled and he decided his next move which will promote him Nationwide.