The sophomore season of the Indian drama sprinkles its marketing strategy with global and on-ground initiatives, leveraging the build up that the 4-year wait created. Here's all you need to know.
The season two of Made in Heaven released on August 10 and there has been a considerable amount of buzz around it. The show is coming back after a hiatus of four years overcoming several obstacles like production delays, cancelled shoots, and lockdowns.
However, the marketing and promotions team dealt with this delay smartly and took the questions head-on.
Made in Heaven’s cast and production team kept the audience wanting for more, revealing the release date a few days before. But they said they can’t leave the audience disappointed now, after building anticipation. Ergo, the major part of Made in Heaven Season Two’s promotions involved taking to the streets and putting together the biggest Baarat (procession) ever.
Here’s how it all panned out.
Building Anticipation
The anticipation around the sophomore season began even before the trailer was released as creators Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti and their team started sharing clips from the previous season while also addressing the delay in the upcoming season.
A few other compilation videos were also posted on Prime’s YouTube channel involving clips from the previous season which also helped create buzz. The show has a seperate Instagram page too, which has gathered 27K followers.
On-Ground Marketing
To announce the release date, an extravagant promo was revealed at an on-ground event in Mumbai, New York City, and London’s iconic places.
Filmmaker Neha Lohia was hired as segment director to craft the New York segment of the promo. The segments involved the lead cast unveiling the poster for Season 2 in the grand Indian baraat style. The activation also saw a lot of Genda Phool, flowers that are commonly used in Indian weddings.
People gathered in large numbers to catch a glimpse of the same. Later on, a compilation video of the promos was put up on YouTube which garnered a lot of views and built momentum for the trailer.
With the expected glitz and glamour and Akhtar’s trademark grandeur, the trailer had something more to offer. The show is known for talking on issues like misogyny, sexism, homophobia, dowry, rich and poor divide, and endogamous marriages.
Cast Reveal
This season, apart from the two leads, Vijay Raaz, Jim Sarbh, Kalki Koechlin, Shashank Arora, and Shivani Raghuvanshi will be playing their memorable roles. Joining the cast are Mona Singh, Ishwak Singh, and Trineta Haldar. The big surprise came when names of the guest actors were revealed. The star studded list includes Mrunal Thakur, Radhika Apte, Dia Mirza, Sanjay Kapoor, Neelam Kothari, and Sarah Jane Dias.
Leading up to the release of the trailer, the cast started posting pictures, posters, and clips about the show on their Instagram handles.
Engaging With Viewers
To further engage with its fans, just two days before release of the show on Amazon Prime, the two leads – Sobhita Dhulipala and Arjun Mathur–posted a video on Instagram asking people to upload their favourite wedding photos on their feed using the Made in Heaven hashtag while tagging Prime Video, and waiting for something big.
Made In Heaven also used its dialogues and characters’ traits to make memes to connect with consumers with everyday situations.
Moment Marketing
Made in Heaven was doing the rounds on social media as celebrities as well as brands jumped in on the bandwagon and shared posts on social media.
Mad Over Donuts
Truly Madly
On-Ground Marketing
As part of the on-ground marketing, Prime Video decorated cars, buses, and boats with genda phool at the iconic Gateway of India.
Brand Collaborations
A promotion effort was done by collaborating with several popular brands such as Uber and Swiggy which displayed Made in Heaven's ads/posters on their platforms.
Media Rounds
The directors of the show Nitya Mehra, Alankrita Srivastava and Neeraj Ghaywan along with creators Zoya and Reema appeared in interviews on popular media channels like Film Companion and The Quint.
The show also has creators, writers, and directors all largely consisting of females–a rare feat.
As this event unfolds and the series goes behind the glitz, glamour and extravagance of big fat Indian weddings, let’s see if their marketing activities will lead to a fairy-tale ending.