Bollywood Industry in the Wake of Cost Cutting Measures: Role of Quality Cues on Brand Placements

N. THAMARAISELVAN, B. SENTHIL ARASU, GLADYS STEPHEN & J. DANIEL INBARAJ
National Institute of Technology (Tiruchirappalli), India

Abstract
This study examines the significance and the favorability of brand placements in Indian film industry (Bollywood) movies that would generate revenues and reduce the risk of production costs for the decision makers (film production houses). A theoretical model built on Cue utilization theory is used to assess the number of brand placements in movies with respect to intrinsic and extrinsic cues. The model is empirically tested on a sample of top 100 Bollywood movies that were box-office successes during two decades (1995-2015). The findings suggest that genre of a movie (intrinsic cue) and star power (extrinsic cue) serve as important indicators in placing brands in Bollywood movies. In particular, specific genre-comedy, drama and romance-attract more number of brand placements, as does the starring role of superstars in movies.

Keywords: Brand placement, intrinsic cue, extrinsic cue, Bollywood movies, film production houses, content analysis, emerging markets

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Dr. N. Thamaraiselvan is an associate professor in the Department of Management Studies at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. His areas of expertise are services marketing, marketing research, strategic marketing, social media marketing, marketing metrics, and analytics. His research interests include self-service technologies, brand leveraging strategies, customer satisfaction analytics, services branding and social and online media.
Dr. B. Senthil Arasu is an associate professor in the Department of Management Studies at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. His research interests include share price behaviour and financial analytics.
Gladys Stephen is currently a research scholar in the Department of Management Studies at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. Her area of research interest include: brand placement in movies, advertising, integrated marketing communications and services marketing.
Dr. J. Daniel Inbaraj teaches in the Department of Management Studies at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. His areas of research are: cause-related marketing, corporate social responsibility, social marketing, and services marketing.