Lintertainment, the newly launched entertainment marketing division of Lintas India, is ready to launch a comprehensive research on the consumers of Indian films, their attitudes and mindsets.
The research, titled Filmi Sutra, will be initiated in conjunction with the advertising group's research agency, Pathfinders.
A single-city pilot project on the subject has already been completed, confirms Ashish Bhasin, director, Integrated Marketing Action Group, Lintas India.
IMAG consists of several of Lintas' divisions including rural marketing, outdoor advertising as well as Lintertainment among others.
According to Bhasin, no research in India has covered the film industry in a comprehensive manner.
"Apart from looking at the film industry's icons and what they stand for in a consumer's mind, we're hoping to throw light on consumer behaviour in the new multiplex environment," says Bhasin.
He believes that there is paucity of information on how much a consumer spends at a multiplex and on what products.
"This kind of information will be useful to advertisers and to the multiplex owners," feels Bhasin.
Besides, Bhasin and Lintertainment president Geetanjali Kirloskar have major plans for the agency's entertainment marketing division.
Set up six months ago, Lintertainment was launched with the idea of promoting the entertainment brands by using the core principles of advertising brand building, says Kirloskar.
"We're looking for business in the area of films, music, amusement parks and even lottery," she adds.
Bhasin says that worldwide, entertainment brands are among the largest spenders on advertising.
"In India, the idea is at a nascent stage, so the potential is big. Currently, films are the only big entertainment brands, and we hope to tap that business," he says.
For starters, Lintertainment won the marketing and promotion assignment for iDreams Production's Jajantaram Mamantaram.
The company has tied up with Venus, the film production and music company, where it will promote some of its forthcoming films.
Venus recently released films like Qayamat and Hungama.
Besides films, Lintertainment also launched one of the biggest multiplex in Mumbai called 24 Karat and is currently marketing a modelling contest, organised by Metropolitan, to TV channels.
"We plan to get into marketing the TV channels and their programmes. We expect to soon give inputs to TV and cinema content based on research," says Kirloskar.
But how much money does the division expect to make? "We aren't looking at big bucks in the beginning as we're still selling the concept to producers. Besides, we're also picky about who we work with in the film industry," explains Bhasin.
