The Big Idea: BRINGING CINEMA TO YOU.

While the aspirations of small towns had changed, the rest of the country’s perception about them hadn’t. The rest of India’s world-view about small town audience has always been ‘Unfavorably Stereotypical’.

We decided to target the specific stereotype that projected to the world how they thought - the choice of cinema of small town audiences.

Cinema represented a lot of things – Progressiveness, World-view and Coolness. But the rest of the country’s perception of cinema in small towns was made up of movies playing in single screen cinemas with a cacophony of whistles. This perception ruled even the film industry itself – new wave and independent films seldom got released beyond major metros while Bollywood mega-budget movies by bigger studios hoarded thousands of screens at their releases.

We sought to break these stereotypes by bringing world cinema to small towns.

OPENING AN ALL NEW WORLD FOR OUR READERS

- Organized 400 cinema screenings attended by over 50,000 people

- Films from 128 countries across 31 languages were showcased

- Screenings were held in 18 cities spread over 3 months making the Jagran Film Festival the world’s largest traveling film festival

CREATING A CULTURE OF CINEMA APPRECIATION

- 24 Masterclasses on Acting conducted

- 9 other events organized in the form of Seminars, Panel discussions, In Conversation with Stars, and Coffee Table discussions

AWARENESS GENERATION

- Campaign promoted through 282 outdoor sites, 43 full pages worth of newspaper advertisements, 5000 seconds of Radio commercials, and over 64 Full Pages worth of editorial content created around cinema in Dainik Jagran.

EARNED MEDIA TO ENHANCE BRAND PERCEPTION

- The festival earned media coverage worth over INR 100 mn across Print, TV and Digital media.

- Over 1.1 mn impressions on Twitter

DEEPENING ENGAGEMENT

- For the 1st time ever, a film festival went to a village. We organized a film screening in a Jayapura, a village near Varanasi – making cinema inclusive for all.

- For the 1st time ever, a film screening was held at the 100 year old red light district in Muzaffarpur, Bihar – the heart of the nautch girl phenomenon in India. The movie was about how a nautch girl overcomes all odds to emerge victorious. Through this, we passed on a very strong message to society on women empowerment.

IMPACT ON BRAND

Dainik Jagran recorded the highest :

o Top of Mind Awareness,

o Brand Health Score

o Brand Likeability,

• Over comparable period last year, our scores improved on the following parameters :

o “This newspaper is the market leader” : +6%

o “ It’s for people like me”:+8%

Source : Brand Research, Dec 2017

Business dynamics of the film industry favored large metros and ignored small towns. Consequently, great cinema eluded 500+ mn Indians living in the small towns where Dainik Jagran was read.

In a competitive newspaper environment, we leveraged cinema to create a lasting engagement with our readers by adding value to their lives and creating a sense of community. It was a collective social art which cut across economic lines and allowed us to create debates, conversations and an atmosphere. We created a film festival for our readers, and became the window to the world they expected us to be.

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

In a cluttered newspaper market, selling a newspaper cheap was an oft-taken route to create “noise”. We had to cut through this “noise’ and create value for our readers and society. In Cinema we found this glue to bind us deeper with our readers and create sustainable engagement. It was a collective social art which cut across economic lines and allowed us to create debates, conversations and an atmosphere.

Our challenge was to break the ‘small town India’ stereotype, and to create a lasting engagement with our readers by adding value to their lives and creating a sense of community.

This was the India that Dainik Jagran catered to. If the world was not bringing its cinema to our small towns, we brought cinema to our markets. We created a film festival for our readers, and became the window to the world they expected us to be.

CINEMA UNITES INDIA

The 3Cs of India – Cinema – Cricket – Corruption captivate Indians like nothing else does. Of these, Cinema has a larger than life impact. The phrase “Indian cinema” conjures up images of Bollywood's dynastic stars, endless songs and improbable stunts.

BUT CREATORS OF CINEMA DIVIDE INDIA

While Cinema unites India, the creators of cinema divided India into two – The “privileged” Big Metro cinema audience, and the “underprivileged” cinema viewers in Small Town India. The small town viewers were stereotyped as naïve, low-brow, non-premium, and rustic. As a result, great cinema eluded 500+ mn Indians living in the small towns where Dainik Jagran was read.

Our objectives through the film festival were to:

- Open an all new world for our readers

- Create deeper engagement with our readers

- Develop a culture of cinema appreciation

- Enhance brand awareness and perception