In-film branding goes regional

In-film product promotion has been a common feature in Bollywood movies for some time now; it’s now spreading to regional films as well. Regional film producers have also started echoing what their Bollywood counterparts have been saying for a while: If there is a movie, there will be products placed in it, mostly those that have paid to be in the frame. So in the Telugu film, Anukokunda Oka Roju, actor Jagapati Babu is seen carrying a pack of Real juice most of the time. In Bhojpuri film Parivaar, the hero takes up dealership of HUL’s brand Wheel when his financial condition worsens. The seven brothers in the Marathi film Amhi Satpute use Tata’s Ace to transport their farm produce to the town. Brand experts say even though film-branding is not the main medium for marketing of brands (it accounts for just 2-3 per cent of the total advertisement budget of most big brands), it is cost-effective and acts as a bonus value. In-film branding in fact helps to reduce publicity budgets of films by a minimum of 15 per cent.

The third dimension

Everyone's looking at the imminent launch of 3G mobile services in India and everyone's talking about its possibilities across marketing, advertising, services, content and entertainment. Of course, the ideas that emerge have to be commercially viable. Once implemented, 3G will gradually change the rules of the game as delivery of services across content and entertainment – movies, news, videos, games – and businesses such as banking, healthcare, education, travel, among others, will transform user experience. Ads would load quicker and could incorporate more rich media, resulting in a better consumer experience and prompting higher click throughs. There will be ease for consumers and advertisers, say the experts, with the possibility that at some point 3G will draw a large chunk of digital ad spend to the mobile platform.

Rate of tweets can predict box office hits, finds study

Box-office takings of blockbuster films like Avatar can be predicted by studying the tweets at micro-blogging site Twitter, according to a new research. A team of computer scientists studied 3 million tweets about 25 movies, including Avatar and found that the rate at which these messages were produced could be used to accurately predict the box office takings of the movie, prior to its release.

TV advertising by auto sector jumps 33%

TV advertising by the automobile sector saw a 33 per cent jump in 2009 as the world's second fastest growing market heated up with the entrance of new companies and the launch of a variety of models by existing manufacturers. According to the AdEx India research, the highest TV advertising was seen in the passenger vehicles segment, while the two-wheeler market leader Hero Honda maintained its lead as the top advertiser in the industry for two years in a row (2008 and 2009). The auto sector contributed four per cent of the overall ad volumes in 2009.

A wonder stick for Yuvi

Close on the heels of Sachin Tendulkar, who is likely to get a comic book based on him soon, is cricketer Yuvraj Singh, whose animated avatar will be the protagonist in the film ‘Captain India’. The animation film, which will be produced and distributed by Motion Pixel Corp., a Miami-based animation company, is about a young boy from Mumbai. The boy comes across a magic stick with special powers and uses it to help fight crime, even as he grows up to be an Indian cricket star and helps India win the cricket World Cup. The animated film is currently in pre-production and is scheduled to be released in time for the World Cup in 2011.

Miditech, Global Agency in television content tie-up

Television content production companies Miditech and Global Agency plan to strengthen their position in the Indian television space by using the formats for television shows developed by either of them. While Miditech will produce television shows for Indian broadcasters using the formats developed by Global Agency, the latter would distribute the formats developed by Miditech to international broadcasters. Global Agency had created reality show ‘Perfect Bride’ which was adapted by Miditech for Star Plus as ‘Lux Perfect Bride’.

India caught in Brandobast fever

Designer products have always been the rage and the demand for them is rising. Fashion and luxury is an amazing concoction, which both the traditionally well-heeled and the nouveau riche Indians are embracing with a new-found zeal. To add zing to their product portfolio, companies tap well-known fashion designers to come out with a signature line comprising watches, T-shirts and even cosmetics. Manish Arora is a case in point. The Delhi-based designer has created a colour cosmetic collection for MAC, limited edition shoes under the Fish Fry brand for sports brand Reebok, besides watches for Swatch. The luxury luggage market is growing at a healthy rate and so are the jewellery, shoes, sunglasses and perfumes segments. It is estimated that the high-end retail market would touch $30 billion by 2015.

Tighter norms for auto, food and beverage ads

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has made some additions to the code on advertising of automotive vehicles, food and beverages. The apex self-regulatory body that controls advertising content has made the additions directed at safe, secure and healthy practices in advertisements targeted at the masses. The recently introduced guidelines prohibit portraying of traffic rules violation in any manner and showing reckless speed or maneuverability that could harm the driver or the general public. The addendum to the code on advertising of food and beverages prohibits ads from depicting personal changes in intelligence, physical ability or exceptional recognition unless scientifically substantiated. It also prohibits ads and promotions from portraying over consumption and visual presentation of food and beverage that is different from its actual material characteristics.