Movie marketing has revolutionised in the past few years. It is now a digital-first approach, leveraging the power of social media and viral trends to intrigue audiences to watch the movie. One of the best and most recent examples is “Bad Newz” starring Vicky Kaushal, Tripti Dimri, and Ammy Virk. Directed by Anand Tiwari, this movie promises to be a blend of chaotic humour and heartfelt emotions. And that is reflected in the movie’s marketing strategy as well.
You’ve already seen the song “Tauba Tauba” take over the entire Internet. Vicky Kaushal’s epic dance moves became the focal point of the marketing campaign. The three-week-long promotion tour for ‘Bad Newz‘ comprised hilarious digital campaigns, viral trends, and engaging with influencers, combined with the cast’s promotional efforts in different cities.
You know a movie is marketed well when it excites you even more to go watch it in theatres. That was exactly the game plan for ‘Bad Newz’, thanks to One Hand Clap, the creative agency behind some of the viral and hilarious campaigns.
Also Read: Vicky Kaushal Made The Internet Go “Tauba Tauba” With His Moves And Amazing Creator Collaborations
The Viral Campaigns
One Hand Clap used the ‘Tauba Tauba‘ frenzy toppled with exaggerated humour and got Vicky, Tripti & Ammy to execute some truly hilarious ideas that went viral in no time. Their team got the cast to recreate an old cringe TikTok video titled ‘Multiverse of Kalesh!’ This was the cherry on the cake! These videos conceptualised by the creative agency, play on the humorous tone of the film.
We spoke to Aakash Shah, Founder of One Hand Clap, to decode the successful marketing strategy for ‘Bad Newz.’ How did their team get the cast to execute these crazy ideas? Let’s find out from the man himself!
The Brief
The brief to us from Amritpal Singh Bindra was pretty straightforward – create a viral social campaign a few days before Bad Newz hits theatres. The team – Manali Giri, Sudarshan P, Pankaj Ramnani & Saharsh Pathe worked through the next 2 days to have a couple of big bet ideas in the kitty.
The Pitch
When we finally pitched to Amritpal Singh Bindra and Vicky Kaushal, the team was half nervous and half excited. There was a laugh riot and everyone bought the ideas thrown at them very well. Stars going out of their comfort zone to create a banger content piece has to be my favourite genre.
How Should One Approach A Brief Like This?
“The approach is to create something that garners attention. Show them the vibe or glimpse of what to expect from the film in a bite-sized content piece. One Hand Clap’s aim is to create a unit that is unexpected and would make the viewer pause & spend some time on it,” revealed Aakash.
“Our job is to aim for maximum awareness for the film before its release and hope for it to translate into box office success on the opening weekend. Beyond that – film has to run on its own merit and marketing hardly has any role to play beyond that,” he added.
Assessing Virality At A Concept Level
When your brief is to create a viral campaign on social media, how can you predict the virality of an idea at the concept stage? Aakash explains, “Unpredictability of the campaign + Star value of the celebrity is enough to determine the success. If a campaign scores high on both fronts then it’s a guaranteed hit.“
P.S. We have some inside news! We asked Aakash about any more wild ideas that didn’t make it to the final cut of these videos. Aakash said that there’s one idea they most definitely want to do with Tripti Dimri. “I am not going to reveal it yet. We’re hoping we get to do that idea with Tripti on some other campaign hehe,” he said. Now, we’re so curious to know!
Dharma Movies’ ‘Bad Newz’ was released in theatres on July 19. Despite competition from Deadpool vs Wolverine in the next week and Akshay Kumar’s Sarfira at the theatres, the movie’s songs and viral campaigns created a massive buzz, making it a big Bollywood release. Collective excitement of this level is essential for achieving strong box office returns. And ‘Bad Newz’ hit the jackpot with their digital marketing!
