Chennai Express’s Marketing Express – Did you see the Train? Oh, the movie?

Let us take you to the journey towards 100 crores! 

Flying cars’ expert– Rohit Shetty and very famous King Khan– SRK, proved themselves the champions of marketing when it comes to film promotion. When they joined hands for 'Chennai Express', it was expected that the movie will be the houseful in the first week but to everybody’s surprise it has broken all the records and became the first film to cross Rs 100 crores in just four days in the history of Indian cinema.

Kudos to the marketing team and their strategy that has let the film become a record breaking blockbuster! Unlikely the Ra.One’s promotion, when huge money was spent during marketing, movie proved to be a fuss bomb. This time SRK team has decided to go and promote with the real time audience wherever they are– Facebook, watching daily soap, watching video on Smartphone, doing shopping…Everywhere!

Let's have a look at the innovative ways through which they have publicized 'Chennai Express'.

Game Development: Who doesn’t like playing games on their Smartphone? Well, everybody does from a toddler to teenager to senior generation. The promoters of the movie have launched a game based on Chennai Express. This move was taken to hit the cyber game users as it covers a large number of audiences with the introduction of Smartphones. The game is available on both Android as well as Java based mobile phones. To score points, the users have to fight with the roadside goons. You can see the app here: http://bit.ly/185vUvR

Lungi Dance: South Indian’s all time favourite dress– Lungi! Correct? Composed & produced just for the promotional drive, 'Lungi Dance' has become the main attraction of the movie. It has taken over television, radio and all other social media platforms currently and hence is one of the most important parts of the promotional activities. Even the Punjabi rapper & singer - YoYo Honey Singh too has come up with a beguiling tune (listen to it, you will stress your mind to believe that it was sung by him) and as expected, it has fetched up benefits too for 'Chennai Express' at the box-office. Watch it here: http://bit.ly/18LRIyY

Promotion on TV: The TRP of any channel rises high when superstar appears. ShahRukh has given interviews and talked about the movie while appearing on several shows with his charisma and trademark smile. You must have seen him on – Comedy Nights with Kapil (he appeared there twice), Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, Indian Idol, Madhubala and Diya aur Baati Hum.

Posters in different languages: Since the movie has been released in ten different languages including English, French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Hebrew, Dutch, Turkish and Malay, the promoters created posters of the respective languages. These posters added a sense of belongingness and worked as a great marketing tool.

Tie-up with products: When it comes to marketing and promotion, SRK is one of the leading actors. He is associated with numerous products and many of them have been featured in the film as well.

The 'Rajni' brand: 'Lungi dance' is a very well planned marketing move. The movie is based in South India where Rajnikanth still rules and his name matters a lot. A similar trick was applied by ShahRukh in Ra-One as well, however, the strategy worked outstandingly in Chennai Express.

Interactive movie channel: Recently a media house is going to launch its channel with 'Chennai Express'. It is indeed one of the greatest achievements ever for a film. ShahRukh is known for his enduring spirit and elegance. Hence, this film will assist the movie channel to become a successful brand.

Fashion shows: Recently, SRK was spotted at a fashion show walking the ramp. Although it was completely an alien territory for King Khan but it is known to all that everything is fair in love, war and movie promotion.

Introduction of a new range of Sarees: The star-cast of the movies has launched a new series of Chennai Express sarees. The designs of the sarees are as similar to the ones worn by Deepika in the movie. As per reports these are in huge demand in the market at present.

Social Media Express:

Social media channels were used to create pre-buzz for the movie. Apart from other promotions on Facebook and YouTube, UTV Motion Pictures created a special hashtag #ChennaiExpressArrives for the movie to give the opportunity to watch the trailer of the film earlier than scheduled. Fans just needed to tweet on #ChennaiExpressArrives and get linked to a virtual train reaching Chennai, where the trailer was revealed.

Facebook: You have seen many fans wait in line for one glimpse of SRK. But guess what happened when he invited his fans to do live chat on Facebook with him and Mr. Shetty. It was decided to take place on Tuesday, August 14th at 9 PM (IST). This was the first time when any actor hosted a Facebook live chat to connect with millions of fans in India and globally on his page. To chat with Shahrukh Khan fans had logged on to – facebook.com/iamsrk.

Twitter: With a fast moving stream on Twitter it is likely that anyone can miss anything in the conversation express. He made an intelligent move by sending Tweets via SMS. Now Anyone with a mobile phone in India can follow @iamsrk. They just need to dial the number 09015500555 and register themselves to get his tweets via SMS. See how the promotion went viral with #09015500555Express. (Note: Sorry ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately it’s not SRK’s personal phone number).

Instagram: We didn’t get to see official SRK’s Instagram. But Rohit Shetty seems to be highly active on it. Check out his photos - http://statigr.am/tag/rohitshetty

All the above promotional tactics were enough to popularize the movie to become the talk of the town. From internet users, to households, to gamers the CE team reached everybody (read with a capital E). Also, as they say, oldest and evergreen marketing tactic is – ‘Word of Mouth’. Those who are left out to get in touch with the promotion, their friends must have dragged him/her to the theaters. Honestly I was the one. I had no intention to watch the movie, but unfortunately was dragged to the theater. Anyways, leave my story here. I am not going to rate the movie, let's leave it on Movie Critiques.

Nevertheless, whatever said and done, we all know the fan following of SRK. Until the movie was released, all the theaters were houseful already! Everybody wanted to have a ‘first day first show’. So you can imagine the multiplying profit and the journey towards 100 crores. Still the numbers are growing.

All the best SRK & Team!

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