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Merchandising
galore: Spidey caps and lollipops to lure kids
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Said an ecstatic Columbia TriStar Films of India head of publicity
and acquisitions Vikramjit Roy, "Spider Man is a true super
hero who cuts across barriers - his modesty, his essential humanness,
and his struggle with goodness, makes it easy for audiences to relate
to him. Our 360 degree built up on Spider Man 2 is an unusual
campaign where we have a lot of brand tie-ups. We have used all
media for promoting the movie and it has received a phenomenal response."
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More
merchandising: Spidey games
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Columbia TriStar's basic objective in all the marketing campaigns
for Spider Man 2 was to connect to the kids, teenagers, young
adults, the 30+ crowd and also the dating crowd.
What's more... Columbia TriStar has tied up with all possible brands
for the promotion of Spider Man 2. Right from HBO, AXN, Sony
Entertainment Television, Max, Sony Music, Sony Ericsson, Sony Electronics,
Kelloggs, Mirinda, Airtel, Twinkle Comics, indiatimes.com and Rediff.
Since Spider Man 2 is a huge brand from Sony, tie ups with
Sony are bound to be in abundance. The synergy with Sony can be
seen in the form of Sony Music wherein a special track called Naa
Jane Kyun was made for the movie by the Pakistani band Strings.
The aim was to reach out to a wider audience base through a Hindi
track.
Beyond the 15 tracks that appear on every copy of the soundtrack
that was released in India on 7 July, Sony Music and Columbia were
over the board with happiness with this merge. Sony Music managing
director Shridhar Subramaniam was quoted in an official company
release as saying, "Spider Man is truly a global phenomenon,
which has also struck a chord with the Indian masses. We are convinced,
adding a local language song increases the scale of the project
by taking it to a new and larger audience. Strings was a natural
choice, not only are they extremely talented, the lyrics to Na
Jaane Kyun seem to have been written for Spiderman."
"We at Columbia TriStar, have devised a marketing plan for
Spider Man 2, keeping in mind the super hero's global image
that transcends religion, language, age and nationality. Hence also,
the decision to dub the film in three Indian languages: Hindi, Tamil
and Telugu. Spiderman is a name familiar to the Indian masses, and
what better way to reach out to the masses, than a Hindi song,"
says Columbia TriStar Films of India marketing manager Harshvardhan
Gangurde.
When the first Spider Man was released he rode on a Borivali
to Curchgate local train in Mumbai and this time around he has a
song sung for him! What next?
While Sony Entertainment Television's (SET) Jassi Jaissi Koi
Nahi has been in the limelight recently for its tie-up with
Yash Raj Films' last venture Hum Tum wherein Saif Ali Khan
made a special appearance in the serial, this time round Spidey
has gone ahead and done just that. Columbia TriStar has had in programme
tie-in with Spider Man which has been weaved into the script
in SET's serials Jassi... and Ye Meri Life Hai - this
is yet another first for any Hollywood film in India.
Also a special behind the scenes with Spider Man was done
in Sony's entertainment based show called Ab Ayega Mazaa
which aired on 18 July and was hosted by Rakshanda Khan. The show
also had a segment covering Mandira Bedi's LA trip and her interview
with the stars from the film also a segment covered Jassi's take
on Spidey and also the Strings music video.
Now coming to Set's movies and special events channel - Max. In
a specially created programme - Spotlight (aired on 17 July),
the channel detailed out Mandira Bedi's trip to LA to cover the
Spider Man 2 media conference.
Another path breaking first in the case of Spidey is that the channel
ids of both Set and Max have an animated Spider Man swinging in
and out as and when the channel ids come in.
AXN on the other hand, has a Spider Man bug (image) on their logo
on a 24x7 basis. Also special behind the scenes programme with Spider
Man 2 have been aired on the channel. HBO, on the other hand,
is the channel partner for the movie.
Another promotional offer with Sony is that the company has launched
four special models of Sony Ericsson Spider Man 2 branded
mobile phones in India. All four models have Spider Man 2
wallpapers and two models have a Spider Man 2 game as well
as changeable Spider Man 2 branded covers. Sony Ericsson
will be promoting their phones via print ads and road shows.
Sony Electronics too has plunged into the Spidey web through their
hi-end retail stores Sony World. This is their first major film
promotion in India that they are doing via their digital camera
range - Cyber Shot. On trial of the Cyber Shot, consumers get a
Spider Man poster whereas if a customer purchases the Cyber
Shot consumers get special Spider Man 2 merchandise. These
offers will be promoted through a specially cut television commercial
(TVC).
Sony Home Entertainment, on its behalf will be promoting the movie
through their DVD and VCD sales for Spider Man (Part 1) and
also give away merchandise and free VCDs of the same.
Well, the Sony Group has sure put together a synergistic and humongous
marketing campaign to promote Spidey.
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Kelloggs
Chocos Spider Man 2 cereal
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Apart from the Sony Group, Columbia TriStar has also had brand
associations with Kelloggs wherein 550,000 special Kelloggs Chocos
Spider Man 2 cereal were introduced in the market in July. Consumers
who buy the Kelloggs Spidey cereal would get special Spidey water
squirters, Spidey web image projectors and posters, a specially
developed Spidey game, Spidey crossword, school labels etc.
Mirinda has also been weaved into Spidey's web. Mirinda has introduced
150,000 Pet bottles in July with the Spider Man 2 branding.
Here too, premiums were given out on purchase of these packs which
included T shirts, sippers etc. Mirinda also has a special Spidey
TVC which is already on air. Also notable is the fact that this
TVC will be dubbed in vernacular languages.
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Spiderman
Animated images download on Airtel
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Spidey's
Top Wallpaper on Airtel
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How can mobile service providers be left out at a time when the
wireless mania is on? Spider Man 2 has roped in Airtel which
has the rights to a specially developed Spider Man 2 game
and other downloads like wallpapers, screensavers etc. This promotion
will be a part of their 'Airtel Live' campaign where in they promote
entertainment content like games, movies, music, cricket - on the
cell phone.
Coming to the comics section, Columbia TriStar has tied up with
the popular Twinkle Comics wherein there will be contests which
would revolve around a Spider Man game in the form of a puzzle.
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Rediff
sports the pics of the man behind the mask!
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In India, Spider Man 2 promotions on the Internet can be
caught on Indiatimes.com and Rediff.com. Rediff has a special section
on Spider Man 2 where a combination of web reports and photo
features are put up.
Columbia TriStar hopes that through all these promotional campaigns
Spider Man 2 can actually help the brands a boost in their
sales. "They add the "zing thing" to their campaigns
and the entertainment content makes the proposition that much more
attractive to the consumer. It's this value proposition which differentiates
the brand from its competition and helps it break through the clutter
and therefore reach out to a wider consumer base. At the end of
the day, these activities boost sales and increase consumption,"
said Roy.
Some staggering facts about Spider Man 2:
Spider Man 2 is the second largest grosser at the box
office being next in line only to Titanic. It cranked out
a staggering six-day estimate of $180.1 million at the North American
box-office - the biggest first six days in box office history!
The Sam Raimi-directed sequel has had the largest opening day for
any foreign movie in India by grossing Rs 23 million. It also had
the largest single day collection (Sunday) for a foreign film of
Rs 27 million. Spider Man 2 was also the largest weekend
grosser with a collection of Rs 78 million which was 46.5 per cent
higher than Spider Man.
Spider Man 2 was expected to cross the $200 million mark
in eight days - which would make it the fastest to reach that level,
as it would beat the nine days it took the original Spider Man
to get there.
The movie has had phenomenal openings all over the globe including
Japan, Germany, Scandinavia, Latin America, Brazil and across Asia.
Spider Man 2 has already breezed by Spider Man's
lifetime grosses in five territories: Russia passed it in six days,
the Philippines in seven, Turkey in 10, Thailand in 11 and Malaysia
in 12, and all are still doing strong business.
While on the topic of breaking records, another first in the case
of Spider Man 2 is that six months prior to the release of
the movie in India, the pre-release trailer campaigns ran across
theatres in India and the trailer was released along with the US
trailer thus forming an integration of the Indian campaign with
the US one. Said Columbia TriStar managing director Uday Singh,
"Releasing day and date is passe! We now start our campaigns
with the US - therefore bringing about a holistic integration between
LA and Mumbai."
Phenomenal is the word that comes to mind!
 All
said and done, the latest joke that is doing the rounds of the industry
is a photograph which just shows Spider Man's hand on the ground...
and guess what's next to it? Another brand!! This time a lethal
one for Spidey... the Baygon spray! Will that be the end of Spidey?
We sure hope not but it's quite an innovation nonetheless!
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A
total of 303 prints were released in India which will be played
across 325 screens including two IMAX screens. The movie will also
be dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, thus taking the Spidey phenomena
across the nation.
