It appears the ‘Force is Strong’ with brands that have associated with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the ‘cult-blockbuster’ franchise that hit the theatres this Christmas. Fifty brands from various industry categories such as FMCG, automobile, electronics, e-commerce, home décor, banking, apparel as well as F&B have collaborated with Disney, offering innovative Star Wars branded products.
Disney India began building the Star Wars franchise campaign almost a year ago with immersive on-ground experiences across social and digital media. Siddharth Roy Kapur, managing director, Disney India, says, “We launched the franchise in India with a truly innovative year-long marketing campaign bolstered by a record number of brand associations that provided additional visibility, impact and promotional support to the campaign. There are few movie franchises in history that have dominated popular culture like Star Wars has.”
An interesting association is with ICICI Bank that launched its Expressions Debit Card with Star Wars characters imprinted on them; 16 designs will be offered to account holders across 3,000 branches. Kusal Roy, general manager and head- Payments and Unsecured Loans, ICICI Bank, says, “This customised offering is yet another compelling proposition that we believe will appeal to our young customers and further strengthen relationship with them.”
HP too launched special edition Star Wars premium laptops and accessories that include exclusive movie content embedded in them. Zones have been set up in HP Stores where fans can experience ‘The Force’. Ketan Patel, director, Personal Systems, PPS, HP India says, “HP is giving customers exclusive access to rare Star Wars content so they can immerse themselves into the Star Wars universe.”
Apparel brand Originals by Jack&Jones has released archival images of iconic characters with new graphic interpretations on 23 SKUs across 61 outlets in India. Vineet Gautam, country head, Jack & Jones India, says that the consumer landscape in India has evolved and his target audience is highly influenced by cult movies and the association perfectly reflects the brand’s intention of creating offerings integrated with popular culture.
Other brands such as Maruti Suzuki, Amazon.in, Servewell, Lifebuoy, Landmark, Subway, Hamleys, Duracell and Kinder Joy, among several others, have collaborated with Disney India to woo both fans and non-groupies.
(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-01-2016)
BW Reporters
The author is principal correspondent at BW Businessworld and Digital Market Asia. He writes on marketing & advertising.
