Adgully Exclusive | P9 Integrated's idea of marrying brands and movies

P9 Integrated, the in-film marketing agency of the media major Percept India, was established in October 2004. The agency looks at providing services such as integrated movie promotions, brand and movie associations, and in-film placements, branded content, media planning & buying for movies, creative design, Bollywood based content creation, cinema and multiplex activation.

The two major verticals of P9 Integrated are "Entertainment Marketing and Marketing through Entertainment". The entertainment marketing vertical looks at providing an integrated marketing movie which includes activities such as merchandising, web designing, in-film placements, public relations, advertising strategy and campaigning, creating promos and trailers, media amplification and web promotions for Bollywood and Regional Movies.

Marketing through entertainment, as a vertical, looks at enabling brands to leverage entertainment as a medium to execute their brand communication. This vertical initiates activities like associative marketing and product placements in the movies and cinema and multiplex activations, also creating branded content.

The agency has worked with some well known films like Guru, Salaam E Ishq, Traffic Signal, Dhoom 2, Don, Kabul Express, Omkara, Krrish, Corporate, Chup Chup ke, Malamaal Weekly, Mission Impossible 3, Hanuman, Page 3, Ghajini, Singh is Kinng, Welcome, New York and Bachna E Hasino, to name a few. Recently the agency worked for branding content in movies like Dabangg, Anjaana-Anjaani and Hisss.

Adgully caught up with the "lady behind the roaring success" of P9 Integrated- Tejaswini Aparanji, Chief Operating Officer, P9 Integrated.

Talking about the industry and its growing market, Aparanji says, "With a significant increase in the number of multiplexes in India and the improvement in the quality of overall cinematic experience, this industry has grown by leaps and bounds. The production houses have become more open to the idea of film marketing. The stakes are really high these days in making a movie. Any producer would want that the movie brings him record-breaking success. That can only be possible with an excellent 360 degree marketing campaign."

She adds, "As far as integrated marketing is concerned, brand managers have realized that in-film placement is a great way to take their product to a wider multitude and it brings good revenue to the producers too. The size of branded entertainment and marketing space is estimated at 300crs."

Aparanji says that the clients are increasingly looking at in-film and movie promotions as an integral part of 360 degree approach to market their brands. "There has been a euphoric shift in the attitude of brand managers. Because of tools like co-branded association and in-film placements, brands become a part of the movie for an extended period of time. The brands get visibility every time that movie is aired on satellite channels, when it is shown in flights and even when someone buys the DVD and watches it at home. Rather than doling out huge endorsement fee to celebrities, brands strike a better deal by getting a chance to associate with the celeb in the marketing of the movie. In fact, P9 integrated recently has done successful co-branded associations for Dabangg, Anjaana-Anjaani and Hisss," she adds.

Aparanji feels that typically, in- film placements are more high-risk-high-impact. "But again, here what has to be made sure is the integration of that particular brand in the movie is subtle and seamless because if movie does well impact is huge; if not then brand can lose the money. a well done placement will be for perpetuity. Some of the examples of good in-film placements of our time are Omega and Aston Martin in James Bond series and Manolo Blahnik in Sex and the City," she adds.

However, she points out that co-branded associations are low risk investment and tactical in nature. Aparanji says that in co-branded associations the brand uses a part of the footage of the movie with the product's footage to make a co-branded advertisement and create a marketing campaign around it. "It has limitless possibilities as brands can go all out in using the ads in various publicity platforms like malls, buses, digital media and television. The beauty of doing an outside association is that the brands are riding on the hype of the film and their association is not linked with the fate at the box office since the co-promotions are carried out pre-release," she contends.

She further points out that however, in-film placements seem to work out better for big brands to implement their strategic ideas. Furthermore, co-branded association as a tool has been exploited more by growing brands that have a decent marketing budget and have short-term positioning target.

"Brands are already riding high on music videos, associations with music albums, multiplex & mall activities, creating entertainment events, etc. This trend will see further acceptance amongst the entertainment stalwarts in the future. There are also possibilities of seeing multi-film, multi-branded partnerships," Aparanji adds.

Talking about P9 Integrated's future prospects, Aparanji says, "We are aggressively working on various aspects of branded entertainment wherein branded content is and will be the future. Our next biggie will be a funded film."

She further points out that innovations are very important for the sector to grow and says, "There is no denying that cinema is an accepted and legitimate form of entertainment. Brands are waking up to the idea of integrating with cinematic properties like never before. The growth in this sector will be propelled by some innovative marketing solutions for brands and of course more and more brands exploiting opportunities available in entertainment sector." | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]