SoupSalu and a fake Manoj Bajpayee: Killer Soup’s eccentric marketing strategy
Netflix’s black comedy thriller, Killer Soup makes its marketing as fascinating as its lead pair. Taking advantage of its quirky premise and title, the promotional efforts employ social media collaborations, interviews, video clips, memes, and SoupSalu to generate intrigue among the viewers.
Netflix’s much anticipated original Killer Soup releases on January 11. The thriller created by Abhishek Chaubey features Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sen Sharma in their maiden on-screen pairing. From what is evident from the trailer, the series promises to be a chaotic ride with a touch of Chaubey’s bleak humour. Killer Soup is the story of an aspiring chef's path to culinary glory takes a dark turn when her unsupportive husband and a fateful event spark a devious scheme.
Killer Soup’s marketing strategy involves a deviation from conventional promotional efforts. The marketing team devised an eccentric approach to draw eyeballs. Aside from the uncanny social media endeavor, the promotional efforts for the series involved collaborations, screenings as well as introducing a fake Manoj Bajpayee–drawing from the series' storyline–to intrigue the audience.
Here is a dive into how the marketing of Killer Soup panned out:
Prior to the commencement of the actual marketing efforts of the series, Netflix India shared an announcement clip introducing the world of Killer Soup. This was done a year before the series’ release.
Simmering SoupSalu
To build excitement for the unique and thrilling universe of "Killer Soup," Netflix devised a plan to create a social media influencer from the ground up. This led to the creation of 'SoupSalu,' an Instagram persona dedicated to uncovering the ultimate killer soup. Taking inspiration from the popular 'Daily Posters' trend on Instagram, Netflix aimed to captivate the audience by showcasing SoupSalu's daily quest for the extraordinary within the world of soups.
The idea was straightforward yet captivating: SoupSalu would sample various unconventional soup combinations each day until finding his "killer soup." The rallying cry for the community became the catchphrase, "Killer soup kab milega?" urging support for SoupSalu on his journey. Within just 45 days of consistent posting, SoupSalu's Instagram page attracted over 100k followers and amassed over 10M views on his content. The community actively engaged, adopting SoupSalu's trademark catchphrase, "Helle Gaiz," and clamoring for the elusive Killer Soup on his behalf.
The movement spilled onto the streets of Mumbai and Delhi, with fans holding signs demanding answers. A prominent billboard featuring SoupSalu heightened the anticipation, showcasing the growing backing for the quest. As SoupSalu's popularity soared, he uncovered Netflix's connection to a show titled 'Soup.' Suspecting a link, SoupSalu appeared outside the Netflix office seeking explanations. The intrigue peaked when Netflix revealed the answer through a creatively executed date announcement, sparking excitement across social media.
In an unexpected turn, SoupSalu ultimately shared a bowl of soup with the stars of Killer Soup, Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sen Sharma, marking a surprising and delightful conclusion to the adventure.
The marketing efforts relied significantly on social media to generate buzz around the series’ release. Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sen Sharma’s Instagram accounts were leveraged to engage the followers. Along with that, Netflix India posted extensively on its social media amping up the buzz around Killer Soup.
Manoj Bajpayee appeared in a special video in which he can be seen arguing with a person who is seemingly impersonating the actor and claims to be the real Manoj Bajpayee leading to chaos and confusion.
Clips introducing the characters were also shared that showcased their quirks and highlighted their traits. This was done to create an intrigue and make the audience excited about the characters and their interactions in the series.
Netflix India also collaborated with popular comedians Kullu and Samay Raina and posted a reaction video of the two actively engaging in banter with regards to the series’ trailer.
Netflix collaborated with popular food channel Gobblegrams with Bajpayee and Sen Sharma appearing in a video and cooking up a special dish.
Bajpayee and Sen Sharma’s unique first-time on-screen pairing was leveraged to a great extent with both of them appearing in several interviews and sharing their experiences from working together as well as from the series’ sets. The channels for the interviews were meticulously selected such that the promotional efforts seemed rather organic and built the natural curiosity of the viewers towards the series.
As emphasized by the cast during promotions, Killer Soup brings to screen the black comedy genre, which is rarely seen in films and series nowadays–as mentioned by Bajpayee during the interviews. The marketing strategy for this eccentric series maintained an uncanny approach to propel intrigue among the viewers. Apart from the novel tools in its arsenal, the marketing strategy also emphasized on building credibility vis-a-vis the interviews and appearances, leveraging its lead actors’ reputation along the way.
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