Creative way of advertising is by doing product placement in movies. Its effectiveness is analysed for case studies of Chennai Express & Ra.One.

1. CASE STUDIES
Seema Gupta
IIM Bangalore
DigitalMarketingTadka.com
dmtadka@gmail.com

2. Chennai Express
© Seema Gupta

3. Star Cast
Deepika Padukone
Shah Rukh Khan
Sathyaraj
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy
Director: Rohit Shetty
Story Line: The movie is revolved around the protagonist’s journey from Mumbai to
beautiful landscapes of Rameshwaram, and the events that unfold as the protagonist
falls in love with the daughter of a local don.
© Seema Gupta

4. Sponsors
Area wise Partner
Brands Associated
Helicopter Partner
Deccan
In-film Brands
Scorpio, WildCraft, Nokia (Lumia 920), Palam Silks
Brand
Partners/ Videocon, Lawman Pg3, Lovely Professional University, Lux,
Media
Asus, digitalxpress, Hungama.com, best, Baskin Robbins,
Genus, Fair and Handsome, McDonalds, Western Union,
Nerolac, Patrika group, Hindustantimes, Bright Outdoor
Media, 98.3 FM Radio Mirchi
Agency Partners
Bottomline, Globosport, Vibrant, Fish, Jas, cineyug,
Mindshare Fulcrum, Interactive, CAA Kwan, Direct Access,
GoFish, Lenkart, All India, CMCC, Singbox
Music
T-series
Media Partners
UTVStars
© Seema Gupta

5. Advertisers
Brand
Lumia 920
Movie/
Product Placement Type in
Promotion
Nokia
Product
movie
Movie
Script
Explicit
Affect
Negative/
Mixed
Asus
Transformer Book
Promotion
-
-
Promotion
Script
Advertisement
-
Outside Promotion
Plot
Implicit
-
Plot
Integrated
Positive
TX300
Aaj Tak
‘Mudda Express’
Nerolac
Lawman Pg3
Jeans
Implicit
-
with cut scenes
Yamaha
Bikes
In-Film
Explicit
Bailey
Ray Ban
Bailey
In-Film
Screen
Explicit
Mixed
RayBan Specs
In-Film
Plot
Integrated
Positive
Explicit
Wildcraft
Wildcraft Bag (Ruck-
In-Film
Plot
Implicit
Positive
sak)
© Seema Gupta

6. Movie stills with Brand
Placements
Ray Ban Specs
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7. Nokia Lumia 920
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8. LaWMan Pg3
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9. AAJ Tak News channel
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10. Cost Structure and reviews for
Chennai Express
Production Cost: 50 Crore
Print and Advertising Budget: 30 Crore
Rohit Shetty and Team Fee: 15 Crore
Red Chillies : 15 Crore
SRK Distribution Share: 25 crore
Total Revenue: More than $5,307,960 (domestic)
Reviews
Adriano says: (August 28, 2013)
“The most outrageous product placement scene (of a single product) in movie history.
I’m all for Nokia’s little placements (Transformers, Tron, Batman…) but this was just
cringe-worthy.”
Prasad Jiwane from United States: Brainless Action Flick by SRK
“Blatant advertising is used to increase revenue. Cinematography is good but with
cheap script and acting make it fall in the shadows”.
© Seema Gupta

11. Comments
There are numerous instances where product placements have
been blatantly used but all these placements are depicted
around the central character, Shahrukh Khan.
The sole reason could be the association of the character with
the brand and the popularity of the character among the
audience.
© Seema Gupta

12. Ra.One
Ra.One was one of the biggest movies in terms of its budget as well as the
number of brand associations it were involved in.
The Shahrukh Khan starrer tied up with over 25 brands for co-branding.
© Seema Gupta

13. Star Cast
Arjun Rampal
Shah Rukh Khan
Kareena Kapoor
Genre: Science fiction, superhero film
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Story Line: The movie revolves around a game designer who makes the villain of the
game he develops more powerful than the protagonist and the consequences they
suffer when the villain comes into the real world.
© Seema Gupta

14. The brands associated with the movie
Shahrukh Khan launches 'G.One' – Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 560Ti graphic card
Volkswagen, Fly Kingfisher, NVidia, Mental Ray, Monarch , Tommy Hilfiger, Hero Cycle, Ducati,
Coca Cola, Western Union, Playstation, Nokia, Mcdonalds, Horlicks, Matrix, GodrejEon, Nerolac,
Vidoecon
© Seema Gupta

15. Sponsors
Area Partner
Brands Associated
Gaming Partner:
UTV Indiagames.com
Online media Partner
Youtube
Digital Outreach Partner
Everymedia
Merchandizing Partner
Homeshop18, SeventyMM, HitPLay
In-film Brand Placemnt Partner
Bottomline
Outdoor Partner
Bright Outdoor Media Pvt. Limited
© Seema Gupta

16. Advertisers
Brand
Product
Placement Use
Fit with plot
Effect
Apple
Laptop
Explicit
Presentation
Yes
Positive
Reebok
Jersey,
Explicit
Football game
Yes
Positive
Explicit
Parking
No
Undecided
shoes
Volkswagen
Nvidia
Software
Implicit
Game launch
Yes
Positive
Dolce and
Inner
Explicit
Unnecessary
No
Negative
Gabbana
Wear
Kingfisher
Airlines
Explicit
Airplane
Yes
-
Café Coffee day
Store
-
Airport
No
Negative
Mcdonalds
Store
-
Airport
No
Negative
Nike
Shoes
-
Rajni Shoes
Yes
Positive
PlayStation PS3
Games
Explicit
Games
No
Negative
Console
© Seema Gupta

17. Movie stills with Brand
Placements
Volkswagen The new Touareg
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18. Kingfisher Airlines
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19. Sony PlayStation PS3
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20. Cost Structure towards Ra.One
Production
Production Cost: 150 Crores
Online Promotion: 15 Crores
Total Revenue: 240 Crores
Reviews
Andrew O'hehir in his review of Ra.One says that “While “RA. One” is as calculating as all get
out, is loaded with blatant product placement and — in classic Indian style — combines any
number of different and perhaps contradictory genres in an effort to reach babies and grandmas
and everyone in between, it never feels cynically niche-marketed or fundamentally bored with
itself, the way so many big-budget American movies do
© Seema Gupta

21. Cost Structure and reviews for
Ra.One
Reviews
Dheeraj writes, “Another point to mention is product placement. Given the mammoth budget of
the film, product placement is expected and Apple as well as Tommy Hilfiger is heavily featured
at various points in the film”
Hollywood-based cinematographer Nicola Pecorini, who was engaged as the director of
photography also faced some problems while shooting. Pecorini did face problems regarding the
lighting, highlighting the trend of product endorsements which often created problems. He
pointed out that some of the actors' costumes, worn as endorsements, created trouble due to
an improper color palette. Additionally, a car endorsement created a major lighting problem due
to reflection. He later commented, product placement is great because it gives you money for
the movie but it shouldn’t influence the look of the film and should fit well."
© Seema Gupta

22. Comments
We see that overall, the feedback for the product placement for Ra.One
was negative. Critics thought the placement was over the board, though in the
case of Ra.One , the budget of the movie was so big to warrant such blatant
placement.
The perception was probably that the more the visibility and publicity of
the movie, the more the brand would gain.
Presence of too many brands on one single platform might have worked
against the brands.
Acknowledgment: Report on Product Placement by Ravela Madhurika, Akash
Kumar, Rashmi Ranjan Sethi, Tanveer Mohd. Ansari, Pramod Eknath Avacharmal
© Seema Gupta

23. Will this marketing strategy prosper
with time?
What do you think?
Read More at
DigitalMarketingTadka.com
© Seema Gupta