Monday 2 July 2012

No Promotions for Aamir Khan's Talaash!


Aamir Decides to take the No Promotion route for Talaash!

Reliable sources reveal that Aamir Khan has done the unthinkable once again. His most awaited Talaash will be one of the first-ever ‘Blind’ mainstream release in the Indian cinema.


And by Blind, it means completely blind. Barring the first few posters of the film, the film will simply release on a given date without any fanfare. No promos, no teasers, trailers – be it on TV channels or theatrical trailers. No music release prior to the movie, no songs on radio, no media bytes about the subject, no on-road promotions, no tie-ups with any events, no hard-selling on reality shows. No Nothing!

The maverick that Aamir has always been, strongly believes that a film of this stature and sensitivity doesn’t need to ‘sell’ itself to get the target audience in theatres. He opines that off-late movie promotions have taken bizarre proportions akin to an event of national importance. Of course, he confesses, that he himself needs to be blamed for starting this mad trend of innovative marketing gimmicks during movie promotions. And the crusader that he is, he has himself decided to clean the muck by simply releasing Talaash on the release date with zero promotions. Read that again, it will be Zero Promotions!

And now, just stop here and think about it once again. By going the Zero Promotion route, has Aamir, yet again, played a wonderful counter move in promoting his movie? For those with an understanding of consumer behaviour, it’s a typical case of ‘Curiosity campaign’. The best that one could get with ‘Reverse Psychology’.  Aamir, who has often been accused of manipulating the media before all his releases, has decided to make a strong statement to rebuke this accusation. “I am not telling you anything about Talaash. I am not providing you with any sound byte. I challenge you to go and find for yourself. I challenge you to go on this ‘Talaash’ and dig up anything that you can. For anyone who is interested, you’ll have to come to the theatres to find out what Talaash is all about. Beyond that we’ve decided to go completely off your radar.”

Now, if we’re thinking that this could be another of those new-age viral marketing strategies that’ll keep plugging content on Youtube, we’ve got it wrong once again. Zero promotions out here actually mean ZILCH Promotions! The Talaash sets (in fact we don’t even know where they are) will be guarded like forts. The entire cast and crew has been made to sign contractual NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements). No one is telling anyone, anything about Talaash. It’s as Blind as it could be!

Moving ahead, can we even think of the repercussions? This one particular stand has sent shock waves across the industry. It has caused ripples across the media circles. It’ll be interesting to see the collective stand taken by the Media. In fact, is there any possibility of a collective stand? Will the Media Moghuls give it back to the superstar and start snubbing his Talaash. Or will they go on the counter attack, and go completely aggressive in their spy/sting missions to unravel Talaash? Hidden cams, Scoops, chasing Aamir and other stars for bytes, the works?

Can we even imagine a landmark mainstream film like Talaash having the guts to attempt a ‘Curiosity’ campaign! Is this gonna be huge? Is this yet another stroke of genius from Aamir? Is this the most daring media strategy EVER? And with an Aamir at the center of it, does it ensure an unbelievable, impossible, roof-shattering opening?  
Imagine, the black market would come alive. There would be serpentine queues all-night long (just like Harry Potter books) for the first-first show advance. The fans and media would go berserk! I can already imagine a riot-like situation across the country. Imagine hearing an ‘All is well’ kind of chartbuster for the first-time in the theatre. And so privileged and dazed the first show watchers would actually be, that I am sure they will completely miss the content! (amidst soaking in the atmosphere). They’ll actually come back to watch and understand the movie the 2nd time. The social media would go mad, with posts like ‘I was there!’ doing the routine!
If one is confident about the product, the content, the ability to keep the hawks away (like Aamir is), then in fact this could be the most kick-ass marketing strategy ever. Remember, the Rajshris more or less attempting this during Hum Aapke Hain Kaun in 1994. And the results, we all know, were historic! Wasn’t it the first time we heard figures like 100 crores?
Before we take this further, allow me to reveal, that this is nothing but a fiction of my imagination. Inspired by a very similar post from the thought leader, Shailesh Kapoor, the CEO of Ormax Media –
I couldn’t stop salivating at this sizzling possibility. The possibility of a mainstream Bollywood movie releasing completing blind and sending the media, the fans and the industry in a state of tizzy! I just stopped short of saying how this would impact the entire nation as a whole (perhaps too much of an exaggeration). But, think again, doesn’t this have the possibility of being a national event?
For now, it was my imagination (fuelled by Shailesh Kapoor) playing havoc and thinking of this mad marketing strategy for Talaash. But I sincerely hope that somehow this blog post goes viral and Aamir actually picks this up!  Imagine!

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