Salman Khan’s Dabangg 3 is surely one of the most awaited and talked about films of 2019. According to the makers, the third franchise is touted to be bigger than the earlier two films. That’s why the film is releasing in four languages, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam in addition to Hindi.
As far as the promotional strategies are concerned, from train promotions to hoardings, the makers are doing every bit to reach to a large number of audiences.
Let’s take a look at the marketing campaign analysis for the Salman Khan starrer-
Social Media Takeover:
In one of the strategies adopted by the makers, Salman Khan‘s social media handles were taken over by Chulbul, for the first time ever which included display name, and even the tonality of his posts. A similar strategy has been followed by many films in the past. Shah Rukh Khan’s Bauua from Zero in fact championed this strategy by becoming one of the most followed and loved character handle in the world.
Song Launches:
A ‘so-called’ unique strategy has been approached, even for the launch of the songs. Audio versions of the songs were released first on the T-Series’ YouTube channel before the video versions. But this is not new & has been adopted for so many films by Mahesh Bhatt.
The peppy track ‘Munna Badnam Hua’ is an item number of the year, in which we see Salman AKA Chulbul Pandey as the ‘item boy’.
More recently, they have launched a song in Salman’s voice to gain momentum:
Partnerships:
Likee has partnered with Salman Khan Films (SKF) to promote ‘Dabangg 3’ as the film’s Digital Partner. Likee users have been participating in the platform’s #HudHudDabanggChallenge via the official SKF Likee account and also through their other social profiles.
Dabangg 3 also associated with Pepsi recently as the ‘swag partner’. Pepsi has signed Salman Khan as its brand ambassador and extended the partnership to the film as well. Dabangg flavoured video with the tag ‘Dabangg Ka Swag, Dabangg Ki Pepsi’.
One should keep in mind, Pepsi has always represented young, relevant and cool values, while Dabangg has always stood to be a film for masses & Desi crowd. The big brand idea that Pepsi has at the moment is ‘Har Ghoont Me Swag’. And, the brand considered Salman Khan a ‘swag’ star. But the swag partnership here seems to be going in opposite direction for both brands.
Tiktok partnership is another one that seems misfit for a massy film. This is also because of a similar reasons, Salman’s target audience isn’t much inclined towards the social media.
TV Appearances:
Apart from that, Salman, who is currently hosting ‘Bigg Boss 13′, is also promoting his film by inviting his co-stars inside the house. The Dabangg 3 team also visited The Kapil Sharma show:
Dabangg On Wheels:
The latest activity that the makers have initiated is ‘Dabangg 3 on wheels’. As the movie is releasing simultaneously in four languages; Salman Khan will be soon visiting Bangalore to promote his movie. In the south, we can see special promotional trains wrapped with ‘Dabangg 3’ posters. This strategy again has been followed by so many films in the past including Tamasha, Raees and more recently Housefull 4.
While the buzz for Dabangg 3 looks high, the sentiment and response on trailer and songs is very mixed. The film’s buzz sends out the signal that probably stardom will overpower content once again for a Salman Khan venture. At the same time we have seen that even Khans can’t save a sinking ship if the content is not strong. That is something we saw for his last few offerings such as Bharat, Race 3 and Tubelight. Only time will tell if the film will make it big at the box office.
Marketing Campaign Analysis
Thumbs Up
- Trailer, song being launched uniquely
- Brand integrations like Astral Pipes
- Medium to high buzz
Thumbs Down
- Posters, Trailer and songs packaging looks very dated
- Repetitive promotional strategies
- Misfit brand tie ups like Tiktok and Pepsi
- Sentiment is mixed
