Satyaprem Ki Katha promotions show letting content take centre stage works better than marketing gimmicks | Opinion

This is the age of marketing gimmicks and over the top promotional campaigns in cinema, where week after week, films vie for audience’s attention. The attempt is to not let any airwave, social media platform, or webpage be left out when targetting the audience. Big films are everywhere, big stars even more so. In that milieu, it is refreshing to see the approach from Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani’s Satyaprem Ki Katha, which has let content do the talking – a throwback to the ‘good old days’

Satyaprem Ki Katha is positioning itself as a soulful, romantic draa wher the love story is at the heart of the film. The trailer, which was released recently, is getting appreciation from the fans. But unlike other recent promotional campaigns, one does not see the stars plastered around the city or doing collab videos. The makers made a smart (but brave) choice of bringing the content to the audience.

Pathaan did this earlier this year by keeping its stars away from the media glare and doing absolutely minimal marketing. But then, Pathaan had Shah Rukh Khan and the added buzz of being the superstar’s first film in over four years. That is kind of anticipation that you cannot replicate. Other films haven’t had the guts to try out subdued marketing strategies post-Covid. Good of Satyaprem Ki Katha to attempt that.

The teaser had enough to raise curiosity but not reveal much about the film. The songs, which were released subsequently, set the tone of how the film would be perceived and received by the audience. They say absence makes the hearts grow fonder. That certainly helped Satyaprem Ki Katha. The lack of marketing gimmicks led to a rise in demand for the trailer, which is likely to help the film.

The only marketing drive the makers of the film did resort to was the innovative idea of associating white heart emojis with the film. The white heart icons were rolled out as part of organic and branded posts talking about the film and sometimes just about love. The makers created an element of intrigue with the icons traveling around the social media. Pretty soon, the icons became an identity for the film.

It is said that post-Covid only ‘big fils’ with megastars work. Some sleeper hits have proved that wrong. As recently as this weekend, a romantic comedy like Zara Hatka Zara Bachke opened well. And Satyaprem Ki Katha’s trailer was another example of how a romantic film can pique audience interest too. In just over 24 hours, the trailer has 22 million views and was trending at number 1 on Twitter all through its launch day. Now how the film does depends on a lot of factors, most important of which is the film’s quality itself. But Satyaprem Ki Katha has certainly taken a running start in the right direction. And it’s slick yet subdued marketing is to be applauded for that.