Shakuntala Devi Marketing Strategy: A tale of numbers, emotions & trends

As Shakuntala Devi forays into the OTT platform, we take a look at the movie marketing strategy for the biopic released on Amazon Prime today.

With content releases, crowding the OTT space, competition has been fierce, making movie/series marketing indispensable. As Prime Video India releases biopic film, Shakuntala Devi featuring vibrant actress Vidya Balan, Social Samosa takes a look at the movie marketing strategy at play.

Shakuntala Devi Marketing Strategy

Directed by Anu Menon & Produced by Sony Picture Networks India, Shakuntala Devi is positioned as a biographical comedy-drama based on the life of the genius mathematician.

Apart from the usual BTS activities & dialogue snippets, social media posts revolving around numbers are quite prominent amongst the marketing tactics for the movie. Led by Balan, the promotional activities have been done online owing to the current circumstances, with the lead actor e-promoting with varied attires in-line with #VocalForLocal call.

Quintessential to Amazon Prime's marketing, the most used hashtags are #ShakuntalaDevi & #ShakuntalaDeviOnPrime across social media channels.

Meet Shakuntala Devi

Shakuntala Devi was a genius in Mathematics and known as a 'Human Computer' across the globe. Throughout the movie marketing initiatives, marketers attempted to touch upon and bring forth her humane & personal side, the mathematician's love & enthusiasm for the subject, life as a teacher & her indomitable spirit to try & break stereotypes in a culture where a woman was limited to the role of a mother or a wife.

Trailer Release

Leveraging the number-game and the trend of calling on virtual numbers, the movie marketers attempted to tease the trailer through a mathematical puzzle.

In an attempt to engage the audience, Balan shared a puzzle with the users where they were urged to participate to solve the problem. The solution to the puzzle involved a calling number. Upon dialing the same, viewers could watch the trailers before the others.

Premiere Date Release

Continuing the numerical sojourn, marketers again leveraged the number-game. In the video, Vidya Balan challenged/questioned the viewers with yet another mathematical problem. The resulting number was the Date of movie release.

Virtual Song Launch

Taking a cue from Shakuntala Devi's life of simplifying math for kids, marketers collaborated with DAV schools & colleges to virtually launching the first song of the movie- 'Pass Nahi Toh Fail Nahi'. As per a press release, over 6000 students, principals & media joined Balan for the song launch & asked her some math questions.

Other song releases included 'Maa Paheli' & 'Rani Hindustani' that portrayed Shakuntala Devi as the mother & the wife.

BTS

In one of the usual marketing tactics, Prime showcased BTS (Behind the Scenes) of the filming of the movie. Most of the posts leveraged a common thread of similarity between the Reel-life Balan vs the Real Shakuntala Devi.

Other posts depicted the actual locations where the mathematician got the title of the 'Human Computer'.

Reel vs Real

The BBC Interview~ Where the 'Human Computer' came to light

Fan Girl Moment

Dialogue Snippets

Prime continued to engage the audience with dialogue snippets based on the personality elements of the Math genius.

Becoming the Human-Computer

Also read: Gulabo Sitabo Marketing Strategy: A tale of quirk & satire

Brand Collaborations

The movie collaborated with some brands to celebrate & display the child prodigy becoming a global name and the struggles & aspirations associated with the journey.

Another noteworthy point about brand collaborations for this movie is the alignment of the brands chosen with the highlighted attributes of the protagonist- genius, energy, enthusiasm, hope, learnings & challenges.

Parle-G

Contest

Parle-G launched an engagement contest with a Sudoku challenge for movie viewers.

Tata tea

Vedantu for online learning

Kindle App

Star Sports

This collaborative initiative with Star Sports revolved around wordplay.

Radio Nasha

Balan showcased the talent for numbers as the reel mathematics genius on Fever Network's Radio Nasha.

Mother-daughter duo

The social media marketing for the movie reflected the challenges and struggles for Shakuntala Devi as a mother & the emotional bond she shared with her daughter, Anu with keywords such as amazing & being the best.

The 'Shakuntala Devi' movie is also touted to be a love story between a mother and daughter, showcasing the priceless relationship in a sentimental manner. Attempting to capture these emotions, Balan recites 'Dear Daughters' by Sainee Ra as an ode to the unconditional love of a mother and a daughter.

Topicals & Memes

Movie marketers leveraged trends, topicals & memes through & through.

Happy Parents' day

I have a joke

Emoji day

Memes

E-promotions in line with #VocalForLocal

With the ongoing pandemic, Balan went on an e-promotions' spree in-line with & supporting the #VocalForLocal thought.

Coming soon with number copies

Keeping Mathematics as the central theme, the 'Coming soon' posts for the movie leveraged numbers for their communication strategy.

Reactions

Overall, 'Shakuntala Devi' movie marketing revolves around the central theme of numbers leveraging the lead actor for the film. The marketers have perpetually attempted to establish the communication around the characteristics of the Math genius who was known to live life on her own terms, born to leave a mark on the world.