The latest offering ‘Proper Patola’ by Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Singh Dosanjh has just complimented Dosanjh’s fame which he earned through his series of Punjabi films Jatt and Juliet.  (According to reports, this film has earned Rs eight crore in the first week in East Punjab circuit which displays his growing popularity). Yet, a star like him requires a team who can work towards making his product reach the new and existing audiences. His single is signed under Sony Music which has a strong hold digitally. The association between Sony Music and Dosanjh started with ‘Main Fan Bhagat Singh Da’. Now, Sony music is working towards making this single a blockbuster.

In order to get an insight on the marketing strategy planned around this single, Radioandmusic.com spoke to Sony Music India marketing director - Sanujeet Bhujabal.

Excerpts:

What is the marketing strategy that has been planned across the single ‘Proper Patola’?

Our relationship with Diljit began with Main Fan Bhagat Singh Da which went on to be a huge success and we are confident that Proper Patola will cement our strong relationship further. We always wanted to work with him and with this song we witnessed a great cross over potential. We are promoting the single across digital and social platforms. In fact, we have been trending on YouTube and the views are multiplying as we speak. To grab eye balls, we will be previewing the song at the multiplexes in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, especially during the intervals. This will definitely help us popularise the song and as this will obviously connect with the listeners. We are working with Fun Cinemas, Big Cinemas, DT Cinemas amongst others.

Will the single be promoted outside India?

We will be targeting Diljit’s fans in the US, UK and Canada with a Click Through Campaign directing them to the stores where they can get the song. This will be targeted geographically.

On which digital platforms are you promoting the single?

Saavn, one of the leading streaming sites, will be streaming of the song, exclusively for three days. The song is already #1 on the iTunes chart. It is also the only video of a Punjabi artist to be made live on the global video platform, VEVO.

How was the response for the single digitally?

It is amazing, the fact that it has been trending on YouTube since the day of its release gives us more confidence.

How many downloads have happened in iTunes?

It’s too early to speak about the number of downloads but currently we are no 1 in the regional music space in iTunes and we are confident that will be topping other charts too very soon.

Across which digital platforms is Sony going strong?

As a Label we are strong across all digital platforms and depending on the content that we market, we devise customised marketing plans for release across all available platforms like RBT, streaming, downloads, video streaming, WAP etc.

Which states or countries derive highest traffic?

The traffic is coming from all the major Metro markets apart from the core state of Punjab.

Why was the video given an international look?

The sound design of the song lends itself very well with the visuals and therefore the look and feel of the video. The video was part of the deal that was done between the artist and the label.

How many days of planning and execution go behind promoting any single or album?

Promotions for a single largely comprises pre and post release. While for a song like this which we believe has a cross over potential has to have another element of promotions during the release of the song.

The pre phase was largely a hype phase where in we used our social platforms to announce working with Diljit Dosnajh and the fact that he is releasing his single. We also released a 30 sec teaser, two days prior to the release of the song which had almost 179 thousand views and got people talking about the song. On the day of the release, we had an exclusive tie up with Saavn for streaming the song.  The reason for micro segmenting the different phases in the release of the song or video was to ensure adequate elasticity before the full song or video got released. This ensured adequate buzz and interest for the song even before the song was released.

When will the promotion conclude?

We have a long tail promotion campaign on the project and we are experimenting on new platforms to seed the song to ensure adequate sampling happens to build a hit. The overall campaign will be a promotion plan over a period of one month.