How War movie marketing got people to pick sides in #HrithikvsTiger

Releasing this Gandhi Jayanti, War stars Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. War movie marketing strategy is centred on promoting them as opponents.

What happens when an agent has to put a gun to his mentor's face? It can be ascertained from the trailer that War is a movie about an agent who has gone rogue and the only person who can tackle him is his student. The exchange between Hrithik Roshan (mentor) and Tiger Shroff (mentee) is about these lessons and how to stay true to them. Every face-off in the narrative is a chance for viewers to pick teams and select between the two. This can be evidently seen in the War movie marketing strategy too.

Going personal

Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff both extensively used their personal profiles to create buzz for the movie and strengthen their teams. They replied (quote tweet feature) to various people who appreciated the trailer or their dance moves. This helped add a personal touch to the communication as well as increase its reach.

Contest alert

A contest was run by Yash Raj Films across social media platforms, encouraging people to answer simple questions and win merchandise. The questions asked were related to the movie with an aspect of nudging people to watch the trailer of the movie.

Multi-lingual approach

Cinema listing creatives have been extensively shared to ensure that people know about the spaces they can watch the movie at. One of the interesting aspects of the War movie marketing strategy was how they shared every official posted in Tamil and Telugu as well. They were effectively able to portray the scale of the movie's release in the country. It also added a layer of inclusivity to the mix.

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War dance moves

With both the male leads being known for being good dancers, a strong selling point of the movie is the visual treat that the songs have been portrayed as. Two songs, in particular, Jai Jai Shiv Shankar (where both the male leads dance their heart out in celebration) and Ghunghroo (a romantic number with the female lead played by Vaani Kapoor) were used extensively to create interest in the movie.

Television appearances

In order to promote War, Hrithik and Tiger went all out on prominent prime time reality shows like Nach Baliye and The Kapil Sharma Show. Here, there were two prominent themes — dance and entertainment. They participated in the shows, danced to the tunes of their upcoming movie, interacted with audiences and entertained viewers with comedy. The aspect of two teams reflected here as well and was well integrated with dance-offs.

Magazine covers

Going the traditional route, the lead actors of the movie featured on multiple magazine covers, something they took to social media to promote. The covers helped establish the lead pair as a desirable couple and the lead actor as one to watch out for. This not only added value to the movie as a brand but also their personal brands. The story pegs, of course, were direct promotions of the movie.

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