Sony Pix spins a web for premiere of 'The Amazing Spiderman 2'

The channel has launched a major promotion including a contest where 2,000 winners can watch the premiere of the movie a day before it hits the screen in India – and two days before its US release

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | April 9, 2014

Being awestruck is easy, staying amazed is difficult. But that is the challenge Sony Pix took up last year in October when they decided to reinvent itself with a new logo and brand positioning. Helping them carry on that promise are various marketing activities, and now a bigger experiential marketing activity around one of the most popular movie franchises in the world.

Pix has organised a contest whereby people can watch the premiere show of 'The Amazing Spiderman 2' a day before it hits the screens in India. As part of Pix Premiere Nights, the channel will choose 2,000 people from 10 cities to enjoy the movie in 11 theatre screens on April 30. That means the biggest premiere activity will happen a day before the movie actually releases in India on May 1, and two days before its US release on May 2!

Interested viewers will have to log on to social networking sites and connect with Pix or give a missed call to a given number to participate in the contest. The contest opened on April 4 and will close on April 23, 2014.

Pix has partnered with Sony Pictures to provide this unique opportunity to watch it before the world watches it. In a way, this will be promoting the theatrical release of the movie. But more than that, by being connected to one of the most looked forward to movies, Pix will get a first mover's advantage.

Saurabh Yagnik

“We want to create an ecosystem of Hollywood in India. Though English movies work here, it is still not as relatable as we would like. My personal belief is that Hollywood has the capacity to be much larger in size and scale in India. This partnership with Sony Pictures will be good for English movie viewing on television. And more than that, keeping in mind the size of Pix Premiere Nights, this will build a connect with the youth for us,” hopes Saurabh Yagnik, Executive Vice-President and Business Head, Sony Pix.

While Pix has always had television movies of the blockbuster genre, the channel believes that tying up for this movie makes more sense since it is one of the biggest movie franchises. 'The Amazing Spiderman' (the first in the franchise) was the biggest TV premiere of 2013, and Pix is betting on continuing the legacy.

Other than the Pix Premiere Nights, the channel already has a lot of differentiating property which they launched post the brand revamp. While Pixipedia gives trivia during movies, Pix Doubles shows back-to-back movies of the same franchise. Both these properties will be used to garner more interest for 'The Amazing Spiderman 2'.

The channel which has already premiered mega movies like 'Shrek', 'Skyfall', 'Men In Black 3', etc., also has Premiere Pixathon where four movies premiere on the channel back-to-back. Hand Pix caters to the best of Hollywood while Pixathon is like a vertical marathon of movies of a genre or franchise.

The Premiere Nights is not new. 'Hobbit' was the first film where they experimented with this method and gave away tickets in three cities. They pulled it up a notch during the premiere of 'RoboCop' for which 1,200 tickets were given away in six cities. This time, with 10 cities and 2,000 tickets, the game has reached a new level. And it seems Pix has nothing to worry about since from the start of the contest, they have already received over 3,000 entries.

The channel however is not just restricting itself to the contest. The three major promotional planks are being looked at – on-air, digital and on-ground.

Neville Bastawalla

“Digital, especially social media, plays a huge role in any of our marketing plans. We enjoy a very high engagement rate of 12 per cent (against the number of followers) on Facebook in the last three months. The major peg for this experiential activity is that it is going to be big – people can see it even before America watches it. Since it is an on-going thing, we cannot put the kind of strength we put behind say a 'Skyfall' or 'MIB3' for this. But the scale is huge for this kind of marketing,” said Neville Bastawalla, Vice-President, Marketing, Pix.

The channel has the basic contest online. But other than that they are promoting it heavily on TV as well with promos, push-ups, trailers and scrolls. For the people who get to go for the premiere as well, Pix will arrange a red carpet welcome with refreshments and souvenirs. They are betting on connecting with the youth and feel that it can happen because the younger generation would want to be part of something which everyone else cannot be a part of.

With the third Pix Premiere Nights on the way, they are already in talks for more such premieres. Pix hopes that it can arrange such interactive events once or even twice a quarter. A property like this will prove beneficial for the channel which is striving to differentiate itself from the other English movie channels on Indian television.

“The main idea remains to bring Hollywood closer to the people of India. We have to be involved to know what it is and increase engagement. The moment there is familiarity on TV, channels and brands will grow. And Sony Pix will establish itself in the minds of the consumer. I feel this is a compelling proposition for not just the channel but for studios who can work with us,” concluded Yagnik.

Sohini.Sen@BestMediaInfo.com

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