BUSINESS MANTRAS FROM THE KHANS…

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Anoop Karumathil Melethil, Associate VP - Marketing, Maveric Systems sheds light on the various lessons that corporate marketing can learn from the marketing gurus of Bollywood.

BY ANOOP KARUMATHIL MELETHIL
Associate Vice President - Marketing, Maveric Systems

Movies have always been used as an effective marketing channel by a number of industries and institutions. The magic and lure of cinema not only helps in disseminating information, but also manages to influence behaviour, even buying patterns, with much success. Over the past few years, marketing has flourished under the helm of movie-makers who have used every trick up their sleeve to ensure success of a movie. While the long term prospects of the movie depends on fundamental aspects like storyline, direction, etc., the initial pull can definitely be attributed to marketing.
 

There are many lessons that corporate marketing can learn from the marketing gurus of Bollywood. Of particular mention are the tactics adopted by the three King Khans – Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh. Each of them seems to have a unique strategy in promoting their brand right and follows a different approach in showcasing it, right from living the brand and mapping the target audience to creating the right hype around a forthcoming movie. Here are some marketing lessons that the corporate world can learn from these three stars and implement based on the targets organizations want to achieve.
 

Map your target segment - Understanding the target segment enables an organization to align its services and sales outreach programmes effectively. Marketing initiatives need to focus on the characteristics that are critical to the segment. Salman Khan does this quite effectively. He appeals to the segment that is adventurous, young at heart and speaks out his mind with total transparency. Shah Rukh Khan focuses on movies that are backed by his romantic hero appeal, at times also experimenting with new threads. Focused research - Today, the lines separating competing products and services are very thin. It takes tremendous effort on the part of an organization to do thorough research and identify the differentiators that will set them apart from the crowd. Here, Aamir Khan offers great guidance.
 

His movies appeal to a wide audience and are set apart by research and commitment to keep the movie in line with target audience expectations. The frequency of movie releases are lower in this model, however, the image for being a thought leader and innovative movie creator surpasses all, making the transition from “run-of-the-mill” to “niche”.
 

Building the right hype – Increasingly, stars are seen trying to ensure that there is enough noise around the movie before launch. Guest appearances on popular TV shows, movie-centric merchandising and games are now commonplace. Some actors resort to innovative techniques or channels to build the hype – Aamir Khan going around disguised prior to release of 3 Idiots, Shah Rukh Khan releasing the Happy New Year movie trailer on WhatsApp… Rather than taking the traditional, allout marketing route, there are times when Aamir creates suspense over the movie – be it sporting a black hat prior to Dhoom 3 or continuing with the hair and tattoo look for Ghajini. What corporate marketing can learn from these is the use of optimal outreach mechanisms – choosing ones that create more impact rather than going ahead with a large number of initiatives.
 

Last, but the most important: Be a story-teller - In the corporate world, our concentration is so tuned towards delivering numbers and metrics that we often discount the importance of entertaining our audience. Be it a client or an employee, weave information into a plot that is relatable and hence, offers immediate connectivity. Train your senior executives to become story-tellers; CSR execs could go the Aamir way in communicating about their initiatives and getting interested people involved. Branding teams could try the Shah Rukh experience in “walking the talk” by top executives.
 

But whatever be the marketing tactic adopted, thorough understanding of the target audience, ways and channels to influence them, and executing initiatives that create maximum impact based on the previous two factors are critical in ensuring success of any outreach programme. The movie industry’s best practices can indeed provide the right push for marketing initiatives across other sectors.
 

@ FEEDBACK
anoopk@maveric-systems.com
 

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