Marketing Report on Ghetu Putro Komola

The idea of producing an Bengali art film is not new in the industry. Starting from Satyajit Roy in the mid 50’s to Humayun Ahmed of today, Bengali movie industry has seen a moderate number of directors taking the risk of producing a movie which represents social realism through lens. But very few of these movies provided enough entertainment to pull the fun loving mainstream Bengali crowd to theater. Humayun Ahmed was one of the very few to blur the line between art and mainstream entertainment movies. Since its inception, Bangladeshi movie industry has seen numerous ups and downs. There have always been a certain number of people who whole-heartedly followed the industry, and again there are people who lost their interest in the industry a decade or two back. But with the sudden introduction of digital movies, the theater going people are re-emerging gradually.

According to the specialists in this sector, there is a huge potential for the investors, directors, producers and emerging production houses to enter in this market. With the rapid growth of technology and the shift in lifestyle changes, the demand for digital and art films will be high in future. The untapped market is therefore the huge opportunity for many. In Bangladesh, this industry has a very few production houses in the market. Among them Impress Telefilm is the one by Channel I. Impress Telefilm has a good reputation to the viewers as it has already created a very strong fan base of first rate art/entertainment movies and dramas since the 90’s. Ghetu Putro Komola is the latest movie by Impress Telefilm and the last movie directed by Humayun Ahmed before his death. Ghetu Putro Kamola has been selected as the Bangladeshi entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards. This report aims to sort out feasible future marketing strategies for this movie, both nationally and internationally.

1.1 Origin of the report
The report was assigned to us by our Business Communication course instructor Mr. Syed Munir Khasru, as a partial requirement of the above mentioned course. The subject was chosen after clearing it with the instructor. We were also provided with a detailed set of instructions which we had to follow rigorously. This report has been submitted on December 19, 2012.

1.2 Goal
The goal of the report was to analyze Ghetu Putro Komola’s current position popularity in the Bangladeshi film industry and formulate ways to improve upon the current situation.

1.3 Objective of the Report
The objective of the report can be divided into primary and secondary objective. Primary Objective:
To prepare a marketing plan on Ghetu Putro Komola and propose feasible marketing strategies for the production house for promoting the movie worldwide. Secondary Objective:
– To analyze the present scenario of the Bangladeshi Film Industry – To develop the marketing models and identify the movie’s position in the industry. – To find out if the new strategies have a positive return on investment.

1.4 Scope
This study aims to analyze the existing marketing strategy of Ghetu Putro
Komola and propose the possible steps for the promotion of the movie- nationally and internationally . For any Bangladeshi movie, international market is almost untapped and therefore it has scopes to emerge in future. So, we believe that placing Ghetu Putro Komola in the international market with the proper marketing strategies is a major challenge and opportunity at the same time. There are ample scopes to initiate different marketing strategies that are suitable for the promotion and by using these chances at the optimum level Bangladeshi movies can make its position worldwide.

1.5 Methodology

We have conducted both primary and secondary research for collecting the data and information used in this report. Primary Data Source: A survey was conducted in the internet. Findings from the survey have been used as the primary data throughout the report. Visits to the Impress Telefilm office and three theaters have also given us much valuable information.

Secondary Data Source: A number of websites were our secondary data source. For building the report and the necessary terminologies, business communication and marketing textbooks and websites were utilized.

1.6 Limitations

Time Limitation: The report had strict time constraints. Moreover, sufficient resources and data were not available online. Therefore, sufficient response could not be assembled, and the smaller sample size increases the probability of an error.

Sample Size: With only six team members, it was not feasible to increase the sample size for the data collected from 3 theaters, or cover a greater sampling area.

Online survey: We have no control over the sample population and do not have any way of discerning if there are several respondents at one computer address or if one respondent is completing a questionnaire from a variety of computers. In addition, respondents might unintentionally provide wrong information.

Confidentiality: confidentiality was a major hindrance. The officials of the Impress Telefilm were helpful but for the industry information we had to rely on the secondary data.

02 Ghetu Putro Komola: Movie and Industry Background.

2.1 Production Background

Ghetu Putro Komola is a movie, produced by Impress Telefilm. Impress Telefilm is the leading media production house in Bangladesh engaged in a wide range of activities which include production of Drama & Drama serials, Music videos, Variety shows, Magazine Programme, Musical Programme, Documentaries etc including TV commercials. They provided full professional & technical support to the movie. This is the last movie written and directed by Humayun Ahmed. He was an author, dramatist, screenwriter, playwright and filmmaker- all by himself. According to Times of India, largest circulation among all English-language newspapers in the world, “Humayun was a custodian of the Bangladeshi literary culture whose contribution single-handedly shifted the capital of Bengali literature from Kolkata to Dhaka without any war or revolution “. Humayun Ahmed explored the film industry both as an author and director. He directed films based on his own stories.

His first film, “Aguner Parashmoni”, released in 1995, based on the liberation war, won the National Film Award in total eight categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. The theme of the Liberation War often comes across in his stories, often drawing upon Ahmed’s in-depth memories of that war and his father’s execution during the war. Ghetu Putro Komola was released in 7th September, 2012. It is the story of a teenage boy who is hired along with the music group of his father by a Zamidar (landlord) for entertaining him until the annual flood is over in the Haor region of East Bengal. But the boy finds out that he has to do something more than that the rest of the members of the group were required- he has to satisfy the landlord sensually as well. The wife of the landlord cannot stand this new ‘rival’ of hers and conspires to kill the boy. As Humayun Ahmed’s last movie it created a lot of hype in the industry and it was commercially successful. The film has been selected as the Bangladeshi entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.

2.2 Industry Background
The Bangladeshi film industry has been based in Dhaka, since 1956. As of 2010, it produced approximately 50 movies a year, with an average movie budget of around 2 million BDT. The film industry is sometimes known as Dhallywood. Although the majority of the films made in Bangladesh are strictly commercial in nature, a handful of directors from Bangladesh have attained critical acclamation for their outstanding work. Zahir Raihan, Khan Ataur Rahman, Salahuddin, Alamgir Kabir, Amjad Hussain, Moshiuddin Shaker, Sheikh Niyamat Ali,Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Humayun Ahmed, Morshedul Islam, Tanvir Mokammel, Tareque Masud, Salauddin Lavlu are among those prominent directors. Bangladesh has been officially submitting nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film from 2003. Masud’s Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) was the first film to be submitted. In past decade, the Bangladeshi film industry has faced increased competition from foreign films, satellite TV, home video, and other sources. Viewership of Bangladeshi films has dropped, and the industry has been criticized for producing low-quality films whose only appeal is that of sex, violence, or melodrama. Recently the introduction of digital movies is playing great role to increase the number of viewers.

2.3 Trend of the Industry
The industry always loved entertainment. Successful movies in box office are full of romance, drama and a number of musicals. Art film never had a big market. Recently, international standard camera and action scenes had come into notice and these movies gained a good margin in box office. In this industry, which is living and breathing on pure entertainment, an art film which lives up to the standards of both the critics and normal crowd is rare. However, Humayun Ahmed is famous for producing these kinds of movies. Consequently, with the gradual growth of technologies and prospective new comers in the industry, the industry would face greater competition from its various participants in the long run. 03 Market Competition

3.1 Competitor analysis

This movie was released on September 7, between the two Eid’s. As it was released between the two big movie releasing dates, Ghetu Putro Komola did not face any serious competition in market. But in most of the theaters in Dhaka, ‘Most Welcome’ was doing a great business. According to theaters, it was tough job for Ghetu Putro Komola to replace that movie from theater, as Most Welcome was still doing great business in the halls in mid September.

3.2 Budget and Sales

The initial budget of the movie was around 5 million BDT. But, due to extensive production the budget increased by more than double. The final production budget of the movie was 12 million BDT. The sales were good for the first week, but the viewers dropped gradually. When it was off the theater after 8 weeks, the producers had recovered only 7 million BDT out of the total 12 million production budgets, which made a huge deficit.

3.3 SWOT Analysis of Ghetu Putro Komola

04 Market Research

We had decided to conduct the market research for the project from two different angles. To ensure that all the factors in play were illustrated properly in the findings; surveys were done on both the viewers and theaters. Another reason behind the choice to better understand the mentality of the two parties directly involved with the success of the film. Sampling:

Audience Survey-Random (via internet)
Theater Survey- Stratified Sampling (face to face)
Sample Size:
Consumer Survey- 53
Retailer Survey- 3 (Star Cineplex, Bolaka and Shamoli)

The complete methodology and results are included in the appendix. Some critical observations derived from the two surveys are:

* All the people asked have heard of the movie.
* More than 50% of those who heard of the movie haven’t yet seen the movie and 24% have people wants to see the movie. * Almost all the people who took the survey believed that the Ghetu Putro Komola is adult themed. * 52% people who watched the movie, liked the movie. 24% people have responded as not sure. * All the people have heard of this movie from billboard/posters/newspaper. * A resounding 43% responded in favor of using online communication to keep the viewers better informed. * 36% believed releasing the movie internationally is a risk the producer should not take. * All 3 out of 3 theaters believed running the movie was profitable for them.

05 Marketing Strategy

5.1 Target Markets
First of all, movie can be regarded as short-term product because the customers do not put lots of purchasing effort to take the decision to watch a movie It’s basically the marketing, the names and word-of-mouth. Audience does not show any complex buying behavior. The price of tickets varied from theater to theater. Financilly stable people usually choose better theaters to watch and are ready to pay a higher price for the movie. People make decisions based on reviews, word-of-mouth, commercials and big stars in the movie. For project audience, their target group was normal Humayun Ahmed loving audience- people who have always been fan of him, his literature and movies.

5.2 Market Segmentation
The marketing strategy of Impress Telefilm about the movie was all over the place. There was no well defined strategy. They targeted the same Humayun Ahmed loving crowd. Basically they did not segment the market at all. The movie was released on big screen just a month after Humayun Ahmed’s death, so Impress Telefilm assumed people will naturally be interested to watch it in theater. The movie was targeted towards viewers of all age and class, regardless of whether they are Humayun Ahmed fan or not. It was not the best or the most organized segmentation. It was effective in a way, people who were already interested, actually got the chance to hear about the movie from various media.

5.3 Market Positioning
Impress Telefilms positioned Ghetu Putro Komola in the market just like every Bangladeshi movie. The ticket price in the theaters was the same as any other movie. The people from Impress though believed it was better than any other generic movies that are being produced in Bangladesh or in the internet. But they placed a good number of billboards in the major cities and highway centers. Also they placed some posters in the major cities. In the promotions, they used the words ‘Last movie by Humayun Ahmed’ explicitly. They did not put enough effort to give advertisements in print media, but being the last movie of Humayun Ahmed it got a good print media coverage in ‘Entertainment’ pages.

06 Marketing Mix

4 P’s

Product: The movie

Pricing: The basic pricing is same as any other movie. It varied from theater to theater just like every movie. It cost more in some theaters with better facilities (like Star Cineplex). Again, it was relatively cheap in most of the halls (Shamoli). Financially stable people went to watch the movie paying higher prices.

Place: It was released in 121 theaters all around the country in 35 districts at the same date. The movie ran in the theaters for 6-8 weeks. 2 months after the release of the movie, World Premiere of the movie was done through Channel Nine Bangladesh. They did cut off some segments of the movie as they believed it to be adult themed.

Promotion: Impress Telefilm owns two of the satellite channels of the country, Channel I and Channel Nine. The basic promotion of the movie was done through these channels. Television commercials were made weeks before the release. There was no promotion in the radio or in the internet. But they placed a good number of billboards in the major cities and highway centers. Also they placed some posters in the major cities. In the promotions, they used the words ‘Last movie by Humayun Ahmed’ explicitly. They did not put enough effort to give advertisements in print media, but being the last movie of Humayun Ahmed it got a good print media coverage in ‘Entertainment’ pages.

07 Prospect of the movie

The movie is already off the theater for a long time. The hype which was created has gone low. And as we have seen in the budget, it still lacks almost 41.65 percent of its budget to break-even. In foreign countries they plan to arrange for special screening of the movie as their extensive marketing promotion, which is far from enough to raise the deficit, 5 million BDT. The DVD sale in Bangladesh is also very low. So unless they come up with a new marketing plan, the movie is not even going to achieve its production budget.

08 Recommendations

We believe the market segmentation and marketing mix of the movie were not well defined. We want to re-release the movie in national theaters and internationally. As entertainment is not considered as a priority by the people of most social classes, this segment is characterized by low awareness/negligence among users, as this is not a basic need. In Bangladesh, the viewers of Humayun Ahmed movies are mainly middle/upper-middle class people. However, the market of Ghetu Putro Komola holds a huge potential among other classes

8.1 Revised Market Segmentation

For a movie like Ghetu Putro Komola, market segmentation should be well thought of in order to reach out to the potential classes of people who have never watched the movie. As we know that there are four major variables related to market segmentation as follows:

* Geographic
* Demographic
* Psychographic
* Behavioral

Geographic Segmentation: The market is segmented according to geographic criteria. Geographically we will be targeting whole Bangladesh and internationally only some parts of Europe and North America. As this movie was the last movie of Humayun Ahmed, a huge number of people have already seen the movie. But again, there are people who have heard of the movie and never seen it. And there are again people who have not heard of the movie. Also, the movie market of Europe and North America for Bangla movies is unknown. This is a field no one has ever worked on before. Thats why, targeting the European and North American market can be both a risk and opportunity.

Demographic Segmentation: Demographic segmentation is particularly important for movies. This is partly because viewers’ wishes are closely linked to variables such as income and age. While segmenting by age, middle aged/elderly people always have been a big fan of Humayun Ahmed movies. Demographically, we will be targeting college/university going students. As the storyline includes some adult themes, we will not be targeting anyone below the age of 16. While targeting by income, middle/upper-middle class people are the biggest market for Humayun Ahmed movies. But as this was his last movie, and has a good amount of entertainment injected with the serious topic, this movie stands a great chance among lower income/lower-middle class group in Bangladesh. While reaching these demographics, the basic target audience of Humayun Ahmed movies will get to know more about the movie.

Psychographic Segmentation: In psychographic segmentation, audience is basically divided according to their lifestyle, personality and values. As our marketing plan includes taking the movie to international stage- Europe and North America, psychographic segmentation will play a great role here. Not long ago, the wall between English movie audiences and foreign-language movies seemed to almost collapse in United States, as Ang Lee’s Chinese martial arts blockbuster “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” scooped up 10 Oscar nominations in 2001. But the wall actually never collapsed. Far from crumbling, the barrier has since grown more forbidding. Still, Most of the English speaking audience prefers watching movies in their own language. In last decade, most of the movies that succeeded in international box-office were Hollywood made. Foreign movies are generally regarded as more dependent on reviews and publicity than domestic ones. So, for Ghetu Putro Komola to get in the mainstream media will be near impossible.

But, the other route for art films based on social realism is targeting a niche crowd. There has always been a great popularity in foreign art films among niche crowds, who would rather be moved deeply than go to the cinema for shallow entertainment. As this is an art film with real life story, we will be targeting the major film festivals around the world, which would not be of great profit in terms of monetary value, but will help to get positive feedback from critics and certain media exposure. With that, we plan to release the movie only in the major cities of North America and Europe- and only in the theaters with releases art films and attract a good crowd of the genre. As movie is a short term product, we only plan to run the movie in theaters for 12 weeks.

8.2 Revised Marketing Mix

As the movie is already suffering from a big budget deficit, expensive marketing campaigns are not recommended as it might worsen the situation. Rather low cost marketing should be the main focus. Here are some recommendations we propose after analyzing the market research findings.

8.2.1 Official Website
For better international exposure, Ghetu Putro Komola should open its offical website. This will be linked with the Impress Telefilms site. In the official website, we propose a comprehensive plan to promote various services that could be provided online for customer’s convenience. Services like booking tickets and buying DVD’s can be done through the website.

Objectives: By opening an official site, the required informations about the movie will be easily available. Therefore, the ticket selling feature will be infused into the website to widen its popularity. This will allow Impress Telefilm to promote the website with more substance feature. The main goal is to establish a smoother and better form of communication with the target market. To ensure that viewers are continuously informed about the movie and the awards it is getting, regular e-mails and newsletters can be sent to members.

8.2.2 More Advertising
The advertisements should be repeated in all media after it’s re-releasing in theaters. This time, not only billboards and tv commercials, we will go for a 360 degree campaign in all media- which includes tv, radio, billboard, online and any other forms of communication.

8.2.3 Bangladeshi Young generation: a niche market
As stated before, a big target market of this campaign is the young generation, people of 17-30 years of age to be more precise. Our survey shows that this niche market includes relatively less movie going crowd. This unexplored yet potential market segment is the target market for many campaigns. * We could show the movie in colleges/universities in open field with a negligible ticket price. * Facebook campaign and road shows in institutions can be done to promote the movie. As an initial step, road-shows will be arranged in public and private university campuses where students will be handed special coupons. The coupons can be used to obtain a special discount on movie tickets in any theater.

09 Conclusion

The film provides a detailed account of a strange practice in the lowlands of Bangladesh. Highlighting a cultural tradition that is now extinct — “Ghetu Gaan”, the film depicts the joys and sorrows of the people of this lowland that becomes isolated during the monsoon. The film became much anticipated in Bangladesh, because of Ahmed’s sudden demise. The film narrates communal bliss, festivity, exuberance as well as a dark and shocking social practice. The Golden Globe Awards is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) — recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign With our suggestions we hope to overcome the promotional lacking of this movie thus helping it recover the production cost. With proper screening, incentives and other privileges to potential audience and by taking the movie out of national boundary we hope to accomplish for the movie the profit the production team desired and the level of entertainment anticipated The film provides a detailed account of a strange practice in the lowlands of Bangladesh. Highlighting a cultural tradition that is now extinct — “Ghetu Gaan”, the film depicts the joys and sorrows of the people of this lowland that becomes isolated during the monsoon.

The film became much anticipated in Bangladesh, because of Ahmed’s sudden demise. The film narrates communal bliss, festivity, exuberance as well as a dark and shocking social practice. The Golden Globe Awards is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) — recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign With our suggestions we hope to overcome the promotional lacking of this movie thus helping it recover the production cost. With proper screening, incentives and other privileges to potential audience and by taking the movie out of national boundary we hope to accomplish for the movie the profit the production team desired and the level of entertainment anticipated

Bibliography

11.1 Books

1. Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong, Marketing Management, 11thEdition, 2. William Himstreet &Wayne Baty, Business Communications, 8th edition. 3. Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing, 13th edition.

4. Peter Atril, Financial Accounting for Decision Makers, 5th edition.

11.2 Websites

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/movies/22kauf.html?_r=1& 2. http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/knowledge/article_5078_1.asp 3. http://wilsonmk.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/foreign-film-marketing-is-there-any/ 4. http://www.indiescene.net/archives/genre/foreign/