When Aamir Khan, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and director Rajkumar Hirani, sat down and watched the first half of the first cut of 3 Idiots together, they knew they were watching something that had the potential to go “big time”. A boisterous drama about three friends dealing with the pressures of engineering school, and one friend teaching them how to dream, was a story they knew would stick. They guessed multiplexes in cities would overflow. They figured they had a fair chance at beating Ghajini, an Aamir Khan starrer and the biggest grossing Hindi film of all time.
Of Doodles and Bum Chairs
By October, two months before the release of 3 Idiots, no one knew much about the movie. There were no hoardings. No signs at theaters. And to build the suspense, multiplexes were sent bum chairs (like the ones the 3 Idiots sit on in the film); stickers that read “You are the 4th idiot”. No one knew what it all meant.
Khan gave only four interviews to TV stations during the entire tour, all to regional TV stations. Regional stars were selected to interview Khan. On Mahua TV in UP, for example, Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishnan interviewed Khan. “Other than those four, I thought TV stations shouldn’t get me. All they get is what I shoot and send to them. I don’t have a deal with them, so I don’t know if they will bite. But I had not been available, so I knew they were thirsty for me,” says Khan.
(This story appears in the 05 February, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
This is amazing! Great show by Aamir and his team! A great innovative idea, excellent strategy and brilliant execution! ARG and the marketing plan that worked so well for 3 Idiots should become the 23rd Immutable Law of Marketing! Thanks and regards, Geetha
on Feb 2, 2010Found a very good topic. Lot of comedy with good communication.
on Feb 2, 2010Good strategy, it worked because while city folks need a lot of persuasion rural folks easily connect, and listen.
on Feb 2, 2010Ridiculous. The story merely narrates one marketing exercise. That's nowhere close to being enough to justify the headline. Agree, AK is known to be an ace at marketing. But why has the writer not made a single reference to any of his past efforts? Too simplistic a piece.
on Feb 3, 2010This is one of the most different marketing strategy that we have seen implemented in few years with its own uniqueness and Aamir Khan's perfect execution policy in picture. Kudos to the marketing team to bring up such uniqueness and making it reach to a common man which now of course will be grabbed upon by others too and Aamir the perfectionist.... :)
on Feb 11, 2010