IMC assignment 3

IMC plan for

Abhinashi bhatia: 20050143004

Amber goyal: 20050143014
Prasanna Duvvuri: 20050143038
Madhav Joshi: 20050143054
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Introduction
Filum is a streaming platform, a curator, a distributor, a publisher, and a cinema lover.

An open online platform where people can watch, discover and discuss cinema.

Offering content in Hindi language, handpicked by us, which goes deeper into the

world of classic and contemporary cinema far away from mainstream cinema. The

platform focuses on Indie content, spotlights on major film festivals, new directors with

a lot of hidden talent and award winners. The platform will also feature documentaries,

all the entries for The Oscars which India sends for the foreign film category, and other

international and national film festivals which go unrecognised due to plethora of

mainstream content on other platforms.

Filum is a creators first platform, which aims to promote and support small/Indie

creators in the country to produce and publish content; and show it to a community

which shares the common love for cinema.

The platform will be an open and free space to discuss, review and rate cinema, the

subscriber of the platform will be a part of a nationwide community who love cinema

as much as they do. The audience for the platform will be niche, people who are

interested in watching classic cinema, and are fed up of finding the right thing to watch

on other OTT platforms due to clutter of content. Filum offers them handpicked

content after a lot of research and understanding of the cinematic world, so they don’t

have to waste a lot of time in figuring out what to watch.

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Market Analysis
With strong networks and availability of internet, digital services like OTT, Video

games, music, e-sports have become more of a utility and therefore a non-discretionary

expense. Especially OTT platforms have cemented a place by providing on demand

video content in the comfort of one’s home. Needless to say, this demand for online

consumption of content will only grow with increased smartphones and internet

penetration. and people get used to such services.

Especially during the pandemic, when the country and the world was in a lockdown for

over 6 months, the number of paid subscribers for OTT sector in India increased by

30%, from 22.2 million to 29.0 million between March and July 2020. Now whether

this spike in the number of OTT subscribers in the country is only short term or long

term will only be decided over time. But, since people were restricted to stay at home,

they have made arrangements and equipped their homes with accessories to improve

their Movie watching experience, especially the film buffs, elite class and the people

who watch quality/ artistic content. The increase in sales of larger screen smart TV and

home theatres across the country during April-September 2020, hints that people have

longer plans to watch a lot of content in the comfort of their homes.

If we look at the type of content consumed across the country, most Indian viewers

prefer regional language content, especially Hindi content on OTT platforms. Hindi

language content contributed for more than 50% of the overall streaming in April-July

2020 (Source: IBEF.org), moreover English language content accounted for only 7% of

the total time spent on OTT platforms in India.

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Competitor Analysis
With continuous increase in demand for online video consumption comes a number of

players in the OTT market, making it a highly competitive space. International brands

like Netflix, Amazon Prime rise to the top of the Indian streaming market. The

presence other native brands like Zee5, JioTV and several others, make the streaming

market highly fragmented.

If we talk about industry fragmentation, according to a report by DAN, the Gen Z

population have more subscriptions than millennials, but is restricted to platforms such

as Netflix and Amazon Prime, whereas millennials tend to have subscription to

platforms like Hotstar, Voot, JioTV.

Considering the fragmentation of the OTT market, different players deploy different

pricing strategies to distinguish themselves. The market is segmented in Advertising

Video On demand (AVOD), Subscription Video on demand (SVOD), and Freemium

and Transactional Video On demand (TVOD). To drive the revenues, the market is

highly focused on AVOD, while SVOD continues to grow significantly.

These pricing strategies and Direct-to-digital services facilitates cut throat competition

in the market, by offering all time low cost subscription fees and striving to provide

high quality content to increase the market share.

Many customers also take subscriptions of cheaper platforms like SonyLiv, Zee5,

which costs around 99 Rupees for 1 month subscription, just a few movies or TV series

that are available on the platform and then shift to other OTTs to watch other content.
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PESTLE
Political
India is a country with a dynamic political scenario. Periodic changes in the

governments bring with them constantly changing Political landscapes in the country.

And with a Federal system in place, enabling a certain degree of freedom in how the

various States and Union Territories operate, the political policies differ from city to

city, and state to state. This brought in a great deal of volatility into how a newly

launched OTT Platform would build their Business strategy, to adapt with the ever-

evolving surroundings.

Recently, the Central Government issued a notification, bringing all the digital/Online

Media platforms under the ambit of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to

cover for the absence of a full fledged law governing digital content generation. Such

notifications would have a direct impact on up and coming OTT platforms, as they

would have to ensure they choose their projects carefully and in accordance with the

rules governing the segment. It could also allow a lot of bureaucracy to seep over time,

into the procedures the OTT platform would have to go through to get approval.

Political policies also influence the Fiscal policies of a country, which directly

influence the financial sustainability of a Business. A new entrant would have to ensure

they have a robust plan in place to ensure they succeed through such changes.
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Economic
There are innumerable economic factors at play, that would decide the course and the

future of a business. India has seen a gradual rise in the Per-Capita Disposable income,

which presently sits just over Rs 130000. This consistent increment has allowed and

rather encouraged consumers to spend on services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.

Although, unprecedented situations like the one the whole world is facing presently in

the form of the COVID-19 crisis, will always pose a threat to businesses. While the

lockdown has restricted people to their households and has increased the time people

spent on digital media platforms, the pandemic also triggered a severe economic

shutdown, resulting in millions of people losing their jobs. This is a dangerous

proposition, as with reduced incomes, consumers are unwilling to spend on non-

essential services, which stands as a major roadblock for a new OTT Platform or any

other form of Digital Media platform entering the market. Another significant issue

would be that of the lack of Investors, due to the uncertainty that prevails across the

economy, thereby hurting the chances of sustaining the crisis. Hence, a new entrant is

always at a higher risk of never stabilising, and hence requires a comprehensive plan to

capitalise on the economic policies prevalent.

Sociocultural
The sociocultural factors play a major role in the decision making process of a

business, as they essentially reflect the consumer psychology that is at play in the

markets, hence becoming a part of the marketing strategies for businesses. India is an

immensely diverse nation, with a number of cultures thriving in different parts of it.

which results in extremely scattered content preferences. Hence for an OTT Service, it

is vital they understand the sociocultural forces in play, as it would help them

effectively and efficiently cater curated content to the right set of people.
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Technological
Technological factors are few of the primary drivers for any digital OTT Platform,

irrespective of whether they’re a new entrant or a firmly established brand. The recent

advancements in technology have enabled many things that were virtually impossible a

decade ago, thereby causing a spike in the number of OTTs functioning in the market.

The data revolution triggered by Reliance Jio has had a huge impact on viewing

patterns, helping millions of people get access to the Internet, and thereby be a part of

the Digital ecosystem that is at offer. Taking advantage of this, and the advancement in

the domain on Analytics, it is now possible to deploy algorithms which with the help of

Machine learning would be able to detect viewing patterns, and hence offer a tailored

set of media to each and every individual using the OTT Platform.

The rise in technology has also made it feasible for OTT Platforms to offer the viewers

High-resolution media, and also partnering with Quality Certification standards such as

HDR, and Dolby Vision, which guarantee an immersive experience to anyone

accessing it.

Environmental
Environmental factors are extremely relevant in the modern times, with the discussion

and the concern around Climate Change, the actions of a business and their impact on

the environment would affect the perceived brand image in the minds of the

consumers. An OTT Platform, to a large extent, does not have a detrimental effect on

the environment, knowing most of the business is to be run digitally. Having said that,

it is still impossible for their business to function without the consumption of resources.

Netflix, in 2019, was known to have consumed 94000kW of Electricity, which

included all their activities such as studios, offices, production, communication

facilities, etc. Netflix took up the task of analysing their consumption, in an effort to

understand where they could drive up their efficiency, and help both the environment

and their business.

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Legal
Legal factors include the Laws and regulations that govern digital media, the platform,

and its various other facets. These are essentially the provisions that the Judiciary of

the land provides the Viewers and the businesses themselves, to ensure there are no

violations.

One such Law in place is the Information Technology Act, 2000, which majorly deals

with Cybercrime. This law, although now slightly outdated, still plays a critical role in

keeping digital businesses in check, and ensures innocent consumers don’t get caught

in acts of crime online. India, as a country with over 1.3 Billion people, is also pushing

for a Law that assures privacy to each and every citizen. This is in light of the fact that

with growing online presence, and with most citizens now a part of many digital

platforms, be it Financial, business oriented, or Entertainment, and also with the

government pushing a digital agenda, the people are now increasingly vulnerable to

cyber crime, which usually involves their data being stolen and misused. This is a

critical issue that a new OTT platform would have to keep in mind that their algorithms

and data collection points are not intrusive to the lives of their viewers and are not

indulging in collecting or storing sensitive data, and are only using the data they collect

to curate content effectively with the chance of no human intervention.

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STP Analysis
Segmentation

Demographics: Demographic segmenting is vital to the process of marketing, as it

helps narrow our eventual target from the Total available market. For our OTT, we

believe we would be segmenting based on the age and income levels that exist in

the country, as it will further help us in targeting the ideal market segment.

Psychographic: Psychographic segmentation is of critical importance to us, as our

offering is heavily reliant on the consumer’s psychology which encompasses their

interests and opinions. His aligns with our objective to help build a community for

all the people who share common interests and likings. It takes into consideration

their passion, and their intrinsic affinity towards experiences, which is what our

OTT would ideally rely on. With the help of VALS Framework, we believe our

ideal segment would be of Innovators, Thinkers, Experiencers, and Strivers.

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Geographic: Geographic Segmentation would be based on the Tiers of the city, as

it is directly related with the income of individuals situated in these cities. Tiers of

city also give an idea of the cultures that are prevalent in a particular city, hence

making it easy to zero-in on target cities.

Usage: The usage based segmentation provides us an insight into the likeliness of

people moving to a new platform or a new product proposition. This in turn would

help understand where our promotional activities could be focused on as well, with

the Pareto Principle brought into focus. Based on the Product Adoption Curve, our

ideal segment would be Innovators, Early adopters, and Early Adopters, as these

segments consist of people who would be the easiest to experience a new product

being launched.

Targeting
The objective of targeting is to find the appropriate target market based on the

segmentation process.

Demographic: As we selected the segment based on age, we believe the

appropriate target market would be as following :

Ages 15-20 : They fall under the early adopters ,as they are always at the

bleeding edge of technology, as research suggests. They also contribute to 18%

of the Streaming statistics on sites such as Netflix.

Ages 21-30 : They are the Innovators, and who are always on the search for

new experiences. They believe in adopting early, and capitalising on everyone

who is lagging behind, and hence are open to change. The Forbes 30Under30

Report substantiates the same, as they are the go-getters of the population.
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Ages 31-45 : They form most of the thinkers and the strivers, as they contribute

the most to the GDP They are believed to lie in both early adopters and early

majority. They are considered to be conscious about the content they consume,

and hence would be one of our prominent targets. They also form more than

35% of the viewership of OTT content in India.

Psychographic: Based on the content we intent to curate through our OTT offering,

we believe the people with the following traits would be our ideal targets :

Cinephiles : We believe the genuine cinephiles are the ones we intend to target,

as they understand the intricacies of film making. With 62% of all movies

streamed are in Hindi, we believe it would work to our benefit if we target

Cinephiles.

Strivers : As the VALS framework states, Strivers are usually conscious of

their choices and styles. We believe the aspirational class falls under our target

market, as we intend to help expose them to a wider array of cultures, knowing

Movies are the truest representations of cultures across the world, through our

OTT platform.

The Content consumer : The COVID-19 having forced the whole world into

Lockdown, the streaming numbers sky-rocketed, hence giving us an

understanding of people’s affinity towards watching movies.The OTT market

saw a 30% rise in subscriptions during the lockdown, with Metro cities, and

Tier -! Cities contributing the most to this spike. This trend is predicted to still

go upwards, if not at the same rate with the restrictions now having been lifted.
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Positioning
Positioning is crucial for a brand’s success, as it essentially helps carve a space in the

minds of the consumer. For our OTT, we aim to position it as a platform that not ust

offers the chance to watch movies, but is a platform where you attain a sense of

belongingness and the feeling of being a part of a community. We aim to trigger the

factor of Quality over Quantity, and wish to present our OTT as an experience rather

than just a platform. We further aim to emphasise on the things our Platform does

differently, as compared to just showcasing what it does, hence differentiating ourselves

from the clutter. We intend to strongly depend on the content offered along with how it

is offered to the consumer.

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Marketing Objectives
Adhering to the broad marketing objectives of Product launch, Awareness and gaining

Subscriptions, the communication objectives are as follows:

Launch a new product : Our primary objective is to launch a new OTT Media

Platform into an already cluttered OTT Market.

Build brand awareness : The objective would be to build a strong brand image

through word of mouth, as we aim to cater to a niche audience.

Loyal Subscriber base : The objective would be to gain and nurture a loyal base

of consumers through a subscription model.

Communication Objectives
Adhering to the broad marketing objectives of Product launch, Awareness and gaining

Subscriptions, the communication objectives are as follows:

To create a strong brand presence among the potential target audience

To aware the potential target audience about the platform in the initial stages and

instill excitement among the viewer

To create favourable attitudes of the target audience towards the content and brand

To inform the target market about what Filum as a brand believes in and how

Filum is making a difference in the industry

To differentiate Filum from the pool of various OTT services which are available

right now in the market

To change the consumption behavior of the target market by informing them about

the curated content that Filum provides

To persuade the exposed audience to buy the subscription and to engage with the

Filum’s various offerings

To create a niche culture perception around the community in order to make the

audience want to be a part of it

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IMC Mix and Justification:

Our entire communication is divided into two broad parts: Digital and Traditional.

Since our product is available only on digital platforms, our target audience is easily

accessible there which moves our larger focus on digital oriented communication

strategies. Owing to that, the ideal break-up will be 70% digital and 30% traditional.

Since the product is launching and its nascent stage, our focus is on niche segments

where the rate of conversion would be higher. The type of content we plan to showcase

also limits us to niche target segments instead of the masses. In the long run however,

specific targeted promotional activities will help in building a strong and loyal

customer base, whose word of mouth will be an asset for the future promotions of

Filum.

Public Relations

Direct Digital Marketing

Sales Promotion

Advertising

Events & Sponsorships

Content and Organic Social Media Marketing

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IMC Elements
Public Relations
Objectives:

Create a buzz around the platform launch

Generate brand goodwill and positive target audience attitude

To convey the differentiators to the target audience

Initiate community building activities

Strategy:

Creator first platform: The idea here is to collaborate with indie content creators

who can lend their voice and creativity that resonates with the target audience and

provokes their interest in the platform. We aim to position Filum as a “Creator

First” platform that fosters a human connection between the audience and the

creators on our platform. It is important to register in the minds of the viewer as an

OTT that provides a platform to these small/indie creators by:

Creating short videos/documentaries around the celebration of small content

creators and directors who have unrecognised content

Introducing our own podcast which allows these creators to talk about their

journey with our platform and how it empowers smaller creators showcase

their talents

Allowing these storytellers to act as a spokesperson for Filum and represent it

on various platforms by sharing their authentic experiences

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Cinephile reviews/ Movie critiques: This strategy will involve rolling out specific

content for well known cinephiles and content critiques and have them review it

for our platform. This will help us gain traction and leverage their audience of

Filum. It will also introduce our target audience to the kind of niche cinema

ecosystem that Filum is trying to build.

Create word of mouth through these reviewers who have an established

goodwill in this space

Foster community building by welcoming the audience from Filum’s outdoor

streaming activities and let them talk about their experience with the platform

"The Lounge": The perks of having Filum’s premium subscription will also entail

this fulfilment benefit which will complete the full circle of movie viewing for

cinephiles by providing them with an opportunity to dissect and critique the piece

of art with like minded audience. “The lounge” will be a fortnightly online event

hosted by Filum where any 15-20 interested subscribers will come together and

discuss a pre-decided movie/documentary of Filum. This will allow:

User generated content for Filum’s social media platforms

More users to be encouraged to join the premium subscription

Filum to achieve its communication objective of community building

Suggested Media Vehicles and Channels:

Owned Media : Filum’s digital presence which will include their website, social

media handles.

Paid Media: Tie-up with various online movie reviewers.

Media vehicles: YouTube, Review websites, Offline review columns on

newspapers, Social media pages which primarily post around the cinema.
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Direct Marketing and Sales promotion

Objectives:

Target a specific niche and persuade them to subscribe

To increase relevant footfalls on Filum

Strategy:

Sales promotion: The logic behind using sales promotion is to give incentive to

the target audience so that they are encouraged to use the platform as well as

inform others about the product.

Gift a subscription: The idea is to increase active users on the platform.

Whenever a potential customer will buy the subscription, there will be a 1

month free subscription offer which can be gifted to anyone other than the

same email address. The rationale is to build a community with like minded

people, the user who will use the 1 month free subscription will be exposed to

the platform and eventually he/she will be a user if the 1 month experience is

satisfactory and the chain will go on.

Discount based on the consumption: With this strategy we want to gain user

engagement on the platform. If a user will consume content more than certain

number of hours or will watch more than certain number of projects then

he/she will get a personalised discount based on his/her consumption patterns.

Also we are proposing a sharing feature of the same on various channels so

that users can showcase their consumption on their profiles, this will further

work as an intriguing factor in his/her network.

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Targeted Ads: We are proposing to use extensive digital targeted advertising to

promote Filum to the specific potential customers via the following:

With the help of specific targeting, we are planning to inform potential

customers about the kind of content Filum provides. The idea is to connect

with the audience through various online touch points. There will be static and

interactive ads where the communication message will state the benefits(part

of the community, high culture) of joining Filum.

Use our sales promotion techniques as a communication message for google

display network, in-application ads and social media ads. We are planning to

target every possible online touch point of the potential customers and place a

clickable ad there, which will redirect them to either our website or play

store/app store.

Suggested Media Vehicles and Channels:

Social Media : Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit

Google banner ads, display ads on news websites, film review websites and

youtube channels.

Mobile applications which allow in-app advertising.

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Events and Sponsorship

Objectives:

To create a niche culture perception around the community in order to make the

audience want to be a part of it

To catalyse Filum’s launch activities and expedite the word of mouth

Strategy:

This idea will focus on creating an experience around our platform and give mileage to

its content through engagement and word of mouth. The immediate response of such an

activity will also help Filum to gauge the reaction of their audience and analyse what

works and doesn’t.

The plan is to organise closed screenings for limited cinephiles in metropolitan

cities and get an opportunity to screen exclusive content to a live audience.

Organise screenings for movie critics and reviewers and have them review the

movie/documentary

Sponsor film/short film competitions and festivals such as IFP, IFF etc. These

sponsorships will create a brand awareness and also showcase Filum as an

opportunity for indie creators to come onboard and share their content.
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Content and Social Media marketing

The idea is to build a long term relationship with the loyal customer base. By using

filum’s social media channels and websites, we are planning to provide a meaningful,

value added benefit which will be on the concept of “content around content”.

Social media presence: We are planning to showcase the creators’ rise and fame

on our social media channels. Apart from that, we will post snippets of events and

featured films.

Website: We will use content marketing for backlink, user engagement and link

building. Content marketing will include editorial content, detailed analysis of the

films by reviewers and testimonials of users.

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Advertising
Objectives:

Promote Filum as a creator first platform.

Promote the feature “Hand picked classic films”

Strategies:

A 59 seconds video, which emotionally connects with the audience. The

communication will be formed around a very creative filmmaker, struggling to find

basic necessities, but have beautiful ideas and scripts ready in the cupboard.

Finally, Filum gives him/her the opportunity to create and publish. This

advertisement will be communicated through channels like YouTube ads, Social

media sponsored ads, and social media handles.

A 5 seconds video, which quickly communicated the ease of watching films on the

platform without wasting time on finding what to watch, because Filum gives

Hand picked suggestions after a lot of research to the subscribers. This

advertisement will be communicated on YouTube ads, and Instagram Story

sponsored ads.

A 3 minutes short film, which will be used as an advertisement primarily on

YouTube and also on other digital platforms. The film must catch the attention of

the viewer in the first 5 seconds, a beautiful cinematic production. The story of the

film will promote both “The creator first platform” and “Handpicked classic films”

feature of the platform. A story of a creator struggling to make his content

recognisable in the clutter of content on other OTT platform, and then he gets the

recognition he deserves on Filum when his content was hand picked by the - team,

at the same time the person who is watching his film on the platform also

appreciates his work which was shown to him by the Handpicked films feature of

the platform.
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Print:

Objective: To reach niche target audience, and communicate platform as a classic

and contemporary cinema platform

Strategy: Print advertisement on Magazines like Rolling stones, Filmmaker,

Empire, BoxofficePro.The will neatly communicate the Filum is a creator first

platform, and the content available is hand picked by cinephiles.

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Budget
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Evaluation Matrix :
Taking a leaf out of Peter Drucker’s list of goals to measure the success of an IMC

Plan and combining it with evaluating measures relevant to our product , we would be

analysing based on the following factors to ensure we’re achieving our objectives:

Level of Innovation: Our OTT’s content offering is what it majorly relies on. We

would be conducting periodic surveys with the user base to ensure we are well

aware of how the platform is performing and also to take in valuable feedback.

Social Media Reach: We would be deploying deep data analysis models, either

developed in-house or from third party vendors, to see how many people are

actually landing on our platforms.and are interacting with our adverts.

Market Share: Although we are not keen on investing in expanding our market

size, we still believe it helps paint a clearer picture of our strengths and weaknesses

in the long run. We would be closely following the areas where our platform is

building its niche, hence effectively helping gain a larger market share over the

years

Interest in subscription models: We would be analysing the number of new

subscriptions and also more importantly track the rate of renewal of subscriptions,

thereby giving us a clearer understanding of our traction and our viability as an

OTT.

Direct Marketing evaluation: We would be analysing the Data related to the

number of clicks in all our deployed activities. With the help of Google Analytics,

which would help us track the engagement on our Youtube ads, display banners,

social media sites and , hence help measure the effectiveness of our strategies, to

then take a decision to either continue, drop, or replace our methods with more

effective solutions.
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Website user data: With the help of curated algorithms and AI & ML, we would

be analysing the viewership diversity, based on a wide set of parameters such as

age, gender, geography, and content preferences, to ensure we could further zero-in

on our target market, or can cater better to segments that we didn’t account for.

Engagement of fans : The PR strategies and Outdoor Marketing strategies involve

the participation of fans to further the message and objectives of our OTT

Platform. We would be carefully analysing parameters such as attendance,

willingness to participate, frequency of participation, to ensure we wouldn’t be

wasting crucial resources ons strategies not garnering our target crowd.

Resources : Revenue generation will always remain a crucial aspect of a business’

success. We would be scrutinising the financials for factors such as Profitability,

along with our use of resources, such as real estate, production costs, and other

overhead expenditure to ensure we’re utilising our resources effectively.