As Prime Video brings back the third season of its sports drama, Inside Edge - we take a look at how the marketing strategy in place to revive the buzz around the first two seasons and garner eyeballs for the third one.
The Inside Edge series was kickstarted back in 2017 followed by the next season in 2019 that dealt with spot-fixing and doping scandals. As the sports drama on Prime Video gears up to release its new season, we take a look at Inside Edge Season 3 marketing strategy.
Created by Karan Anshuman and Directed by Kanishk Varma, the series is under the banner of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment. With a stellar star cast from the OTT world that includes Vivek Oberoi, Tanuj Virwani, Richa Chadha, Sayani Gupta, Aamir Bashir, Sapna Pabbi, amongst others, here’s navigating through its marketing game that follows a thematic approach around Cricket, Cricketing icons/veterans, memes, and more.
The primary hashtags used by the Inside Edge marketing team include - #InsideEdgeOnPrime, #InsideEdgeS3OnPrime, amongst others.
Announcement Post
The pandemic brought the entertainment industry to almost a standstill. Inside Edge Season 3 release was delayed owing to the challenges in the industry. Much to the fan’s relief, amidst all the rumors of the new season being scrapped, the makers soon released Inside Edge Season 3, 'Coming Soon' posters.
After rebuffing the rumors, the makers announced the release date of the much-hyped sports drama series.
Teasing The Trailer
In a bid to harp on the existing hype from the previous seasons, Inside Edge continued to create buzz through dialogue and meme posts before the Trailer launch. Leveraging popular trends and relatable dialogues from the previous season, the marketers attempted to build the foundation for the upcoming saga, in line with the audience's enthusiasm.
Soon, the trailer was launched post a slew of Trailer and Date announcement posts.
The trailer release was amplified through influencer reviews and reactions to the video, as part of Inside Edge Season 3 marketing strategy. Since a large part of the plot involves a life-like replication of the India-Pakistan match, audience from Pakistan have also reviewed the trailer for reach and engagement.
Character Re-Introductions
To revive the memories of the past seasons, the Inside Edge marketing strategy for season 3 released lead character re-introduction posts across the socioverse while introducing a few new characters to bring a twist to the tale. With a tagline for each of the characters, the brand launched a slew of such posts to recap and re-introduce the characters from the sports suspense and drama series.
Also read: Red Notice Marketing Strategy: How Netflix India’s localized campaign stirred up a hype
Collaboration With Legendary Cricketers
Prime Video has been robust with its OTT marketing game and as one of the first original series of Amazon Prime Video around cricket, the Inside Edge marketing has been no different. Keeping the pulse of the show intact, the Inside edge marketing strategy has often roped in Iconic/legendary cricketers to speak about the show while interacting with the lead actors in a fun manner.
While in the past, the series associated with Virender Sehwag for a Master Class, the new season witnessed Ravi Shastri replicating his quintessential commentary style at a press conference for the show. Prior to the release, the marketers put up hoardings of the show at vantage points in Mumbai
In a seemingly parody video with a fun take, the veteran from the cricket fraternity is seen speaking at length about Vayu Raghavan enacted by Tanuj Virwani, who is being appointed as the new Captain for the series. He explains how its an appropriate appointment and applauds the qualities of Vayu as an aggressive, confident, and sharp player.
“What I like is his energy with his teammates. He enjoyed another player’s performance when he was out there. And that’s one of the main qualities in a captain, you got to be able to take your team along with you”, he added.
In the end, Ravi Shastri switched to Marathi and Hindi while signing off with the statement that Vayu is a Mumbaikar and he is sure to deliver the results.
The Inside Edge collaboration with iconic cricketers as part of their marketing strategy seems to be done keeping in mind the relevance and theme of the show to continue buzzing amidst the other releases on Prime Video.
Recap Posts
Time and again, the makers released recap posts while aiming to revive the lead characters around the theme of the show in the minds of the viewers.
Additionally, as the Inside Edge makers had launched the announcement posts in June-July 2021, they had also released Instagram stories with each of the elements of the show - Rivalry, Energy, Cricket, Aggression, and Power under the acronym of 'RECAP' on their dedicated Instagram page for the show. These stories are showcased under the highlighted segment of the Inside Edge Instagram page.
Dialogue Snippets & Theme-based Posts
Bringing a sneak-peak from what’s in store for the upcoming series, the makers continued to build the hype with dialogue snippets capped with countdown posts around the theme of the show
Leveraging popular characters like Zarina Malik, the makers released relatable posts tapping on the pulse of the storyline as part of the Inside Edge S3 marketing strategy.
Trending & Memes
From interweaving the ‘Monday mood’ with the theme of the show to leveraging trending formats in line with the plot of the show, the makers utilized memes and other pop culture elements to engage the audiences for the Season 3 of the show.
To Sum It Up
Overall, the Inside Edge S3 adopted a thematic step-by-step approach for its marketing strategy. While the earlier seasons involved actors engaging in various marketing tactics such as lead characters pitted against each other to playing on-ground cricket for promotions, Inside Edge Season 3 adopted a more traditional approach with digital as the mainstay.