Taapsee Pannu's Movie 'Thappad' Marketing Wins Big at the Spikes Asia Awards, 2021

Movie ‘Thappad’, as much as it was a pathbreaking film cutting across gender and age groups, it also had a particularly utilitarian and impactful campaign which went a long way in creating conversations and interest around the film. In times when women-centric films were being labelled ‘niche’ and were categorized as ‘only a section of audience’, marketing of Thappad was designed around creating conversations on subject through engaging activities, ranging from vox pops, to celebrating ‘violentine’s day’ to urging censor board to add disclaimer on scenes depicting domestic violence.

Spikes Asia Award 2021 for Thappad marketing Campaign

The marketing campaign conceptualised and executed by Trigger Happy Entertainment Network, not only captivated the audience's interests and proved hugely successful at the box office but has also won many accolades at prestigious events like Kyoorius advertising award. The new feather in the hat is the Spikes Asia Awards for Thappad’s marketing activity - World’s Most Reported Trailer!

Spikes Asia Award 2021 for Thappad marketing Campaign

One of the most innovative and talked about activities around Thappad was its second trailer, which also went on to become the most reported trailer worldwide. Presented just like a follow-up trailer, but with a twist where viewers witnessed Taapsee urging people to ‘Report the Trailer’ as a piece of violent content, a stand against the cause depicted in the movie by not consuming content that portrays domestic violence.

The trailer received about 1.2 million views in two days and had to be taken down in 24 hours due to the audience response, which was also what had been the intent behind the activity.

The innovative promotional stunt was conceptualised by Trigger Happy Entertainment Network in collaboration with Dentsu Webchutney. For its work on 'Thappad', Trigger Happy and Dentsu Webchutney has bagged Spikes Asia Awards for 'Use of Social Media, Media Entertainment & Social Behaviour' Direct category. In the Media category, the awards include 'Use of Social Platforms' and an award for 'Social Behaviour' in the PR category.

Known for its industry innovation ethos, Trigger Happy’s work goes beyond traditional marketing and content creation norms and rules. Known to be industry’s pioneer’s from last 14 years, Trigger’s core competence lies in forming strategy and communication for Film Campaigns and OTT Platforms.

Anubhav Sinha, the Producer and Director of the film, said, "With Thappad, I wanted to steer clear of the tropes associated with domestic violence and present it from the perspective of the modern Indian woman. Trigger Happy perfectly understood the zone I wanted the film to be placed in and most reported trailer summed up the message perfectly."

Amit Chandrra, Chairman and Managing Director of Trigger Happy added, “These days, there is so much conversation about women centric films and how they cannot reach out to the masses. Getting a trailer reported maximum number of times, worldwide, is proof that when presented in an engaging manner, strong message oriented content will also resonate with the audiences as well as any other entertainer. A special film deserved a special campaign and we are glad that Thappad being one of the most important and relevant films of our times is still being appreciated amongst the audiences and winning hearts.”

Lipika Chaudhary, Marketing Head of Trigger Happy said, “Many films and shows have been made on women empowerment/domestic violence and we had to make sure that Thappad stood apart. In the campaign, we wanted to leverage social platforms tactically and drive a powerful message about domestic violence, an issue that is usually normalised in India. With the ‘Worlds Most Reported Trailer’, the idea was to spread the message of acting upon something that’s wrong, and reporting the trailer was the first step to empower people leading upto the theme of the film that one needs to stand up for themselves.”