It was a class on a Sunday morning, with the special mention of “Please be on time, SHARP 9AM”. Subject was “Film Industry – A business perspective”.
Almost all the students were half asleep, and a little unsure about what to expect from the class. Faculty started with a video. The video had Tom cruise - topless, and playing beach volleyball, and that was enough to wake all of us up. We were told to look for product placement in the video and yes, it was “Ray Ban”, which he wore in almost every frame of the movie Top Gun. With that, the faculty introduced the topic for the day – “Impact of the movies on business”, stating Products that people buy and the life that people live as customers and as individuals is largely influenced by the popular media messages they are exposed too.
In early 80’s, Ray-Ban was on the brink of failure. The popular Wayfarer style only sold 18,000 pairs in 1981 and was about to be discontinued after years of declining sales. Ray-Ban needed a savior and that savior came in the form of Tom Cruise. Ray-Ban signed a $50,000 a year deal to have Ray-Ban sunglasses appear in over 60 movies. In Risky Business, Tom Cruise is seen wearing the square-shaped Wayfarer glasses resulting in shooting up of sales by 50% . It was only the beginning. When Top Gun was released with Tom Cruise wearing the iconic Aviator sunglasses, sales increased by 40%.
The movie Top gun, didn’t only help increase the revenue of Ray-ban but also increased the recruitments in US Navy. The United States Navy stated that after the release of the film that the number of young men who enlisted, wanting to be Naval aviators, went up by 500 percent.
After that, faculty played one of the most grand car-chases ever from the movie The Matrix Reloaded. When the director -duo Wachowski brothers approached the General Motors with their idea, Cadillac division wasn’t doing well and a new model was about to be launched. They seized the opportunity and donated more than 100 cars. And the result - an iconic scene, where speeding Cadillac is weaving its way through thousand bullets, boosting its image among young car buyers.
The faculty then opened the forum for everyone to share what product placements they have observed in the movies and how it could have been done better. Everyone participated. Examples ranged from Marlon Brando’s Harley Davidson in The wild one to Tom Hanks’ ‘friend’ Wilson Volleyball in Cast Away, to the In-your- face product placements in Hindi movie Krrish. The faculty also explained The art of Rhetoric- the technique to inform, persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations, with the case of Mr. Edward Bernays, who made Bacon and Eggs “The American Breakfast”.
After attending so many grilling sessions on core management subjects the whole week, this particular class was a breath of fresh air, and definitely changed the perspective of many on how movies aren’t just a entertainment medium but an effective tool to influence customers to buy your product or influence a whole society to buy your propaganda.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
I aspire to work with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited . ABFRL is India's No 1. Fashion Lifestyle entity covering plethora of brands - Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, People, Pantaloons, Hackett London, Forever 21, Simon Carter, Ted Baker, The Collective, Planet Fashion etc. The acute competition in Indian apparel retail coupled with e-commerce discounting has made the industry challenging yet stimulating and I wish to be part of it. Looking at omni-channel strategy, I wish to see ABFRL venturing again in e-commerce market and leading it. With my experience in an e-commerce start-up, I hope I can add value to the company.
- Abhishek Kagra,
Marketing, SIBM Pune