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The lesson in Kolaveri Di's success

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The lesson in Kolaveri Di's success
Executive Summary: Within three weeks of its release on YouTube, the Kolaveri Di video
garnered 19 million views and was shared by 6.5 million Facebook users. It was drawing more
than 10,000 tweets daily by the end of its first online week. Having garnered over 45 million
views so far, it has proved with its success that viral marketing works in India too. This case
study explores what made Kolaveri the sensation it became and lists the elements that make up
an ideal viral marketing campaign in India.
It was agony and ecstasy in quick succession for leading Tamil movie star Dhanush last
November. He recorded a song for the film 3 - a home production, in which he also plays the
lead role - only to discover soon after that a disgruntled employee in his office had leaked it on
YouTube.
It put him and his wife Aishwarya, director of the film - she is also the daughter of the superstar
Rajinikanth - in an embarrassing position, since Dhanush had just sold the film's music rights to
Sony Music India.
An early, unauthorised release of one of the songs could ruin the commercial prospects of the
deal.
"The song was the rough cut of Kolaveri Di. I was terrified," says Dhanush. There was nothing
he could do to get the song off the site.
"I realised to my chagrin that something leaked on the social media cannot be controlled," he
adds. "I wanted to counter it, but how? I was at my wits'
end."
Dhanush
Potent Mix
What Kolaveri Di teaches about
creating successful viral marketing
campaigns:
Product should evoke strong
emotions
Should include humour
Should use all means to

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He considered releasing a CD of the song as a single, but
Sony Music informed him that this would take at least two
weeks.
"Then someone suggested making a video of the song and
releasing that as well on YouTube as the official version,"
says Shridhar Subramaniam, President, Sony Music
Entertainment, India and Middle East. "The idea was
accepted and we scrambled to make the video overnight."
This vital decision was to make all the difference. Sony
Music hired a video camera and promptly shot a four
minute video of Dhanush singing Kolaveri at A.R.
Rahman's studio in Chennai. It was all done within half an
hour and the video uploaded on YouTube on November 17 at 12.53 a.m.
What followed is now part of Indian music and viral marketing history. As if by magic, the song
became a rage, effortlessly transcending language barriers - the first Tamil song, albeit with a
smattering of English, to do so.
In the first four days, the video had four million views, swelling to 19 million in three weeks. On
Facebook 6.5 million users have shared it, while 40 radio stations have played it across the
world. At last count in February-end, the video had registered over 46.5 millions views on
YouTube and been downloaded by two million people on their mobiles.
In the most unlikely way, Dhanush's agony thus turned to ecstasy. A Tamil movie star until then,
it brought him a pan-India reputation. He is much sought after now by corporate houses to
endorse their brands.
"Doors opened for me," he says. "Kolaveri's success exposed me to the world of marketing and I
realised how much I had been missing out on."
The campaign was carefully designed to avoid sounding like
a sales pitch. Some radio and TV channels got exclusive
rights to use the song for two days. Noting the interest, news
channels began discussing Kolaveri
A letter from Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, thanking Dhanush for the time spent with him,
and seeking to take their business discussion forward, now adorns Dhanush's office wall.
The film 3, earlier planned only in Tamil, will now be released in two more languages, Hindi and
Telugu.
But successful viral marketing campaigns such as Kolaveri do not happen every time, not even
connect with audiences
Should have potential for
parody
Should use simple language
Should generate curiosity
Should be carefully seeded
through the life cycle
Should use multiple
channels
Should avoid blatantly
selling the product

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The lesson in Kolaveri Di's success Executive Summary: Within three weeks of its release on YouTube, the Kolaveri Di video garnered 19 million views and was shared by 6.5 million Facebook users. It was drawing more than 10,000 tweets daily by the end of its first online week. Having garnered over 45 million views so far, it has proved with its success that viral marketing works in India too. This case study explores what made Kolaveri the sensation it became and lists the elements that make up an ideal viral marketing campaign in India. It was agony and ecstasy in quick succession for leading Tamil movie star Dhanush last November. He recorded a song for the film 3 - a home production, in which he also plays the lead role - only to discover soon after that a disgruntled employee in his office had leaked it on YouTube. It put him and his wife Aishwarya, director of the film - she is also the daughter of the superstar Rajinikanth - in an embarrassing position, since Dhanush had just sold the film's music rights to Sony Music India. An early, unauthorised release of one of the songs could ruin the commercial prospects of the deal. "The song was the rough cut of Kolaveri Di. I was terrified," says Dhanush. There was nothing he could do to get the song off the site. "I realised to my chagrin that something leaked on the social media cannot be controlled," he adds. "I wanted to counter it, but how? I was at my wits' end." He considered releasing a CD of the song as a si ...
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