Hoardings ban: Use bullock carts, lanterns to promote films
Meher Khanna - Televisionpoint.com | Chennai
They are hollering in and out with bullock carts, trains and buses these days. The ban on hoardings in Tamil Nadu has made Kollywood filmmakers and advertisers adopt new ways to catch the eye of the masses.
This is apart from the usual events and hype that surround a film's release. Recently, four bullock carts, carrying old lanterns and huge cutouts from Nayagan, trundled down the busy Kodambakkam, the Kollywood hub. A rare sight these days in a city that has gone hi-tech with swanky SUVs and glittering sedans, the carts went around Chennai for four days.
Says actor Riteesh, the Nayagan movie's hero and the brain behind the idea, recalled how such promos were used in villages those days. "The only way of announcing a new film's release was through bullock carts parading up and down the village. Small boys would run along with the cart distributing pamphlets with details about the movie. When hoardings were banned in the city, I thought why not we follow the old fashioned yet appealing idea," Riteesh says.
According to Bawa, co-director of Nayagan, old kerosene lanterns which were not available in Chennai were procured from Mumbai. Riteesh happens to be president of Jallikkattu Association of Tamil Nadu. His fans from Paramakudi, Perambalur, Sivagangai, Tiruchi, Madurai and Theni, painted the bulls with promos of Nayagan using coloured powder and tethered the animals in front of all the cinemas, where the film was released.
Vinyl posters of Nayagan were also stuck on 500 auto rickshaws zipping across the city much ahead of the movie's release. "In fact I got a big opening in my second film only because of these unique promos," Riteesh says with a grin.
It was actor Vijay's producer Udhayanidhi, who was the first one to resort to a new method of promotion. His last venture Kuruvi was the first Tamil film that was advertised on a full train running between Chennai and Madurai with polyvinyl posters of the movie pasted on the outside.
However, the same strategy was used much earlier for a mobile phone by Chennai-based SS Media India Private Limited. Vijay's fans adopted another method on the day Kuruvi was released. They performed a special pooja to the film cans at the KK Nagar Pillayar Koil in the city and then carried them on a chariot with huge film posters.
The chariot went around in a procession to Udhayam Theatre where the film was screened. Earlier, the fans released pairs of love birds in the air. Lekha Ratnakumar of Lekha Productions, who got stars like Jyothika and Sneha to do ad campaigns, used the entire Madurai railway station to promote a consumer product.
According to Ratnakumar, bus shelters have been a proven success. "If you take the radio, it is only an announcement. On television channels people skipped the ads by surfing. But advertising on bus shelters which are in view all the 24 hours yields high returns," Ratnakumar says.
Soon he will start 'vehicle wrapping', where the entire car, bus, van or a motor cycle is covered with images and promo material of a brand. Then it would be 'walking signs', which is popular in Europe. Boys and girls, carrying signboards will walk up and down the busy areas of the city.
The Rajinikanth starrer Kuselan was promoted with the concept of bus wrapping. Rare pictures of the superstar were also displayed inside the bus.
Saroja is the latest to follow suit. "We wanted to promote the film with an old Volkswagen van and later Venkat Prabhu, the director, suggested a bus. We painted the entire bus with images of Saroja stars and catchy lines. These buses are running in the city without any passengers," says producer Shiva.
Then, Pyramid Saimira Theatre came up with the idea of letting people book tickets for Saroja online in the bus itself. Saroja ads were printed on the back of bus tickets. Trailers and behind-the-scenes visuals are being screened in inter-state buses. "Since the film's core theme is travel, we preferred to promote it this way," Shiva says.
They are hollering in and out with bullock carts, trains and buses these days. The ban on hoardings in Tamil Nadu has made Kollywood filmmakers and advertisers adopt new ways to catch the eye of the masses.
This is apart from the usual events and hype that surround a film's release. Recently, four bullock carts, carrying old lanterns and huge cutouts from Nayagan, trundled down the busy Kodambakkam, the Kollywood hub. A rare sight these days in a city that has gone hi-tech with swanky SUVs and glittering sedans, the carts went around Chennai for four days.
Says actor Riteesh, the Nayagan movie's hero and the brain behind the idea, recalled how such promos were used in villages those days. "The only way of announcing a new film's release was through bullock carts parading up and down the village. Small boys would run along with the cart distributing pamphlets with details about the movie. When hoardings were banned in the city, I thought why not we follow the old fashioned yet appealing idea," Riteesh says.
According to Bawa, co-director of Nayagan, old kerosene lanterns which were not available in Chennai were procured from Mumbai. Riteesh happens to be president of Jallikkattu Association of Tamil Nadu. His fans from Paramakudi, Perambalur, Sivagangai, Tiruchi, Madurai and Theni, painted the bulls with promos of Nayagan using coloured powder and tethered the animals in front of all the cinemas, where the film was released.
Vinyl posters of Nayagan were also stuck on 500 auto rickshaws zipping across the city much ahead of the movie's release. "In fact I got a big opening in my second film only because of these unique promos," Riteesh says with a grin.
It was actor Vijay's producer Udhayanidhi, who was the first one to resort to a new method of promotion. His last venture Kuruvi was the first Tamil film that was advertised on a full train running between Chennai and Madurai with polyvinyl posters of the movie pasted on the outside.
However, the same strategy was used much earlier for a mobile phone by Chennai-based SS Media India Private Limited. Vijay's fans adopted another method on the day Kuruvi was released. They performed a special pooja to the film cans at the KK Nagar Pillayar Koil in the city and then carried them on a chariot with huge film posters.
The chariot went around in a procession to Udhayam Theatre where the film was screened. Earlier, the fans released pairs of love birds in the air. Lekha Ratnakumar of Lekha Productions, who got stars like Jyothika and Sneha to do ad campaigns, used the entire Madurai railway station to promote a consumer product.
According to Ratnakumar, bus shelters have been a proven success. "If you take the radio, it is only an announcement. On television channels people skipped the ads by surfing. But advertising on bus shelters which are in view all the 24 hours yields high returns," Ratnakumar says.
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Cinema campaigns turn to buses after hoardings ban. |
The Rajinikanth starrer Kuselan was promoted with the concept of bus wrapping. Rare pictures of the superstar were also displayed inside the bus.
Saroja is the latest to follow suit. "We wanted to promote the film with an old Volkswagen van and later Venkat Prabhu, the director, suggested a bus. We painted the entire bus with images of Saroja stars and catchy lines. These buses are running in the city without any passengers," says producer Shiva.
Then, Pyramid Saimira Theatre came up with the idea of letting people book tickets for Saroja online in the bus itself. Saroja ads were printed on the back of bus tickets. Trailers and behind-the-scenes visuals are being screened in inter-state buses. "Since the film's core theme is travel, we preferred to promote it this way," Shiva says.
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