Disney UTV runs digital campaign to distribute Ship of Theseus

Movie lovers can get the film released in their city via an online voting mechanism on Facebook.

Disney UTV studios has launched an innovative campaign to pick the cities where it will distribute a movie. Anand Gandhi's Ship of Theseus, not considered "mass" cinema, will be released in five cities - NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Through a campaign titled 'Vote for your city', movie lovers in other cities can get the film released in their city via an online voting mechanism on Facebook. They can log on to the official page and vote for their city.

Talking about the reason for such a move, Shikha Kapur, executive director, marketing, studios, Disney UTV tells afaqs! , "The strategy was to not limit the release of the film based on any pre-conceived notions and instead have the audiences make that choice for themselves. We believe that audiences who are willing to experience good content will participate and share such an initiative. And, the initial numbers have been quite encouraging."

There are several marketing tie ups on this film to help increase reach. There is also an extensive on-ground activation that will help create visibility for the film at various locations such as art galleries, cafes and restaurants, colleges and theatres.

For Ship of Theseus, Disney UTV is almost entirely focusing its efforts on the online medium. Using the underlying theme of 'Think about it', it has created content and posed questions to engage with people on social media platforms. The company intends to continue to use both paid and unpaid campaigns leading up to the release of the film, in addition to collaborating with digital partners.

The movie release in each city will be decided on the number of votes it gets, the base for which is different for each city. According to Kapur, the percentage of votes in a city are calculated using an algorithm based on multiple factors such as demographics, cinemas and historical data, and absolute numbers in each city may vary.

"People can see a real time update on the status of votes in all cities. We will be working out an appropriate distribution plan based on the overall votes and interest from these cities. The idea is to take the film wherever there is a demand for it, and also to not restrict it in terms of cities or the theatre formats."