Gulabo Sitabo Marketing Strategy: A tale of quirk & satire

As Gulabo Sitabo makes a debut with its digital release on Prime Video, we take a look at the movie marketing strategy of the warring quirky men at work in the film story.

Lights, camera, OTT! After a brief hiatus in the film industry, where shoots and productions came to a halt along with multiplexes shut, movies pave the way for a new era on OTT platforms.

In a bid to revolutionize film-viewing, Bollywood releases its first direct-to-digital world premiere of Gulabo Sitabo today on Amazon Prime. According to its director, Shoojit Sircar, the movie is a satire set in the backdrop of the old-world charms of Lucknow.

Here's a look at the Gulabo Sitabo marketing strategy.

Gulabo Sitabo Marketing Strategy

Set in the city of Lucknow & ensued with Tehzeeb & hilarity, Gulabo Sitabo presents the #PricelessJodi of Amitabh Bachchan & Ayushmann Khurrana as the landowner & the tenant at war, in the movie.

With a realization that aggressive promotions and marketing tactics might backfire, the makers and the lead star cast took to social media for subtle marketing of the movie.

Minimalistic designs revolving around the core theme of the movie and select song numbers, GiboSibo makers aimed to maintain the rustic treatment & aesthetics throughout their marketing tactics. We trace a slew of contests & challenges with a star-led strategy on social media platforms.

Poster Release & Motion Logo

Meet the characters

Mirza Sheikh

Baankey Sodhi

Mirza Ji ki Bakri

Teasing the Trailer

Capturing the essence of the story, the Gulabo Sitabo teaser trailer was announced a day before the official trailer release in a seemingly Zoom call. The banter and quirk showcased by the lead duo gave glimpses of what to expect from the upcoming dramedy.

Trailer Release

Soon after the teaser trailer, Gulabo Sitabo trailer was launched on 22nd May 2020 giving way to memes and contests.

Dialogue snippets

Leveraging the hysterical dialogues, movie marketers for the film aimed to reach out to the hearts of the audience with simple tactics. To keep up the curiosity for the movie, they posted some of the dialogue snippets, displaying the oneupmanship of the Gulabo-Sitabo duo.

Attack Aajaega!

BTS: Getting to the roots of Gibo Sibo

The Lucknow Story

Well-known for bringing the localities of Indian cities to life on the silver screens, this BTS footage showcased how Shoojit Sircar attempted to capture the historic locations of the 'City of Nawabs' & the challenges faced while shooting at some iconic locales of the city.

Tod Di Deewar

Bringing Mirza Sheikh to life

Song releases

#GiboSiboOnPrime launched two singles with 'Jootam Phenk' and 'Madari Ka Bandar' under the labels of Zee Music Company.

Jootam Phenk

Madari Ka Bandar

Contest Game

'Madari ka Bandar' Cover Contest

The 'Madari Ka Bandar' song release was followed by a contest where the viewers were encouraged to create a cover song for the launched music that promised to feature the best covers on Amazon Prime IG Stories.

Tongue Twister Challenge

Continuing with basic tactics, the 'Tongue Twister Challenge' got viral on social media with stars & viewers participating in the contest. Commenced by the lead stars, Big B and Khurrana, the audience was asked to repeat a difficult tongue twister 5 times to win the challenge.

Also read: With language at heart Angrezi Medium Movie Marketing captures social media

Who is the Sitabo to your Gulabo? - #EkPricelessJodi

The tagline- Ek Priceless Jodi from the trailer launch, paved the way for memevertising by content creators. The marketers leveraged this opportunity and started an influencer-led campaign on social media platforms titled 'Who is the Sitabo to your Gulabo' along with the hashtag, #EkPricelessJodi.

Through this campaign, influencer shared the 'Sitabos' of their lives in a candid and humorous way.

Awez Darbar

Viraj Ghelani

Mrunu

One Savage thing about your landlord

Gulabo Sitabo is the story of the landlord (Mirza) & the tenant (Baankey), always at war where Mirza wants to get rid of Baankey from his land. In-line with this theme, Zee music company released a contest aiming to generate UGC on social media.

Twitter Game #HaveliKaChakkar

Amazon Prime started #HaveliKaChakkar game for Tweeples where they were asked to choose sides between Gulabo & Sitabo that trended at the 19th position in India with Twitterati participating in the game, generously.

Brand & Content Partnership

The movie saw some select brands collaborations followed by direct & plain promotional posts with CTA by the brand names.

Godrej Security

Dedicate a love song to property papers by Godrej Security

MI Xiaomi: Patchwall

Content partnership with TTT

GiboSibo collaborated with Terribly Tiny Tales continuing the savage and witty replies based on the funny banters of Mirza-Baankey in the film.

Memevertising & Trends

The witty tagline and one-liners from the movie tickled the funny bones of the memers & brands to kickstart an array of social media memes. Even Amazon Prime perpetuated the marketing tactics of memes & 'caption this' posts.

Radio Mirchi

Amazon Prime posts

Mumbai Police: Stay at home message

Priceless Jodi Memes

Trubore

Words of Big B

Senior Bachchan is also popular for his poems & blogs. Perpetually attempting to provide the glimpses of the movie, Big B shared constant social media posts with his profound words.

Reactions

Overall, the movie marketing strategy of Gulabo Sitabo witnesses stars going all about on social media to roll the dice.

The tactics also revolved around simple banter in line with the theme of the movie, and frequent posts basis the flavors of the season. In one of its kind, digital release, we can only wait and watch to see if these initiatives fulfill the heavy anticipation & pave way for a full-house show on Prime Video!