Previously, brands with highly consumable products and daily consumables reached out to a bigger audience primarily through television and theatre. In theatres, brands used to look forward to innovative ways to place their product in a way that integrated with the film or sometimes even go for a more direct approach. With the medium of television, brands used to opt for advertisements placed during primetime between live sports, movies or popular soap operas.
The relationship between brands, films, and filmmaking is quite old. Additionally, it has transformed in today’s digital era, where a lot of tools are already available for people to voice their opinions through traditional news channels and broadcasting platforms.
Filmmaking and Storytelling in India
Filmmaking and storytelling in India have also taken a huge turn. There was a time when India was unexplored in terms of information dissemination solely due to limited broadcasters, viewers had a limited choice of channels, and most importantly, there was a lack of high-speed internet necessary for video streaming. With the advent of the internet, a digital space was created in India where high-speed internet streaming was possible.
With the availability of platforms, storytelling has evolved. content was being created, and more YouTube content started getting creative brands. Switching from traditional TVCs to YouTube ads, and then YouTube came up with non-skippable ads. The filmmaking of non-skippable constructs started changing, and brands deep-dived into how they could leverage this as YouTube gave them a huge amount of viewership. Eventually, when platforms like Facebook and Instagram became very profile-centric, it led to a shift in viewer behaviour, where viewers began to connect with creators based on their content. Brands started collaborating with the creators who resonated with their audience to leverage viewership and followership.
The Shift in Marketing Strategies
In our diverse country, our content is also created in various languages. People from different demography have started creating content in their language to cater to the niche audience. This gives brands great leverage to not restrict their communication to only certain markets they have been trying to enter the local scene by putting ads in newspapers or making very regional content which could go into regional television broadcasting or regional theatres. Influencer-based dissemination has become a big part of marketing plans and strategies, which were previously created with a more traditional outlook.
Emotional Connection with the Audience:
As far as the audience is concerned, for ages and forever, emotion is the primary thing that brands target. Targeting emotion can be very dangerous at times, and it can be very fruitful as well. For a brand with a social connection working for a social cause, it becomes relatively easier to disseminate because that’s something everybody can relate to. Any storytelling that comes from human life comes from drawing parallels to the reality of people around them and allowing brands to blend themselves naturally into the narrative. The storytelling narratives are explored widely as they inspire creativity in content and benefit filmmakers who receive funding for their projects and brands, who gain access to the specific viewership each filmmaker’s niche attracts.