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This case study explores how the Gadar 2 marketing strategy, executed by the agency White Rivers Media, helped revive the old movie appeal, increase awareness, engage with the target audience, drive more sales, and generate demand to create a lasting impression to ensure the film's success.
Category Introduction
The value of the film industry in India in the financial year 2020 was about ₹183 billion. This was expected to be more than half the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimates for fiscal year 2022, however, showed a growth of 196 percent.
Brand Introduction
Zee Studios is an Indian entertainment company that specialises in film, streaming and television content development and production, as well as film marketing and distribution.
Brief
Zee Studios was set to launch one of the highly anticipated films of this year- Gadar 2, which was returning to the big screen after more than two decades. The brand needed to create a big buzz around the new launch to revive the old brand, increase awareness, engage with the target audience, drive more sales, and generate demand to create a lasting impression to ensure the movie's success.
Objectives
● The primary objective was to create excitement for the movie through a multi-dimensional strategy by blending digital content and captivating on-ground activities. The approach aimed to revive nostalgia from 22 years ago and spark excitement, driving anticipation for 'Gadar 2' among the audience.
● To generate an unrivalled amount of talk around the release by leveraging the popularity of the stars and the production amongst its fan base and blending it with the capabilities of social media.
● To create and sustain the hype around the film.
Challenges
With high demand and competition in the ever-growing entertainment sector:
● Making a classic movie sequel after 22 years and promoting the same is harder than one would imagine, especially when most sequels fail to perform at the box office.
● Gadar 2, which was set to hit theatres on the Independence Day weekend, clashed with Akshay Kumar’s 'OMG 2' and Rajnikanth’s ‘Jailer’ in the South, which were released on the same day.
Summary
Zee Studios launched an integrated marketing campaign to announce the launch of Gadar 2 in India.
In January 2023, the campaign began with the release of the first poster on Republic Day. This marked the start of a journey that garnered widespread attention, making it one of Bollywood's longest marketing campaigns in recent times.
This campaign:
● Aimed to generate excitement in a thrilling manner.
● Derived inspiration from Meta and other progressive trends when formulating this one-of-a-kind campaign.
● Kept the audience engaged through initiatives such as creating Tara Singh’s mural art, collaborating with IMDb, hosting events like the concert in Delhi, Chingari live, and setting up interactive hand pump installations at various malls.
● Established a connection with its target audience and built a banter through quirky responses, reels, and engaging social media content.
● Made its way with relevant partnerships with Zee News, ABP News, and Aaj Tak.
Execution
In partnership with White Rivers Media, the company struck the right chord with this campaign, where the aim was Bharat Marketing, in which the campaign was strategically centered around Sunny Deol, aiming to resonate with the people of Bharat.
The core emphasis was on embracing the desi identity, forging a profound connection with the audience, leaving a lasting impression and bringing back the charm of single-screen cinemas while reigniting people's love for movies.
Phase 1: Pre-buzz
Re-release of Gadar: Ek Prem Katha: 2 months before the release of the second installment, the makers re-released Gadar: Ek Prem Katha in 4K and Dolby Atmos to trigger nostalgia. The response surpassed expectations, and lead actor Sunny Deol’s multiple city visits to Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur on the premiere day added to the excitement. And, as a way to express gratitude to the audience, the film’s re-release included the teaser of Gadar 2 towards its end, which was later shared on social media a few days later.
Gadar 2 X Reel Wala Trailer: Through the fusion of action-filled and compelling visuals and an energetic background score, Gadar 2 is the first-ever Bollywood movie to launch a 'reel wala trailer'. Also, post-trailer launch Sunny Deol did a Meta Live, to interact with his fans and answer their questions.
Mahindra X Gadar 2: Amid promotions, a partnership with Mahindra showcased their trucks forming 'Gadar 2' to the tune of ‘Main Nikla Gaddi Leke’.
Newspaper and Comic Collaboration: A partnership with Bombay Times, for the comic strips based on the teachings of India's legends were showcased alongside Tara Singh. Additionally, the younger audience was catered to through an engaging association with Lotpot, a popular kids' comic.
Gadar 2 City Visits:
Gadar 2's promotional journey swept through cities, making visits to cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Ahmedabad for events, interviews, and fan meets, enhancing excitement among the audience, from hosting a music concert for the film in Delhi to attending a fever official event in the city. Each event added a flavour to the promotional journey of 'Gadar 2’, building anticipation and excitement among the audience.
Custom-made Challenges:
GadarHandpumpChallenge: In 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha,' the handpump scene aimed to strike a chord with viewers, symbolising emotions and determination. Recognizing its significance, the team crafted the 'Handpump Challenge,' an on-ground activity, with a few handpumps being installed in the theatres, which blended nostalgia with modern interactivity.
The team saw the participation of more than 50 people, along with their engaging videos and captivating images of the same on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
#UddJaaKaaleKaavaChallenge: Famous singer Udit Narayan encouraged the audience to participate in the #UddJaaKaaleKaavaChallenge by creating their own versions using the reel audio and sharing them.
#MainNiklaGaddiLekeHookStepChallenge: The movie unveiled its revamped version of the timeless dance number 'Main Nikla Gaddi Leke' with a hook step challenge, inviting people to create reels using the audio and post their videos.
Phase 2: Release Week
Brand Banter: With some of the leading brands joining the force, the Twitter banter generated substantial engagement and value.
Mural and Graffiti: The brand crafted a mural of Sunny Deol as Tara Singh from Gadar 2, which is one of the top three murals in the country and wall graffiti around the city of Mumbai. This artistic masterpiece stands as a visual homage, honouring the iconic film and its enduring impact.
Chingari Live: During the live session, Ameesha Patel engaged in a candid conversation with RJ Praveer, delving into various aspects of the movie's creation, her role, and the overall cinematic experience. The lively and interactive nature of the conversation allowed fans to participate, ask questions, and gain a deeper insight into the movie on the Chingari Platform.
IMDb collaboration: Gadar 2 collaborated with IMDb for the burning questions segment with Sunny Deol, which gave the audience a glimpse into the work-life of the actor.
City and Theatre visits: Sunny Deol's unexpected appearance at Gaiety Galaxy not only left fans astonished but also generated more excitement for the movie. And, the cast’s Indore visit was remarkable from salutes at the army base to cheers in university auditoriums and theatres.
Reaction videos: To create the hype for the movie, a set of fan reaction videos were posted each day that showcased the excitement of the fans and audience who watched the movie and throughout the post-release week, the videos have been used as sustenance.
Success press conference: After the success of the movie, a press conference was held. Hosted by Indian Film Analyst, Komal Nahta, the event featured the director, writer, and a few members of the cast.
Phase 3: Post-release Week
Country/City visits: After the film's release, the actor travelled to the United Arab Emirates and London to celebrate its success and to take part in a special screening with local viewers. And, also visited Hyderabad to meet its audience and reciprocate the love movie has received.
Online conversation: Since the release, the craze for Tara Singh and the movie has been visible among the audience through their social media posts, which consisted of them dancing and chanting the dialogues in the theatres and on the streets, which was then amplified by the paparazzi pages. Also, critics on Twitter kept the conversation going by posting updates about the movie's performance.
Results
The Reel trailer generated the total views of 34.4M+ Views (Across all platforms) and engagement of 341.2K+ (Across all platforms). Mahindra and Gadar's collaboration amounted to a total view count of 1.8M+(Across all platforms) and an engagement of 57.4K+ (Across all platforms).
Starting strong with around ₹40.10 crore on its opening day, the movie has earned ₹100+ crore in 3 days and 200+ CR in 5 days. And, within two weeks of its release, the movie collected ₹450+ crore at the box office.
Shrenik Gandhi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, White Rivers Media said, “Being part of Gadar 2's marketing with Zee Studios was really exciting. The way we marketed the movie made us think in new and fun ways for entertainment. Our main goal was to leave a lasting impression in our audience’s minds, and we totally succeeded!”
“From the Reel Wala Trailer to Murals, we introduced innovative ideas that were both captivating and groundbreaking, setting new standards in the Indian film industry. Gadar 2’s marketing campaign was truly one-of-a-kind, and it achieved great success,” said Neeraj Joshi, Marketing Head, Zee Studios.