The two companies have used different strategies in marketing their movies but the success of each industry is due to the cultural background with Hollywood being the largest producer by revenue enjoying 90% of movie revenue while Bollywood having only 3%. Nigeria’s Nollywood thrives on 2% of the revenues. Bollywood is a Hindi Cinema Industry. With the advent of technology, both Hollywood and Nollywood have successfully used Movies to convey information and messages, it a vital element of the creation of input in culture and entertainment, education and inspiration. It is also a tool for showing technological might and power. The most noticeable item in Bollywood movies is its insistence on the use of the Indian culture in movies and very strict movie ratings (Fetscherin 476). The country boasts of the most powerful movie regulation authority, therefore, their movies have low exposure from the west and the movies are mostly targeting families. The movies, therefore, draw from different age groups which include children, parents and their grandparents are all target audience in one movie.
Hollywood movies in used advanced technology and have the largest gross in the world, enjoying 90% of the movies industry by revenue. The moviemaker releases over 1200 movies every year taking longer time per movie when compared with other movie makers. The improved technology has ensured that the company is producing high-quality movies with the high-quality special effects (Hudson and Wing Sun Tung 205). Most movies in Hollywood target small demographic such as adults, the old people or a specific niche in children. Sample target for Nollywood includes middle-aged females and others towards the old. These movies do little on character development and have the very predictable casting as their basis for marketing. There are also remake, most series of 1990's are recreated for the new generation of viewers who never had a chance to view the series. The Hollywood movies are greatly globalized as many are produced in many languages such as English and Spanish.
Comparing the marketing approaches
Bollywood has taken a new dimension when it comes to marketing. The use coffee-in invitation with the fans using sophisticated channels and development of the competitive contents which have ensured the continuous and sustainable production of the movies. Like any other industry, the Bollywood is star-studded and most storylines are adapted to suit the abilities of the stars in the movies. Bollywood approach is to use the rich culture of Indians and to target the Indian population which is the largest after China’s population, the company is having the easy time in marketing (Prince 54). One of the most important elements in a movie industry is visibility. The Bollywood uses various forms of publicity such as controversies, celebrations, launching parties and strategic shoot locations which are all vital in the reception of the movie. When a movie is nominated for an award and people encouraged to attend the award, the publicity of the movie increases and the money generated too. Movies produced also elicit emotions from the viewers, therefore, Indian movies are produced with a lot of classical music which connect the movie with the viewers.
One other publicity activity which is mainly employed by both Hollywood and Bollywood is partnering with other popular brands such as McDonald's, Maybelline, Coca-Cola and Zandu during production. The use of Star casting is also a common feature for both movie industries, with Bollywood having all the stories revolve around the superhero as the main cast. In Bollywood, the star hero decides almost everything as they cannot act on movies which make them less popular or reduce their star ratings. In the past, most stars used to be freelancers and have the movies done by different studios, today, most of them are attached to a studio and every Bollywood studio has a star used for publicity purposes (Fetscherin 476). The same with Hollywood which uses stars such as Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio and many others who help in star publicity.
Another marketing used by Bollywood is using correct timing on the movie release. When a movie is launched at the right time, such as Hollywood movies are mostly launched on Fridays to ensure that people have enough time to watch the movies during the weekend. Movies which are meant to promote world cup are released in the world cup year. There is also planning and running campaign for the movies to be released. The movies are made with a lot of factors in minds such as cultural and historical connection, corporate branding, events and traders and distributors. Product positioning is also important when the film is to be released to the audience, film position means that the perception of the audience of the movies and the way they should look at the purpose of the movie (Takhar et al. 1073). Many movies are created for a different reason from what most viewers get from the movie, only very analytical audience will get the real message, though many should look at the movie and find many reasons why the movie was actually interesting.
Targeting is another method of marketing, the target audience is usually defined by age, gender, and the social status. Another target could be a rural and urban audience. Apart from targeting, both Hollywood and Bollywood use Television Primetime appearance for the movies to increase the movie visibility. The most common publicity method which is applied by Hollywood and may be lacking in the Bollywood is the use of trailers. In Hollywood, trailers for a movie is everywhere on the internet while there are few Bollywood trailers, most Bollywood films feature movies which are full and rarely with the trailers. Lastly, there is the use of internet and discussion forums where movies can be reviewed by the audience before release. Information such as who is premiering for the movie, potential release dates can help in gauging the public awareness about the movies. The two markets use almost similar approach with difference being that Bollywood movies are highly regulated than the Hollywood movies which are more liberalized and tend to target a wider worldwide audience than the Bollywood movies which only target Indians, though as from 2013 they have started translating their movies to other languages like English (Saini 43).
References
Fetscherin, Marc. "The Main Determinants Of Bollywood Movie Box Office Sales." Journal of Global Marketing 23.5 (2010): 461-476. Web.
Hudson, Simon, and Vincent Wing Sun Tung. "“Lights, Camera, Action...!” Marketing Film Locations To Hollywood." Marketing Intelligence " Planning 28.2 (2010): 188-205. Web.
Keeler, Vernon D., and Leo A. Handel. "Hollywood Looks At Its Audience." Journal of Marketing 15.3 (1951): 382. Web.
Prince, Stephen. ": High Concept: Movies And Marketing In Hollywood. Justin Wyatt.." Film Quarterly 49.3 (1996): 53-54. Web.
Saini, Rutika. "Product Placement In Bollywood Movies: Is Still An Effective Advertising Tool?." Asian Journal of Research in Marketing 6.4 (2017): 43. Web.
Takhar, Amandeep et al. "Consuming Bollywood: Young Sikhs Social Comparisons With Heroes And Heroines In Indian Films." Journal of Marketing Management 26.11-12 (2010): 1057-1073. Web.
