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Akshay Kumar leaves no stone unturned in Pad Man's movie marketing

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Sarmistha Neogy
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Pad Man's movie marketing strategy

Social Samosa takes a detailed look at Pad Man's movie marketing strategy and how social media has helped the film to create noise.

Akshay Kumar is back with yet another social drama- PadMan which hit the screens today. Directed by R Balki, the film is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who revolutionized the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural India by creating the low-cost sanitary napkins machine.

Social Samosa takes a detailed look at PadMan's marketing strategy and how social media has helped the film to create noise.

PadMan Challenge

Pad Man took up the cut and tried ALS ice buck challenge format, nominated celebrities to pose with sanitary napkins who would further nominate 3 other people. Big names including Aamir khan, Anushka Sharma, Jacky Shroff, Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Anil Kapoor and others, have participated in the #PadmanChallenge.

Sportsmen staying true to their spirit have also taken up the challenge; people like Ravi Shastri, PV Sindhu and Geeta Phogat posed with sanitary napkins.

Media heads like Punit Goenka and Raj Nayak have also taken forward the challenge.

Criticism

While, this challenge has found support from all quarters, stand up comedians, Mallika Dua and Supriya Doshi criticized the marketing gimmick.

Supriya Joshi is of the opinion that the cast and crew of the film has been wasting sanitary napkins for a marketing gimmick. Mallika Dua too followed her suit and put up an Instagram story on similar lines.

Collaboration with content-platforms

The movie has tied up with online content platforms to deliver different stories revolving around periods. The objective of all the stories has been to initiate more conversation around the movie through burning societal issues faced by women.

BLUSH

Culture Machine’s digital channel ‘Blush’ along with ITC’s Vivel collaborated with the cast of Pad Man to create a video titled ‘#AbSamjhautaNahin - The Shopping List’. An eye opening, spoken word piece, listing alternatives to sanitary pads that women in most parts of the country resort to during periods.

The video concludes with the lead actors requesting viewers to donate a minimum of Rs. 400 to The Vatsalya Foundation in order to facilitate a year-round availability of sanitary pads to women in various parts of the country.

Miss Malini

Miss Malini and the team of PAD MAN got together to make their video 'If your Period was a person'. The video has till now garnered 1.1. million views on YouTube.

Bollywood Life

In this collaboration with Bollywood Life, Akshay Kumar breaks the 'period' mindset that most of the mothers have when their daughters are chumming.

Being Indian

Being Indian in association with Padman did a social experiment to find the awkwardness which men experience and the shame associated when they see a pad.

Peeping Moon

PeepingMoon.com presented #BleedingRani - a poem on menstruation in India, featuring Pad Man Akshay Kumar and YouTube star Aranya Johar.

Other promotional activities

Some of the other promotional activities also include the PADMAN team holding an auction of the cycle used by Akshay Kumar in the film, the amount to be given away to Laadli, an NGO that works towards the betterment of menstruation hygiene among several women. A panel discussion on the topic- 'Say no to Stigma and Taboos: Period' was also held.

It has also released comic books titled PADMAN meets Supandi, which is available at stores across the country.

From promoting the film at the Auto Expo to performing stunts at the Max Bupa's #WalkForHealth marathon and also taking the auto ride of Mumbai's first female driver, Akshay kumar has not left any stone unturned.

Also Read: Toilet Ek Prem Katha – a clean digital marketing strategy

Government's endorsement

Since the cause of the film is closely associated to what the Government works towards, Pad Man is also being endorsed by the different Government bodies in India.

Positive noise around the film

Other than taking part in the Pad Man Challenge, celebrities have also appreciated the movie and the whole idea behind it.

It will be really interesting to see, if all these marketing efforts taken by the team, can translate to good Box Office numbers.

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