New Product Launch ( An Art Film)

1. NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH
By
Ashish Babaria
Sandeep Satishchandra
Shalini Mukerji
Aabhas Rastogi

3. COMPANY NAME : Sasha Production House
Established in 2000, Sasha is India’s first, fully integrated Content Creation and Distribution
Company. We have expertise in producing Motion Pictures, Film Distribution and Marketing, Ad
Film Production, Corporate Films, Live Events and Special Projects. Sasha is equipped to meet
the content needs of both consumers and clients alike by providing customised solutions across
segments.
Today, it is one of the leading corporates with a fully integrated in-house infrastructure for
production across various divisions.
Sasha produces innovative and quality films through an efficient film making process, by
integrating content production, distribution, tie-ups for exhibitions, broadcasting and music
rights. Its deep understanding of the global audience, genres and markets has led to producing
and partnering meaningful and commercially viable cinema products. Its corporate practices
include adopting new systems and technologies, following transparent accounting practices,
expanding entertainment markets, improving consumer connect through content, market
research, and value chain integration.
PRODUCT : ‘Painting Hussain’
The product in our New Product Launch is a movie. The script in itself is a story that is off-beat
as compared to the modern, generic commercial drivel usually dished out of Bollywood. The
film belongs to the broad genre of Parallel Indian Cinema- a term that is essentially used for any
kind of cinema that is not traditionally Bollywood. Essentially our aim as marketers is to
promote the film both locally and internationally and stress on the fact that Indian Cinema is not
just about song and dance interspersed within a weak plot.

4. PRODUCT CONCEPT:
The film Painting Hussain is a biography of M.F. Hussain’s life, portraying his childhood, career
and the controversies that have surrounded him throughout his life. It is a film designed for a
niche market, and for the curious admirers in the artistic community. Painting Hussain is a two
hour film that will debut in India and will also be shown at film festivals across the globe.
ASSUMPTIONS :
1. We assume that the movie has been made in two languages. English and Hindi.
2. All information regarding M. F. Hussain has been researched thoroughly and has been
used in the making of the movie.
3. All distribution rights of the film are with Sasha Production House.
4. Sasha Production House has the ancillary rights to distribute the film on DVD, CD’s and
Television.
5. We assume that 17th September 2012 is a Friday and that there is no other block buster
releasing on the afore mentioned date.
6. Each of Hussain’s muses play cameo roles in the film, portraying themselves.
MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEM:
Our product is a biopic on M.F. Hussain. We use data from the last few biography movies to
understand & learn how they had marketed their products & where they went wrong-Once upon
a time in Mumbai, Asoka, The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Bose: The Forgotten Hero, etc.
MARKETING INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM: Different stories & different scripts were screened &
out of them the biography of M.F. Hussain was selected.
MARKETING RESEARCH :
A lot of filmmakers internationally are using Market Research, Focus Group Discussions and
Test Screenings as a tool to gauge initial feedback about their films. However, many of the
Indian filmmakers still show reluctance towards Market Research/ Target Group Testing/ Title
Testing etc. prior to movie production/ release and rely on their gut feel and experience.
The trend of research is not new. In fact many years ago Mr.Raj Kapoor used to show his films to
his close family and friends pre-release and ask for their feedback. Aamir Khan still does that
with his films. It's just that we don't use the term Research for that. The objective of conducting
Focus Group Discussions, Test Screenings etc. is to get a varied point of view. Sometimes it
works, sometimes it doesn't. For e.g. the story of Devdas had already been made in 3 different
versions before our film Dev D. If we had shown our film Dev D to people and asked for their
views, they would have shunned the idea but we didn't do any research and went ahead with
our conviction and the results are there for all to see.

5. There is a vast difference between consumers of an FMCG product and consumers of a film. I
don't think consumers can decide how a film is just by watching the rough cut. I don't think they
have the competence to suggest corrective action. In a story of a film there are many layers and
complexities. At the end of the day, Research is just a tool and will be as good or bad as the
person who designs it.
Ram Mirchandani of Eros International, a studio which has some biggies lined up for release this
year, gave an interesting real life example which happened to him, "Last year around April- May
we had begun work on a film called Chalo Dilli starring Lara Dutta and Vinay Pathak. All of a
sudden, we thought let's add an item song to the narrative of the film. The director Shashant
Shah was quite upset as he felt that there was no need for such a song as the script itself was
compelling enough. However we conducted Focus Group discussions across various
demographics and to our surprise found out that 90% of people wanted an item song to be
included in the film. This was even before 'Munni' or 'Sheila' released and was indeed an eye-
opener for us and like you may have guessed the film does have an item song now. So in short
you need not always listen to the findings of the market research but it can be insightful at
times. It is important for a studio like ours which works on 10-20 films a year to get inputs from
Market Research’.
While the topic did have its share of believers and non-believers, Jaideep Sahni summed it all up
quite beautifully when he said, "At the marketing stage, research can be very effective and
productive for us. In terms of judging a semi-made film's rough cut, it may or may not be useful
as the process to incorporate the suggestions arrived at by the research can be quite
complicated. You stand the risk of doing neuro-surgery with a pair of boxing gloves. However, to
use research as a tool at the green-lighting stage of a project, is absolutely ridiculous."
Painting Hussain - the film is based on the facets people might be interested to know about. One
should not portray only significant things about a person’s life but facts that are representative
of him as a person too. There was a film on Ambedkar and critics wrote that the film was for
history lovers and not for viewers. Biopics demand seriousness, there should be no
sugarcoating done on them.
However for this product, Market research becomes a necessity since it is a biopic about the
Picasso of India.
SCANNING THE MARKETS :
From underworld figures and political activists to famous artists and star athletes, Bollywood is
going biographical with a series of films based on, or inspired by, real lives. The first to hit
screens is Once Upon A Time in Mumbai, a thriller set in the 1970s about a power struggle
between two gangsters, complete with big hair, even bigger moustaches, wing-collar shirts and
flares.
Launching a movie about a controversial figure like MF Hussain in India poses a posse of
problems. MF Hussain was a prominent figure in the Art Industry. MF Hussain was instrumental

6. in spearheading a wave of Indian Modernism during the 1940’s. He has been widely regarded as
the "Picasso of India" and has influenced a whole generation of artists in the country. He
amassed a fortune but maintained a bank balance of zero. He applied the formal lessons of
European modernists like Cézanne and Matisse to scenes from national epics like
the Mahabharata, Ramayana and to the Hindu pantheon. Hence he has remained a controversial
painter. He self-exiled himself from India and sought refuge in London.
Biopics that have been released in India have generally fared poorly when the parameters taken
into consideration involve raking in the moolah. However, critics have been cynical about rating
a movie by its box office performance. It may reflect the film’s profitability but not its success.
The markets for such biopics in India are mainly restricted to the major metros and the second-
tier cities that are sprouting all over across the country. The untapped markets include the
Indian hinterland and the rural area where the audience still views as cinema as a source of
entertainment. These are generally the target audience for commercial Bollywood films.
The Art Industry is still in its nascent stage in India. MF Hussain being an artist, his story is
generally not that well known amongst the Indian masses The challenge hence would be to
generate interest interest amongst the target audience.
M. F. Hussain is well known artist in the International Art circles. Celebrated in London and
heralded as a modern day art genius in the West, the movie has a market abroad. Western
Society has a mature outlook to Art. Their awareness is higher. Traditionally Biopics from India
have done well internationally. Parallel cinema from India finds takers globally. Eg. Dhobi Ghat
did good business abroad thanks to positive reviews in International Film Festivals like The
Berlinale and the Venice International Film Festival. This is the best way of launching the movie.
The positive buzz created abroad can be used as a promotional tool. The International audience
will be sympathetic to his plight as a fallen artist. We can position our movie accordingly
through our marketing strategy.
MARKETING ENVIRONMENT:
Muqbool Fida Hussain, took up Qatari citizenship in February of this year. Hussain was awarded
the Padma Shri 1955, the Padma Bhushan in 1973, the Padma Vibhushan in 1989 and was
nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. He gained notoriety in 1996 when pieces that he had
painted in the 70s were reprinted in a Hindi magazine. Initially 8 cases were filed against him
which eventually escalated to a large number of cases (about 900 or so) spread throughout the
country.

7. In 2006, the death threats and acts of vandalism increased, forcing Hussain to spend an
increasing amount of time abroad. His decision to take up Qatar’s offer of citizenship requires
him to give up his Indian citizenship.
These Politico-legal factors have to be taken into considerations while launching this movie.
There was a severe backlash against MF Hussain’s works from right-wing groups. The strategy
employed should lay less emphasis on the controversies. Care should be taken not to position
the movie as an outright glorification of M. F. Hussain.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:
First, we’ve analysed the target market for our product Painting Hussain.
AGE BREAKDOWN
60% of audience are between the ages of 35 and 55.
Age BreakDown
34
35
30 27
23
25
20
15 12
Age BreakDown
10
5
0
25-35 35-45 45-55 55+
Age
EDUCATION LEVEL
84% of Audience have attended some college or having a Bachelor’s degree or above.

8. Education
32
35 29
30
23
25
20 16
15
10
5
0
High School some college Bachleor's Masters
Degree
PURCHASING DECISION MAKER
91% of respondents are either the primary decision maker for purchasing or share the decision-
making role.
Role
No Role, 9%
Primary, 35%
Share, 56%

9. DECISION MAKING
It is seen that, 45% of users make their purchasing decisions based on advertising, and 70 %
rely on their friend’s recommendation.
Advertisment 45%
Friend's Recommendation 70%
Movie Website 44%
Third Party Website 29%
Other 36%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
MOVIES: WHERE WATCHED
30% WHERE MOVIES ARE WATCHED
30% 25%
25% 20%
20%
15%
7% 8%
10%
5%
0%
At the Rent Dvds Tv Cable on Online
theater Demand
A huge percentage of audience prefers to watch movie at home approx 70%.
Hence we need to cater to these audience through different sources apart from movie theatre.

10. DVDS: SOURCE FOR NEW RELEASES
Blogs 4%
Billboards 12%
Online 10%
Friends 26%
Commercials /Ads 48%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
This research would help us understand the promotional media when we launch Collector’s
edition DVDs in the declinind phase of PLC.
SEGMENTATION:
Painting Hussain being a hindi movie, the debut launch of the movie shall be in India. The
English version of the movie shall be released in United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Italy, France,
Dubai, Qatar, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Painting Hussain will probably not appeal to the
traditional Indian audience and is targeted to a mature audience above the age of 25. It is a
delicate story about narrating excerpts of M. F. Hussains life. Painting Hussain is not for people
who like watching comedy, action, thriller or any fast paced film. It is more for an audience
which likes music, one who reads a lot and for a more niche audience inclined towards the Arts.
The movie is a tribute to M. F. Hussains artistic brilliance, and his contribution to Indian
modernism. The occasion for the launch of this movie shall be his birth anniversary.
TARGETTING:
The movie’s target market is obviously the creatively inclined audience. People who have a
basic understanding of Art and Hussain’s admirers alike will be interested in seeing the movie.
In India, the promotions should be concentrated in the metros and second tier cities as
mentioned before. In India, the movie can be targeted at an audience hungry for meaningful
cinema and are tired of the run-of-the-mill films. The atmospherics and the tones used in the
film appeal to the nuances of World Cinema.
The target audience belongs to the middle and upper income level segment. The film’s handling
clearly segments the audience on their level of education and awareness.

11. POSITIONING:
The movie can be positioned as a movie belonging to a niche genre of experimental cinema due
to its imagery along the lines of Kurosawa or Jarmusch. This will give it the status of a niche
player in the Indian Film Industry. This will draw in the audience.
Differentiation:
The strategy should revolve around the fact that the film is an accurate biopic with a global
audience and a touch of Indian sensibilities as its differentiating factor from other films running
currently at the time of its release.
LIFE CYCLE AND THE CHANGING MARKETING MIX
As a product or brand moves through its life cycle, the company that markets it will shift its
marketing-mix strategies.
Let’s see how the mix might be changed at each stage art films.
Product Life cycle
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
zero week Weekend1 Weekend2 Weakend3 Weakend4 forthcoming
India Europe World Wide
All the figures mentioned above are in crores.

12. Analysis of the Product Life Cycle:
Introduction
At this stage, we need to invest in advertising to make audience aware of the movie.
That is what the movie is about and why they should watch it.
If it faces only limited competition, we might use a skimming-pricing approach.
Typically, because our target audience is niche, its promo advertisements would only be shown
on news channels and English movie channels for just 15 seconds.
Because sales are low while advertising and other costs are high, the company tends to lose
money during this stage.
Growth
As the company focuses on building sales, which are increasing rapidly at this stage, its
advertising costs will go up.
If competition appears, it may respond by lowering prices and distributing through multiple
distribution multiplexes.
With sales going up and costs going down, the product becomes more profitable.
Maturity
If the film survives the growth stage, it we need to keep it in the maturity stage for as long as
possible.
Sales still grow, though at a decreasing rate, and will eventually stabilize.
We will release the CD’s and DVD’s of the movie around 6 months after the release.
We will sell rights to television channels and online video streaming sites, around 8 to 10
months after the release.
Decline
The sales in this stage would drop drastically. We would now launch exclusive DVDs of the
movie and promote it as a collector’s edition.
The price of DVD would strategically be priced as 299 Rs using psychological pricing strategy.
The DVD would be released worldwide this would further help build upon the falling sales.

13. MARKETING OBJECTIVE:
To create awareness about the movie to the niche market for which the movie is made. Also we will
make use of buzz & viral marketing to create a buzz amongst the audience relating to the movie, as
the life of the subject of the film has been riddled with controversies.
PRODUCT:
The different levels of the product can be outlined as follows:
CORE PRODUCT: Biography of M.F. Hussain
GENERIC PRODUCT: Informative, inspiring & entertaining movie about M.F. Hussain
EXPECTED PRODUCT: Clarification about the controversies surrounding M.F. Hussain
AUGMENTED PRODUCT: Details about the controversies, his personal life, his life during exhile,
his works.
POTENTIAL PRODUCT: A detailed fool proof unbiased illustration of his life.
PRICING:
We will make use of use film festivals as an opportunity to get the attention of distributors. Once
the distributors get interested in the film, we would make use of either of the two distribution
strategies:
Leasing
Profit sharing
In the leasing model, the distributor would pay us a fixed amount for the rights to distribute the
film. If we enter into a profit-sharing relationship, on the other hand, the distributor gets a
percentage (typically anywhere from 10 to 50 percent) of the net profits made from the movie.
Both models can be good or bad, depending on how well the movie does at the box office. We
will make use of both the models depending on the country of release.
Factors like opening of a movie, target audience, buzz, star power, etc would help the distributor
determine the number of prints to make. Each print typically costs about Rs 1-1.5lakh to make,
so the distributor must consider the number of theaters a movie can successfully open in. A
popular movie might fill the seats in several theaters in the same city while another movie
would have a much smaller audience. Since opening a movie on 3,000 screens could cost Rs
30Crores for the prints alone, the distributor must be sure that the movie can draw enough
people to make the costs worthwhile.

14. DISTRIBUTION:
It has been said that making a movie is not nearly as difficult as getting it distributed. Because of
the enormous amount of cost in money and time involved in distributing a movie, a distributor
must feel confident that they can make a sufficient return on their investment.
Currently a large amount of the cost involved in getting a film to the cinema is the production
and shipping of 35mm film prints. This cost, along with the cost of promotion and marketing, is
borne by Sasha Productions, and is known as the Prints and Advertising cost (P&A). This will
amount to around 60% of the marketing budget.
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY:
In brief, the promotional strategy for Painting Hussain is:
MAHURATS AND PARTIES
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALS
POSTERS AND HOARDINGS
NEWS PAPERS AND MAGAZINES
PROMOS AND TRAILERS
MUSIC RELEASE
PREMIERE AND RELEASE
Art films are aimed at small niche market audiences, which means they can rarely get the
financial backing which will permit large production budgets, expensive special effects,
costly celebrity actors, or huge advertising campaigns, as are used in widely-
released mainstream block buster films. Art film directors make up for these constraints by
creating a different type of film, which typically uses lesser-known film actors (or even amateur
actors) and modest sets to make films which focus much more on developing ideas or exploring
new narrative techniques or filmmaking conventions.

15. Furthermore, a certain degree of experience and intellect are required to understand or
appreciate such films; one late 1990s art film was called "largely a cerebral experience" which
you enjoy "because of what you know about film". This contrasts sharply with mainstream
"blockbuster" films, which are geared more towards escapism and pure entertainment. For
promotion, art films rely on the publicity generated from film critics' reviews, discussion of their
film by arts columnists, commentators, and bloggers, and "word-of-mouth" promotion by
audience members. Since art films have small initial investment costs, they only need to appeal
to a small portion of the mainstream viewing audiences to become financially viable.
The promotional campaign is a combination of Above The Line and Below-The-Line strategies.
The promotional campaign of a movie revolves around publicity and advertisements. Creating
awareness amongst the masses about the movie’s plot or storyline is the most important
objective of the promotional campaign.
Viral Marketing:
We will make use of buzz & viral marketing to create a buzz amongst the audience relating to
the movie, as the life of the subject of the film has been riddled with controversies. We should
use the Internet for promotion through advertisements and stirring a buzz through social
networks.
We should upload free viral videos and teaser trailers on free video portals like Youtube, Bing
Video, Google Video etc. The trailers should offer a speculative glimpse into some parts of the
movie like his upbringing, his personal life, his relationships with each of his muses. Care should
be taken to refrain from showcasing any of the controversies that plagued him. The emphasis
should be on the man himself and his wide array of work. The trailers for Painting Hussain shall
primarily be emotional, but informative. It shall have a positive tone, and a logical appeal. Most
importantly, it shall have a moral appeal, as the film will be portraying many of the
controversies surrounding M. F. Hussain's life.
The Primacy format of the trailers shall be open ended, as is the film. It shall be open to
interpretation by the audience and Hussains admirers.
The music of the film shall release two months prior to the release of the film, i.e. on the 15th of
July. This will also be a means to attract the target audience.
Free Screenings in Major Art Schools:
M, F. Hussain is as much known for his work as he is for the drama in his life. Artists all over the
world have often been castigated for their work. The movie offers a perspective to aspiring
artists from all over the world, how they can test the limits of their creativity and expression
and the kind of backlash they can expect from different cultures. Also free screenings can help
raise awareness of the Genius that is M. F. Hussain.
Some of the Major Art Schools selected are Rhode Island of Design (USA), Yale University (USA),
Camberwell College of Art (London,UK), The Glasgow School of Art (UK), University of Arts
(Bremen, Germany), University of Arts (Florence, Italy.)
International festivals:
The concept of a press junket in India is still relatively unknown. However, in the West, Press
Junkets are an important part of any promotional strategy for a movie. Holding press junkets in
International Film Festivals is a vital tool in our marketing strategy. These press junkets will

16. ensure global coverage of our movie and create the right kind of buzz required for a successful
movie launch back home in India.
The festivals we will compete in are The Berlinale, Cannes Film Festival and The Venice Film
Festival.
Publicity:
The publicity department will expend a great deal of time and money trying to maximise benefit
from the following forms of publicity:
Star Interviews- print and broadcast media
Making-of-Documentaries can help add to the hype. We can release limited edition DVDs with a
unique behind-the-scenes look into the entire film making process.
Gala Premiers
News Stories and fodder for Tabloids
Special Cameos:
Hussains’s muses include Madhuri Dixit, Tabu, Amrita Rao and Sonam Kapoor. In our
promotional strategy we should stress on the fact that each of his muses plays a special cameo
in the movie portraying themselves. We can use their star power to give a boost to our
promotions. They can do so by giving exclusive interviews via print and broadcast media.
They can attend special events around tinsel town. We can pledge support to notable causes
of various NGOs thus generating awareness and positive publicity.
Date of Launch:
The date of launch or the premier in India will be the 17th of September, 2012. – the birth
anniversary of M. F. Hussain. This is a strategic promotional gimmick that will ensure positive
publicity.
THE GALA PREMIERE:
By the time the film does the rounds of the International Film Circuit, sufficient buzz will be
generated to launch the product on the pre-decided date of launch.
The Date of Launch is the 17th of September which as mentioned before, is the birth
anniversary of M. F. Hussain.
The location of the Gala Premier will be Mumbai which is the obvious choice for the official
premier being the epicentre of Indian Cinema.

17. The event should be exclusive. The guest list should be decided on an invites-only basis. The
Muses should be in full attendance in all their glamorous best. Certain prominent people like
politicians and select socialites should be invited. A special invite can be extended to the
leaders of all the right-winpg groups who opposed M. F. Hussain’s work in the hope that they
will get to know M. F. Hussain the Person. Not M. F. Hussain the Painter.
We should ensure a sufficient press strength for full coverage and maximum publicity. The
timing during the day for the premier should be set as late evening to ensure maximum
attendance.

18. PROMOTIONAL POSTERS ( DOMESTIC ) :

19. PROMOTIONAL POSTERS : (INTERNATIONAL)