With movie halls shut down for almost three months now, even the prominent production houses in Bollywood are facing trouble as the production, launch, and promotion of their upcoming movies have come to a halt.
However, that was yesterday’s news! Social and digital are perfectly capable to replace the offline promotions, including press conferences, interviews, and launch events. Apart from the time, the industry would definitely be saving up a lot of money too!
Filmmakers have already accepted reality and have begun digitizing their films on entertainment platforms like Netflix, Hotstar, and Amazon Prime. This whole situation has made them capitalize on social media to a much greater extent for the promotions, especially popular social networking sites like Instagram and Twitter. Many popular trends are being used for promotions- Meme Advertising and Brand and Creator Collaborations. Movies are being promoted whilst creating awareness about some social issues like COVID-19.
Over the course of these past few months, we have seen some big names in the industry launching their movies this way. From Irrfan Khan’s ‘Angrezi Medium’, Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ to Anushka Sharma’s ‘Bulbbul’, all of them have made their debuts on digital platforms.
Joining the bandwagon is the much-awaited ‘Dil Bechara,’ starring late Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi.
Let’s have a look at how did these stars, who are otherwise used to aggressive offline promotions, did go about with the online platforms-
Gulabo Sitabo: A Tale Of Quirk and Satire
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Farrukh Jafar
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Set in present-day Lucknow (India), Gulabo Sitabo is a social satire about two impossibly peculiar human beings – Mirza Chunnan Nawab, who stays in a dilapidated mansion and one of the tenants, Baankey Rastogi. The mansion may have seen many dramas unfold over a century of its existence, but still has a final act left as the drama of battle of ownership unfolds, with a priceless lesson to teach.
Critical Appreciation by some prominent organizations
Anupama Chopra of Film Companion said that “The film takes its time setting up this world, which is both contained and timeless. The first hour moves at a measured pace. In this, Gulabo Sitabo is more like October than Piku. The humour is quieter.”
The Times of India gave it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying, “While the movie does well on many fronts and one of the highlights being the premise itself, the build-up consumes a fair share of the film, making it a tad draggy at the start”. The Times of India also praised the performances of all actors in the film.
Gulabo Sitabo: Social Media Marketing Strategies
The Cast/Producer of the movie took to their Instagram accounts, promoting the movie in a quirky style…
Ayushmann Khurana
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAK1m-jAk8h/
Amitabh Bachchan
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBntSjOhJBQ/
Apart from the Motion Logo, Trailer, and Teaser release on social media, the cast took advantage of the quirky dialog snippets in the film to promote the movie…
Attack Aajayega!
Ulti ginti shuru hogayi hai, Mirza ji! ⌛
3 Days To Go!
Catch #GiboSiboOnPrime on June 12 for its World Premiere, @PrimeVideoIN@SrBachchan @ShoojitSircar @ronnielahiri #SheelKumar #JuhiChaturvedi @filmsrisingsun @Kinoworksllp #VijayRaaz #SrishtiShrivastava #BijendraKala pic.twitter.com/IAE8tWnW2Y— Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) June 9, 2020
Song releases…
#GiboSiboOnPrime launched two singles with ‘Jootam Phenk’ and ‘Madari Ka Bandar’.
Not only the cast and the producer, but many social media influencers also promoted this satire through “contests” for their audience…
Viraj Ghelani- Who is the ‘Gulabo’ to your ‘Sitabo’?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-L95JHJDp/
Sharvi Yadav- Post your ‘Madari Ka Bandar’ cover
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGH6O0Abor/
Brand Partnerships
The movie saw some brand collaborations with a few select brands, followed by many promotional posts…
Godrej Security- Dedicate a love song to your ‘property papers’
We dedicate a lot of songs to our loved ones but have you ever dedicated a song to your property papers? Interesting right? Dedicate a "Love song " to your important property papers. The best answer wins Amazon gift vouchers. #Contest #GulaboSitabo pic.twitter.com/MSsMwa4Tbr
— Godrej Security (@godrejsecure) June 11, 2020
Content partnership with Terribly Tiny Tales
Sick burns and siblings are a truly priceless jodi!
And then there’s Mirza and Baankey in Gulabo Sitabo giving them serious competition. Releasing on June 12!Suchi Gandhi writes a #Collaboration [ 140 ] on #GiboSiboOnPrime@PrimeVideoIN pic.twitter.com/zCiqRu8EtR
— TTT (@terriblytiny) June 8, 2020
Gulabo Sitabo was actively promoted through ‘Memevertising’…
Gulabo Sitabo Vs Hera Pheri
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB2fTrYBz9Q/
Gulabo Sitabo X PUB G
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB2fFcKFBD2/
The movie was also used to send across social messages on social media…
Many social-for-good posts circulated on social media to deliver messages with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agdi barobar @DGPMaharashtra Police gharat surakshik, baher sadhya nahi #StayHome #StaySafe https://t.co/20z11Lpnep
— Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) May 26, 2020
Overall, the marketing strategies of Gulabo Sitabo can definitely be labeled as “commendable”. From big names in Bollywood, social media creators to popular meme pages, this movie was critically acclaimed as well as promoted by all. It is definitely the first movie we have come across, indulging in social media contests as well as brand collaborations to such a great extent.
The marketing tactics revolved around the witty and quirky dialogues, as well as the theme of the movie- the relationship between Gulabo and Sitabo.
If you haven’t watched the movie yet, you really are missing out on something.
So, fire up your device and get ready to watch this brilliant dramedy by Sir Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurana.
Image Source: Google Images
Cover picture source: Shoojit Sircar’s Instagram handle