Who's the real Idiot?

Nikhil's question got me thinking. It had to do with the movie, 'Three Idiots'. He wanted to know if all the bad blood that the Chetan Bhagat-Aamir/Hirani/Chopra feud had generated was publicity good enough to help sales. For the book and the movie. The answer is a resounding Yes. Nikhil's follow up question then was if publicity on its own was good enough a tool in generating awareness for any brand. My answer's a Yes and a No. Publicity, if carried by almost all media houses can generate maximum awareness. But if its limited in its 'carriage' (read, picked only by few media houses) then its reach may be curtailed, therefore limited. This would then require that mass media vehicles be used and Ads run so as to generate greater reach.

But where publicity scores over advertising is in its effectiveness. The consumer's engagement with a media story (read, publicity) is an active one. The Chetan-Aamir controversy has generated enough heat to have eyeballs glue to news screens on TV and print stories in newspapers. This is in contrast to mass media advertising. The consumer's engagement here is passive. And so the communique lacks the ability to generate 'active' interest. In other words, in all probability our eyeballs ignore the commercial on TV or the print Ad in a newspaper.

The subsequent implication is, the 'recall power' generated through publicity is far greater than what's garnered through mass media advertising. That in turn means that publicity has greater chance of ensuring that the brand in question features in a consumer's consideration set.

Here's something to note. If some reports are to be believed, the Chetan-Aamir feud was an engineered one. If that were so, the real idiots include the one writing this post. :)

Comments

King said…
I wonder how a shrewd market analyst like you took such a long time to realize that the feud is an engineered one..!! In addition to publicizing the movie, the feud helps the book to gain publicity. Many movie buffs read the book to verify if the movie is totally inspired by that story.. All these ppl are marketing masterminds.. By letting the blogosphere to take sides, they gained MILEAGE..
snehal satya said…
Definitely Sir,
This is not the first time movie makers are creating these kind of publicity. In earlier cases too like in Madhur Bhandarkar films(like page 3 & jail etc) and Ram Gopal Verma films (like Ramu ki Aag)are good examples of publicity stunts. These are now a common tool for the marketers to sell the product. But here the difference is that, all are benefited (Aamir-Hirani-Chetan). WIN-WIN situation
When you can't convince someone, confuse them... and if you can't confuse them, get them altercating...
Read Sagarika's take on the movie... WHile a majority of the country likes the movie, Sagarika defers and supports the education system...

http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/sagarikaghose/223/54036/from-three-idiots-to-a-nation-of-idiots.html
Ray Titus said…
K,

The 'shrewd' analysis aside, I gotta confess, at times idiocy and me are quite the bedfellows.

SS,

You're right, its been a Win-Win!

AS,

:) and thanks.

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