If you still don’t know what TikTok is then you might be living under a rock. For the uninitiated, TikTok is an App that allows you to create 15-second mobile videos with features to add background music, different kinds of filters and effects.
What Instagram is to millennials, TikTok is to Gen Z, millennials and anyone who has 15 seconds to spare. But what’s interesting about the app is that it allows anyone, from any part of the world, to be a creator and feel like they’re part of something. It provides a stage for everyone to put their talent out there. This is part of the reason why TikTok was one of the most downloaded apps in the world last year! Whether you hate it or love it, you surely can’t ignore it. In fact, it’s no more just Gen Z, but even Bollywood has eyes for what Tik Tok can do for the movie business.
Earlier this year, TikTok ran into some trouble here in India. In 2018, the Indian government ordered a formal ban on all websites that hosted child pornography. The ban was imposed to prevent the promotion of child-related crimes. Although such content violates TikTok’s Terms of Use, the government issued a ban on the platform over concerns that some content made children vulnerable to sexual predators. The app was temporarily removed from Google and Apple’s app stores, though users who already had the app on their phone were able to continue using it. In response, TikTok developer Bytedance submitted proof that over 6 million videos that violated their Terms Of Use and Community Guidelines had been removed after a detailed review. They also gave proof of tech that could prevent explicit content from being uploaded and made a commitment to continue increasing their safety features. These measures were deemed sufficient by the court and the ban was lifted in a week’s time.
Now that TikTok is back and running in full steam, the potential it has in film marketing is huge and has definitely caught our eyes here at MissMalini. Over the last decade, we’ve seen and participated in just about every kind of film marketing that exists. What makes TikTok a gamechanger in terms of social media engagement is that it makes the audiences the content creators. Not only are TikTok videos easy to consume, but the audience also spends time in dancing, acting or lip-syncing to their favourite movie dialogues or songs. To top it all, it’s available in all languages. In fact, celebrities themselves seem to be enjoying the app. Jacqueline Fernandez, Badshah, and Neha Kakkar are some of the biggest Bollywood celebrities who are fans of the app and their videos are super fun to watch too.
Check it out:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtchKyshTX0/?igshid=11i1m3p4w9lff
We got in touch with
Janak Bhanushali,
the CEO of a leading media agency – Hi-Fi Digital, he seemed to agree on how Bollywood is gradually turning to TikTok for movie promotions.
He said:
Bollywood is slowly starting to make a mark with
TikTok
as a movie marketing platform and is currently only limited to dialogues and song promotions through influential marketing and penetrating through the star’s audiences. In India, HiFi Digital is the first media agency to execute a successful movie campaign on
TikTok
for movie ‘Alita’ followed by influencer activity for Bollywood film “Bharat” staring Salman Khan & Katrina Kaif where hashtag #slowmotionsong and hashtag #chasni were used to promote these songs and the reach was tremendous.
Mr. Janak also revealed that one of the prominent reasons for this success is due to the fact that TikTok has tremendous reach, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The platform is a way to feel closer to their favourite stars and their movies. Hence, he says, movie marketers utilise the star cast of the movie to their maximum potential as the target audience loves aping the charm and mannerisms of their beloved stars.
Take a look:
We also spoke to Sachin Sharma, Director, Sales and Partnerships, ByteDance the parent company of Tik Tok about the buzz in film marketing. He told us about the effectiveness of the most successful movie promotions they’ve seen in India so far.
He said:
One of the most prominent examples of movie promotions is TikTok’s partnership with Red Chillies Entertainment for the Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma starrer movie Zero through the #ZeroChallenge, which garnered over 970 million views. Previously, we have also partnered with popular movies like Jagga Jasoos and Race 3 to build engaging campaigns for their audience.
Check out the #ZeroChallenge:
According to him, what attracts people to this specific platform is how each person can put out their talent in the most unique way possible. Moreover, TikTok focuses on generating localised content using global trends.
It’s clear that TikTok is growing and here to stay. It is currently experimenting with monetisation and is looking forward to campaigns to offer innovative Ad solutions to reach out to their consumers.
Safe to say the movie business is definitely going to take advantage of TikTok as a prime marketing tool. What do you think?