Sunday, December 18, 2011

Simbu Tries To Remake


No no, I am not referring to Osthe, the Dabang remake. Simbu is trying a new brand image for himself.

But before that you must know that I do not like him despite the fact that there is nothing personal. I am purely prejudiced.

Back in late 90s and early 2000s, Internet and Email were still uncommon. After creating many email ids with different service providers, I zeroed in on an address that became my identity. My email id used to be "gunduganesh" @ whatever. Gundu here meaning fat which is to indicate that I am quite a healthy person. The email id did become popular. At many a times, people at office and other places did start referring to me as Gundu. Now they were not rude just that they did like the id so much. Despite the fact that I never took offence, it did irk me now and then.

Naru, who is sort of a guru to me, at one time suggested that I should change my email id. He said that while it was good for someone to laugh at himself, it would certainly be bad for my image as I grew up in life. But it took me couple of years from then to actually change my email id. And then slowly my association with the word Gundu also declined. Though there are still very close friends who would refer to me by that name.

The bottom line is that it may be quite easy to create a brand equity for yourself through the easiest possible leverages but it is more difficult to change once your brand equity is established.

Simbu became Simbu because as a child artist his father decided to use it instead of Silambarasan. And he did manage to get popularity with that name. Also, as he was young and did imitate Super Star, he became Little Super Star.

With age, you realize that what is an advantage at a certain point may not necessarily be so at a different period. So, Simbu needs a different identity now at a stage when the competition is much for "mature and serious".

So with Osthe, Simbu has also undertaken a marketing campaign to change his brand name from Simbu to STR and from Little Super Star to Young Super Star. So you can take part in quizzes, "get used" to the name that Simbu wants to be recognized as and win movie tickets to his remake movie.

Would be interesting to see how long before we get used to Simbu's new name and title. There certainly is a lesson for others to look ahead and decide now. Easy, as Simbu has realized, is not always the best! 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Kolaveri Di: Innovation in Tamil Cinema


Tamil Film industry, just sometime back, was dominated by a family and their media groups. Almost every other movie was either nephew's or elder son's son or the younger one's. As the regime changed, that seemed to have changed.

Thankfully, I am not writing about politics in the industry. In that regime, the marketing of movies was high decibel campaigns in the TV and FM channels belonging to the family. Everything seemed to be just the same.

In that sense, Kolaveri Di is an innovation in movie marketing. Of course, it is a good product if not great. The music is catchy, the lyrics are easy to understand. It is not a Tamil song, just Tamil in thought. Of course, some may say that there is hardly anything in the song, but maybe that is the reason why it is so successful.

Mani could re-learn about segmenting the market. Despite the fact that the channel chosen by the Kolaveri team was Internet, it certainly was first aimed for Tamilians. The sales team includes Super Star's daughter &  son-in-law, and Kamal Hasan's daughter, faces that every Tamilian recognizes and adores. The song has successfully managed to cross the chasm of cultural barrier and has become a phenomenon.

As a Tamilian, it does feel proud that the song is a national favorite. And, of course, we might in the coming days, see more innovations in film marketing as Kolaveri Di has set a new benchmark in promoting movies.