Marketing Fundas for Bollywood

Just thought of this idea, that we could (or should) apply marketing concepts to Bollywood and see what we can come up with. So, here goes.

Segmentation

The masses can be segmented various ways. First segmentation is by price. The multiplexes, for all their plus points, score very low on price (are priced too high) for the masses. How many people from this segment can actually afford to take out a family to a multiplex even once a YEAR? Essentially, the multiplex caters to the upper middle class. The movie hall next door, or the DVD/VCD version actually must be catering to a large part of the mass market today, from what I can gather.

Positioning

Family entertainers are few and far between. Intellectuals may not like Sooraj Barjatya for his marriage videos passing as movies style, but they do appeal to a wider audience than many niche movies. 3 idiots, was one such recent film, and that was one reason that it raked in the kind of money it did. Munnabhai series were also in that category. A lot of the older films used to be able to do this, like many Manmohan Desai films, for instance. But of late, fewer filmmakers are able to find the pulse of a family audience.

Niche movies can be of different categories, positioned as crime thrillers, comedies, action films, or new age films. These stand the danger of not having a market, if the desired target segment does not like it. Horror as a genre, for example, has few takers in Indian movie audiences.

(to be continued)