Adgully Exclusive | The tale of Anjaana producers and Anjaani marketers and how Maneesh Mathur is joining the dots¦

Once upon a time, a Bollywood film sold on its own merit, with just posters of the movie displayed in town centers. Then we saw the posters transcending into hoardings which soon crowded the skylines. Slowly after a decade, mall promotions and other such activities came to be popular and still are widely used. Now it is a combined exercise which involves innovative marketing strategies, where you see the actors walk into reality and talk shows to promote their upcoming films. Today we see individuals like Maneesh Mathur, Joint Managing Director of EMC who facilitate marketing tie-ups between Entertainment and Sports, so that there is a wider reach of audience and creates an exhilarated setting for both the release of the film and the event in the sports channel. It is a symbiotic relationship, purely for promotional purposes.

Star Cricket has entered a marketing tie up with Anjana Anjani, which is the biggest entertainment-sports deal ever done till date. This association will bring massive promotion for the movie and Champions League. Bollywood and Sports alliance have been getting more popular in the recent times with movies like Mujhse Shaadi Karogi and My name is Khan tying up with Star Sports and Neo Cricket respectively in the past.

About this event, Maneesh Mathur, Joint Managing Director, Entertainment Media Communication (EMC) spoke exclusively to Adgully and said, "This kind of association is very effective and benefits both the parties involved. There is a far wider reach. This is the biggest entertainment sports deal ever signed till date. If I had to put a figure to it, the value would be more than 10-11 crores. Anjana Anjani is starred by Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, this also gives us an identity amongst the youth. Such a deal is only signed six or seven weeks before the release of the movie."

The kind of movie chosen to be partnered with has no link to its story line. "It is a co-promotional deal with the key purpose of adding excitement to the release of the movie and of the game", Mathur further adds.

With these kinds of co-promotional deals, producers are cutting the cake and having it too. Although Ranbir and Priyanka being out on the fields will be a crowd puller, it works like a charm for the producer as well. Stars as big as them, will come at a price, which will eventually go to the producer, at the same time getting massive promotion for the film. It won't be a surprise if more films go down this co-promotional street.

Sports marketing as a concept have explored new possibilities with such tie-ups and have therefore raised the bar. This integration of two separate entities, that is Bollywood and Sports, will open up more avenues in the future. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]

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