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Brand collabs & nostalgic music: How Crew’s marketing strategy took off

From social media teasers to global Holi celebrations and Times Square appearances, here’s how the minds behind Crew’s marketing strategy kept the viewers engaged.

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Sneha Medda
New Update
Crew’s marketing strategy

Crew, the movie’s titular crew consists of Kriti Sanon, Tabu and Kareena Kapoor Khan who play air hostess in the heist-comedy. The all-woman-starring comedy flick is directed by Rajesh Krishnan and produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and Anil Kapoor Films & Communication Network. 

The film follows their journey as they grapple with their airline's financial troubles. To make ends meet, they resort to gold smuggling, but their plans hit a snag when a tip-off derails everything. Now, they're caught up in a whirlwind of unfamiliar places, tricky situations, and unexpected challenges.

The Ocean Eight-esque movie brings a strong cast to the silver screen, and movie makers leveraged their stardom to the very end and made it a key point in their marketing efforts. They also partnered with some notable brands and curated a noteworthy soundtrack, adding depth to their promotional strategy. Here's a rundown of how it all unfolded.

On February 2nd, almost two months before the release date, the filmmakers dropped the first glimpse of the movie on their social media handles. The post read — ‘This March, the skies await, and the crew is ready to take off!’

The background score of the teaser has a remake of the classic song — Choli ke Peeche’ which further created anticipation among the audience. 

 

A few weeks later, the makers released posters of the protagonists on their social media platforms. 

Following this, the makers dropped anticipation posts, leading to the teaser launch. 

Brand collabs 

Brand collabs became an important part of movie marketing since the Barbie brand collab frenzy last year. Post that, many movies have made this a go-to part of their marketing. Recently, Netflix India’s Archies had an elaborate brand collaboration as part of their marketing strategy. 

Similarly, Crew’s makers collaborated with a wide range of brands that fit well with the movie’s plot and theme. Extending the movie’s plot, the makers focused on aspects related to cabin crews, air hostesses and flights and collaborated with brands like Bikaji Foods, Aviation Academy, Mokobara, Nue Go and others. 

Brands like Boat, Spotify, and Goibibo, for which Kareena Kapoor Khan is also the brand ambassador, also leveraged this opportunity. 

Caratlane

boAt

Bijaki Foods

Goibibo

Aviation Academy

Spotify

Wow! Momo

Mokobara

Ajio

NueGo

Tulips Hygiene 

Nostalgic music & cheeky dialogue 

From the very beginning, the producers made sure to create chatter around the movie's new soundtracks. The come back of the iconic song ‘Choli ke Peeche’ remained an important moment in the marketing. 

Kareena Kapoor Khan launched the song at an outdoor event. 

Apart from the title track, Naina, sung by Diljit Dosanjh, who also starred in the movie, and Badshah were equally promoted. The audio became a hit on Reels, and as of April 1, has 255K reels under its belt. 

Playing the nostalgic card wasn’t limited to a single song, the production house also reimagined the 90’s Indie-pop song ‘Delhi Shahar Mein Maro Ghagro Jo Ghumyo’.

To continue the chatter among the audience, the makers dropped cheeky moments and dialogues from the movie. 

OOH events

Released in time for Holi, the song 'Choli ke Peeche’ was termed the 'Holi song of the year.' To promote this further, the makers hosted multiple Holi parties/events for the audience. The events took place across major cities in India, including Mumbai, Kolkata, and Jaipur. 

The movie also took the Holi celebration global by collaborating with Jashn-E-Utsav to celebrate its release. 

In collaboration with Spotify, Crew also unveiled its poster at Times Square. 

Through the cast’s social media lens

Lastly, the star cast's social media handles became the Behind-the-scenes guide for the audience. Right from images of the movie’s shooting to sharing a peek of how the ‘Crew’ geared up for trailer launches and special screenings, the cast showed it all. 


From the initial teaser drop to the character posters and anticipation-building posts, each step in the marketing of 'Crew' was carefully crafted to engage audiences and keep them intrigued.  

Through nostalgic music, brand collaborations, and light-hearted dialogue, the moviemakers made sure that the film remained a topic of conversation on social media.

On its debut day, 'Crew' raked in Rs 10.28 crore in India alone, marking it the third-highest opener of 2024 for any female lead Hindi film.

OOH kareena kapoor khan tabu marketing strategy kriti sanon Brand Collabs crew