The Game Plan
An advantage of having the first Friday of the year is that all eyes are on your release. A disadvantage of having the first Friday of the year is that ALL eyes are your release. While the box-office dictates whether this day ends up jackpot or lemons, the marketing of Players didn't veer too far from this traditional hook. Abbas-Mustan's repute for crafting nail-biting thrillers was the tent-pole of the strategy. The action elements were amped up and occasional glimpses of the sex appeal were par for the course.
Posters
The main creatives are classic Abbas-Mustan. Which translates into classic multi-starrer action film posters.
The entire cast is walking towards the camera with a clear mission to 'Go For Gold'. Go for obvious, anybody! The obviousness is further given a boost in the gold themed poster. Gold flecks fly around the ensemble cast as they look suitably cool & ready for the heist. Oh, and did I forget to mention - the characters are also daubed in gold. While direct is good sometimes, this poster does not cut it with the cliched posturing and preening. The element of double-crossing that is key to the film that this one is a licensed remake of , is not even hinted at. One can go with the premise that maybe they did not want to give too much away, but hey, The Italian Job was more of a double-cross plot than the execution of a heist.
There is a teaser creative that does its bit well. Tease. A golden figure of a woman, literally & figuratively, lying tantalizingly is quite fantastic. It pulls you right in. There are a few variations of these as well, that served as teasers to some of the promos of the film.
Promos
The theatrical trailer opens with Abhishek Bachchan's voiceover (on black) giving instructions on what it takes to be a big-time player. He ends it with the signature 'Go For Gold' credo. The theme song plays and you are thrown into the scene(s) of action. Between trains, under cars, over cars and rushing through snow-laden locales. No apologies. The various 'players' are introduced but vaguely. At this point, all you need to know is that they're cool & sexy. Nothing more, nothing less. A few shots of trains, blasts, car crashes and chases later, get your kicks from Sonam Kapoor giving the middle finger. This out there moment works for the promo. A few seconds of Bipasha Basu in a red-hot two piece comes a close second. The rest of the promos are somewhat generic. Sorry, Mini Coopers.
There was also a hyped Sizzle video (refer to my post) released just 2 days prior to the release. That unfortunately was more of a fizzle.
Music
There were four songs that were played on television, including the Players title track and one that was unintentionally funny aptly titled Buddhi Do Bhagwaan. Exactly my sentiments when I watched this one ! Except for the title track that achieved decent playout, the Players music didn't make a mark. Dismal for directors whose previous movies soundtracks have been blockbusters. Even turkeys like Naqaab & 36 China Town were music countdown favourites.
Online
The movies official website is pretty easy to navigate. There are clickable links for "Profiles" which gives you a detailed description of the main characters. The description is accompanied by character stills and there's a box for trailers that is a constant link to the main promos and three songs. Surprisingly, the title track is not featured here. The "Profiles" section opens to Charlie's character after which you can select whose character sketch you want to view by clicking on their pictures which are at the bottom of the page. These pictures are an offshoot of the poster and not separate mughsots, which is kind of nice.
The "Movie" page is pretty much a press note for the film and doesn't tell you anything that you wouldn't have already read in the media. The "Photos" page is a compilation of the character stills that are already present on the character-specific pages. The "Music" page gives you an option to listen to the songs of the film.
The "Directors Speak" is a message from the directors about why they chose to remake The Italian Job, reason behind casting choices and shooting at the North Pole. There's also a disclaimer (ahem!) that the movie is not a scene by scene copy but has been 'masala'- fied for the Indian audiences. We all know what that's an excuse for !!
The "Be A Player" page has a game that has the 7 characters introducing 7 challenges which are mini-games in themselves. It makes for good timepass and you need to finish a challenge to get to the next level. There's also the 'Go For Gold' challenge and the link to the MTV Booty Call Players Only contest.
Cross-Promotion
The tie-up with MTV resulted in the interesting sounding 'Booty Call' contest which meant a good amount of commercial time on the channel with the stars promoting the film. The contest in itself is quite a fun chase requiring the players to decipher clues to get to the gold. And what do you win for your efforts ? You guessed right. Gold!
The film tied up with a couple of brands notably Morellato & MTS Energy.
Overall
While the film and its cast were seen all over the place promoting the film, the marketing was lackluster and didn't really ramp up the standard in terms of action movie promotions. The failure of the music to catch on & absence of any innovation in this campaign makes one go 'Eh' for most of it. On this one I am going for Oft-Told.
Release Date: January 6th, 2012
Studio: Viacom 18
An advantage of having the first Friday of the year is that all eyes are on your release. A disadvantage of having the first Friday of the year is that ALL eyes are your release. While the box-office dictates whether this day ends up jackpot or lemons, the marketing of Players didn't veer too far from this traditional hook. Abbas-Mustan's repute for crafting nail-biting thrillers was the tent-pole of the strategy. The action elements were amped up and occasional glimpses of the sex appeal were par for the course.
Posters
The main creatives are classic Abbas-Mustan. Which translates into classic multi-starrer action film posters.
The entire cast is walking towards the camera with a clear mission to 'Go For Gold'. Go for obvious, anybody! The obviousness is further given a boost in the gold themed poster. Gold flecks fly around the ensemble cast as they look suitably cool & ready for the heist. Oh, and did I forget to mention - the characters are also daubed in gold. While direct is good sometimes, this poster does not cut it with the cliched posturing and preening. The element of double-crossing that is key to the film that this one is a licensed remake of , is not even hinted at. One can go with the premise that maybe they did not want to give too much away, but hey, The Italian Job was more of a double-cross plot than the execution of a heist.
There is a teaser creative that does its bit well. Tease. A golden figure of a woman, literally & figuratively, lying tantalizingly is quite fantastic. It pulls you right in. There are a few variations of these as well, that served as teasers to some of the promos of the film.
Promos
The theatrical trailer opens with Abhishek Bachchan's voiceover (on black) giving instructions on what it takes to be a big-time player. He ends it with the signature 'Go For Gold' credo. The theme song plays and you are thrown into the scene(s) of action. Between trains, under cars, over cars and rushing through snow-laden locales. No apologies. The various 'players' are introduced but vaguely. At this point, all you need to know is that they're cool & sexy. Nothing more, nothing less. A few shots of trains, blasts, car crashes and chases later, get your kicks from Sonam Kapoor giving the middle finger. This out there moment works for the promo. A few seconds of Bipasha Basu in a red-hot two piece comes a close second. The rest of the promos are somewhat generic. Sorry, Mini Coopers.
There was also a hyped Sizzle video (refer to my post) released just 2 days prior to the release. That unfortunately was more of a fizzle.
Music
There were four songs that were played on television, including the Players title track and one that was unintentionally funny aptly titled Buddhi Do Bhagwaan. Exactly my sentiments when I watched this one ! Except for the title track that achieved decent playout, the Players music didn't make a mark. Dismal for directors whose previous movies soundtracks have been blockbusters. Even turkeys like Naqaab & 36 China Town were music countdown favourites.
Online
The movies official website is pretty easy to navigate. There are clickable links for "Profiles" which gives you a detailed description of the main characters. The description is accompanied by character stills and there's a box for trailers that is a constant link to the main promos and three songs. Surprisingly, the title track is not featured here. The "Profiles" section opens to Charlie's character after which you can select whose character sketch you want to view by clicking on their pictures which are at the bottom of the page. These pictures are an offshoot of the poster and not separate mughsots, which is kind of nice.
The "Movie" page is pretty much a press note for the film and doesn't tell you anything that you wouldn't have already read in the media. The "Photos" page is a compilation of the character stills that are already present on the character-specific pages. The "Music" page gives you an option to listen to the songs of the film.
The "Directors Speak" is a message from the directors about why they chose to remake The Italian Job, reason behind casting choices and shooting at the North Pole. There's also a disclaimer (ahem!) that the movie is not a scene by scene copy but has been 'masala'- fied for the Indian audiences. We all know what that's an excuse for !!
The "Be A Player" page has a game that has the 7 characters introducing 7 challenges which are mini-games in themselves. It makes for good timepass and you need to finish a challenge to get to the next level. There's also the 'Go For Gold' challenge and the link to the MTV Booty Call Players Only contest.
Cross-Promotion
The tie-up with MTV resulted in the interesting sounding 'Booty Call' contest which meant a good amount of commercial time on the channel with the stars promoting the film. The contest in itself is quite a fun chase requiring the players to decipher clues to get to the gold. And what do you win for your efforts ? You guessed right. Gold!
The film tied up with a couple of brands notably Morellato & MTS Energy.
Overall
While the film and its cast were seen all over the place promoting the film, the marketing was lackluster and didn't really ramp up the standard in terms of action movie promotions. The failure of the music to catch on & absence of any innovation in this campaign makes one go 'Eh' for most of it. On this one I am going for Oft-Told.
Release Date: January 6th, 2012
Studio: Viacom 18
Quite Comprehensive Tixa. Your dislike for their marketing campaign is quite evident. I second your views on this being a below average movie. Would also agree its not a very innovative marketing campaign. I do believe however, that sometimes in certain elements of marketing, you don't need to try and be 'innovative' all the time. Sometimes - its important to be, as you've called it 'obvious'. (As in the entire cast walking towards the camera as if to go for gold, in the poster). That's the subtle nuances that work for the Indian public. And since we know that works, why try and experiment with that? (Just for the sake of trying to prove that 'look we experimented??'). I do agree however, that they didn't 'hype' up the marketing of the movie as innovatively as a movie like this could have been hyped up. :) Look forward to your next post. :)
ReplyDeleteBrand Ripples - Very true. Some movies can do without being innovative, especially films like Don 2 which boast of a successful predecessor or films like Ready & Bodyguard which just need Salman Khan's face (and to some extent his crazy antics) to work !
ReplyDeleteBut Players, which had such an unmarketable star cast would have opened better had the promos been a little smarter!
Am glad you enjoy my posts, looking forward to your blog :)