Does quality content need to be promoted?

The most vociferous debate in the media circles after the Star-Zee duel, the Tanaaz-Bhaktyar/Shweta-Manav and the Mika-Rakhi debate is the discussion on the old, yet constant adage “Is content more important that marketing” debate!

A parallel from the Bollywood industry here, which in my understanding does not work very different from the television industry in the sense that the need gap fulfilled for the consumer (apologies for using marketing jargon) is that of entertainment. The past one year has been replete with cases of movies that have gone overboard shouting in a bid to generate initial walkins to the theatre. But is high-decibel marketing the foremost criterion to ensure BO collections? Let’s try to work out a case here with the aid of nine of the biggest Bollywood hits in the last year…

Bluffmaster – A UTV/Ramesh Sippy Films production that went berserk on the marketing front, where the Abhishek was co-branded with categories as varied as petroleum and retail…in terms of the content appeal to the audience, I would say lukewarm…and in terms of Box-office collections, a hit by Boxoffice standards! Collection – 17 crores after 10 weeks of playing
Rang De Basanti – A cult by any standards, the movie rode on the initial publicity gained through “WOM” and deservedly do…the movie gained from marketing really after release as the pre-launch hype was essentially centred around Aamir Khan who was making an appearance on the silver screen after a rather long hiatus – 51 crores BO collections, as was reminded to us by Mr. Ronnie Screwalla in the ads that was a source of ire to many of his counterparts in the producer circles
Taxi No. 9211 – Again a UTV/Ramesh Sippy production that rode on the pre-launch marketing blitz with John Abraham and Sameera Reddy in the cast along with the violent Nana Patekar who was making a re-appearance after a long break and some lively-but-repetitive music by Vishal Shekhar. Hit by BO standards – 20 crores after 10 weeks of release
Malamaal Weekly – A Sahara One production; Again, hugely promoted through on-air-promos and off-air support in terms of hoardings and the related hoopla, the movie was keenly looked forward to, being a Priyadarshan movie (albeit it came after fairly pedestrian movies like Hulchul and Garam Masala post a brilliant Hera Pheri), but to re-iterate hugely promoted to catch the moviegoers’ attention – 25 crores in collection after 10 weeks of release
Fanaa – Aamir Khan has his own way of creating hype for his movies, a typical Classical Economics situation where constrained supply hikes demand; Besides Aamir’s appearance, the movie also rode on aspects like Kajol’s first movie post “Nysa’s” (only an illiterate wouldn’t know her and Maddox’s name) birth, huge outdoor/TV promotions and Yashraj’s muscle at the distributors’ end; all-in-all a typical brand-like marketing blitz accompanied by in-the-face tactics like special features on NDTV..oh yes, it was Kunal Kohli’s third movie after “Mujhse Dosti Karoge” (surprised???) and a brilliant “Hum Tum”…sad that he’s remembered more for Hum Tum and Nach Baliye now! – Astounding 53 crores of BO collection
Krrish – Raakesh Rroosshhan at his very best at creating a 3 ½ hour mega-advertisement traversing across product categories as varied as Milk Food Drinks, Cellular Phones, Fabric Wash & Motorbikes with branded segments for (don’t be alarmed and appalled) Tide, S-Kumars, Samsung Mobile phones, Vicks Inhaler, Bournvita, Star TV, Star News and Hero Hoinda Karizma…oops I was talking about a movie; With the on-air-promos coming out of even a non-TV-households’ ears, this was sure a case study for promotions being taken to the height of heights, and whoa…did it result into BO results (I’m not talking about the sub-standard performances in the movie) – a whopping 65 crores of BO collections
Omkara – An artistic masterpiece written, screenplayed (am not sure if that’s correct English), musically rendered (even sung) and directed by Vishal Bharadwaaj, it was a movie’s critic delight with stellar performances from the cast (minus Ajay Devgan’s tilted neck, clichéd, sick acting), probably a movie that became a hit post release riding on content, albeit supported by a bit of marketing and promotion with Saif’s new bald look (Yes, Mr. Bharadwaj, we heard about Saif’s sacrifice of his hair enough number of times of Aaj Tak and on Mumbai/Delhi times) - 23 crores of BO revenues
KANK – Dharma productions (yuck, i want to puke again) I don’t want to talk about it and I hope that my future family doesn’t talk about it either. Filmy and illogical and stupid is my verdict! Enough promos with the pansy director from coffee with karan to chai with chuuu…or whatever, but the fact is – BO collection of 46 crores

...The point that I’m trying to make is that all of the above 8 Bollywood hits banked on marketing to deliver the result and pass the ultimate litmus test, that of Box-office collections!....but let me prove the conventional movie (and to an extent brand) marketing model wrong by giving you an example of movie that delivered the best result of the year and probably the decade by NOT marketing and NOT divulging the content and NOT doing in-the-face features on the news channels till a day after release...Lage Raho Munnabhai

Lage Raho Munnabhai – The best movie of the year, after RDB where the producer and the director had the conviction that audience would trickle in post the release, based on the one and the most important factor for the success of a product, QUALITY AND WORD OF MOUTH…the movie became a roaring success post release and not pre-release as in the case of a lot of aforementioned marketing gimmicks! The Gandhi angle was intentionally kept of media and what returns the movie got will be a part of history even 20 years down the line. A disclaimer here - This risk can and should be taken however, if and only if the creator truly does know his audience and understand the viewers' palate!..what do we say further - BO collections of 70 crores post 10 weeks of release, the movie is still going strong!

A clear case study for marketers where keeping the product in seclusion and out of the media blitz before release does pay handsome dividends (but with a high quality product.story)…Is there an apparent learning for a lot of us in the TV industry here also...from the Bollywood industry where the old maxim is being proved true again; The returns from quality content can be matched by high noise marketing to an extent but ultimately, for transcending a piece of creative from a hit to a superhit to a cult, the primary and foremost ingredient in content!...the logical conclusion sadly, from this corollary is also that most of us Indians as indeed regressive or at least like to watch regressive content on TV…how else would Ekkkkta soaps still reign supreme on TV!