Cracking the Bollywood Marketing Sorcerer: Akshay Kumar in 2019

While reading that 1000 Crore INR mark is expected to cross by the worldwide collection of Akshay Kumar movies in 2019, I got the urge to have a look at why and how the Player(Khiladi) of Bollywood has successfully cracked the code of Indian audience to make it a party every time. Note that the following are some of the key observations of mine which are only my opinions and not facts. ( I am a 23-year-old north Indian who has seen him dancing in the movies randomly in my childhood and now making quite substantial, content-driven cinema for his fans.)

• The Time Lapse between consecutive movies: Akshay Kumar was the lead for 4 projects in 2019.

1. Kesari: 21st March
2. Mission Mangal: 15th August
3. Housefull 4: 25th October
4. Good Newwz: 27th December

The gap between the two movies gave the earlier one enough time to collect money in the box office and a considerable amount of space to the next one for promotions and grab the attention of the audience. In this time lapse, he worked for making sure that the next movie is around the news and buzz in ample amount that the reach of the movie is decent enough to seize the theatre seats.

• Patriotism Spell: Kesari & Mission Mangal were additions to the so-called modern Akshay Kumar movies. The stories that most of the Indians were hearing and would be willing to see on screens. The targeting and positioning were done in alignment with the interest of the audience. (I have seen that post Surgical strike in 2016, the amount of Patriotic content has increased drastically in advertisements, movies, and other content.)

This genre has proved to be the biggest turning point for Akshay Kumar. It started with Special 26 in 2013 then Holiday, Baby, Airlift, Rustom, Toilet, Pad Man,Gold and in 2019 with Kesari & Mission Mangal, Akshay proved that the patriotism is the new genre that can be the fresh fruit to pluck. 

• Unique Promotion Strategy for every film: Kesari was promoted in Kesari way,i.e. he went to promote the movie by visiting the BSF camps.

I don't know whether you have done this or not, but for sure have heard about the #BalaChallenge, the biggest viral promotional tactic by any actor in 2019. The hook step was so easy and catchy that was spread across all the social media platforms giving a well-made ground for the movie song to get stuck in the audience's mind.

The TikTok & YouTube was used by the star for his promotions ranging from collaboration with the content creator Amit Bhadana(18M+ Subscribers) for Good Newwz to give a boost for the Trending BalaChallenge or other movie trailer & songs promotions.

• Leveraging the Digital Platform: Akshay Kumar did his first Music Video "Filhall" which became the fastest Indian Music Video to reach 100Mn+ views(It took me 1 day to make the draft and share this article with you and within that period this song has gained 5 Million views more, i.e. from 502 Million to 507 Million, by the time you will read this article, number will be different and remember these are only YouTube views). This song gave visibility for his fans when they were bored with the stale bowl of movie songs and missed him in gap between Housefull 4 & Good Newwz. Likee, TikTok, Instagram(IGs as well), FB, Youtube, you name it and his presence was there across all the platforms.

• TV Promotions: Akshay has appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show before all his 4 movies in 2019. (Since the show has reached almost every North Indian(Hindi native) families which almost covers the TG perfectly.)

• BUT, last but not the least, behind all these promotions and marketing tactics, content that he selects, is also improving day by day. It's not only Akshay Kumar that is keeping the movie alive in theatres, but it's also the script and performances that matter a lot. Good Newwz is rated 7.7 on IMDb & Kesari is 7.4, Housefull4 was the fourth installment of Housefull series and Mangal Mission was having its exhilaration in people's minds. However, even after being the latter two not so critically acclaimed movies, they were driven by word of mouth with a clear message of "One time watch".

Akshay Kumar has innovated the Bollywood marketing a lot and indicated the industry how much important it is to connect with the audience and not just selling your tickets in the multiplexes :)