A new marketing strategy to take films to masses

Dhanapal Padmanabhan, the producer and director of 'Krishnaveni Panjaalai', a low-budget film, has adopted a new strategy, which no others have thought of, to take the film to the masses.

He has taken the help of one of the largest women self-helf groups, Mahasemam, which has 1.10 lakh members and 4,000 leaders spread across the southern districts to sell the tickets in their places. The incentive offered is 10 per cent of the face value of the ticket.

Dhanapal has approached Mahasemam which specializes in microfinance, to publicise the content of the film by word of mouth through its network.. Dhanapal says, "I believe that even a small film with good content will sell if word spreads about its content. Once word spreads about its content, public support for the film will grow and it will succeed."

He hopes to sell at least 50,000 tickets through the women members of Mahasemam in the southern districts alone. The women can earn an estimated Rs.3 lakh. The 10 per cent incentive will no doubt eat into the profits but the loss could be made good with increased volume of ticket sales.

Dhanapal has also involved MBA students and big retail chains in the film promotion drive. Ramraj Cotton which has 6000 dealers and 25 showrooms will buy audio CDs of 'Krishnaveni Panjaalai' and distribute them free of cost to customers.

Makers of small-budget films could not spend on publicity as much as big producers do. So, the best publicity for such films is through word of mouth. This is exactly what Dhanapal is pushing for.

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Krishnaveni Panjalai