Merry Christmas’ movie marketing fuses on-ground innovation with social media thrill
The Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi starrer puts the first-time pair’s popularity to good use by leveraging their presence online as well as offline. The promotional efforts bring in innovation with guerilla marketing while reviving the 80s era with aesthetics, music and AI.
Sriram Raghavan’s much-awaited directorial venture ‘Merry Christmas’ hits the theaters on January 12, after several delays and postponements. The film stars Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi–their maiden pairing–in the leading roles. It also features Raghavan’s long-time collaborator Radhika Apte in a significant role. The film marks Kaif and Raghavan’s Tamil debut. Sanjay Kapoor and Vinay Pathak play supporting roles in the Hindi version of the film.
The movie went on floors in 2021 but faced multiple production delays due to Covid-19. The filming finally wrapped at the beginning of 2023. It was filmed in both Hindi and Tamil simultaneously with the central cast remaining the same. Each version of the movie is touted to have a different set of co-actors. News about the film’s development and delays kept surfacing as it unfolded, drawing considerable attention.
The marketing of the movie employed some novel and innovative methods while also sticking to the traditional scheme of things. Here is how the wheels went into motion:
A slice from the 80s
A recurring element in the movie’s marketing and in the media related to it shared online is mention of the 1980s. Merry Christmas’ trailer, its songs, its clips, and its posters all evoke the 80s’ feels. Apart from the eponymous festival’s essence and nostalgia, the movie brings to life the 80s era and makes sure it is noticed by the audience.
To incorporate the feeling of Christmas and make the 80s era evident, the trailer of the movie emphasizes the said time period and is filled with elements associated with the festival.
Banking on viral trends and social media
The marketing of the movie has made good use of the social media presence of its lead stars. Katrina Kaif’s massive 79.2M following on Instagram has been leveraged to reach a large audience. Clips from the movie have been repurposed and shared frequently on social media to generate buzz. These videos contain different texts in their openings to make the audience focus on a specific element of the movie.
A CGI-led mixed reality video was also shared on social media which featured the film’s poster in front of The Asiatic Society, Mumbai wherein a taxi with a CGI glass on top stops in front of the poster and a larger-than-life hand pours a drink into it.
Harnessing the recent trend of AI-generated imagery, the cast’s pictures were shared which featured them in a background created by generative AI software. The images evoked a spooky Christmas-y feeling with their saturated colors and peculiar lighting.
Further bumping up the buzz, the makers decided to share clips of the movie along with the positive reviews it had been receiving. Both Tamil and Hindi trailers’ reviews were shared creating an intrigue among the audiences.
The music of Merry Christmas is composed by Pritam, who also makes his Tamil debut. The lyrics are written by Varun Grover.
The excitement for the songs was built by sharing their release dates along with a few glimpses to build anticipation. First, the title track of the movie was released and subsequently a romantic number was released simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil titled ‘Teri Nazar Toofan’ and ‘Anbe Vidai’ respectively.
The makers of the film employed the agency TheSmallBigIdea to create a unique promotional campaign. The team utilized guerrilla marketing strategies by strategically stationing volunteers adorned with 'Merry Christmas' branding in cities across the country. These volunteers held up signs featuring the movie's release date, generating excitement among pedestrians. The promotional activities also expanded to the online sphere, where Tips Films' Instagram account orchestrated a takeover of social media. By incorporating the movie into generic holiday greetings of 'Merry Christmas,' the campaign sought to captivate audiences in a distinctive and interactive way.
Building up the promotional momentum, a press conference was held in Mumbai in which the cast along with Raghavan and the film’s producers made appearances.
Aside from the press meet, Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi along with the director made appearances on several popular YouTube channels giving extensive interviews and sharing stories from the movie’s making. The appeared on The Bombay Journey by Mashable India as well other channels such as The Quint, Pinkvilla, Radio City India and Mirchi Plus. They also appeared on FC Front Row in conversation with Anupama Chopra.
The release date being locked and loaded after several reschedules places Merry Christmas in a good spot having generated considerable momentum through its promotional activities. While missing the mark of getting a Christmas release, the marketing efforts seem to have paved the way for making Merry Christmas the first big theatrical release of 2024 as Sriram Raghavan looks to make a pulpy comeback after a six-year hiatus.
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