Why is this work relevant for PR?

Indian film industry releases 2000 movies every year. It becomes extremely difficult to promote a movie on a shoestring budget in such a cluttered market. Therefore, we broke the internet by doing something no film would even dare - Leaking it online! Well, that’s what everyone thought before downloading the film. After downloading, the users were left shocked. The downloaded movie was fake. We generated organic PR worth 1.5 million dollars. This led to a social, an economic, political & legal change. The buzz led to an important reform in the country. The piracy law was amended in 22 days.

Background

Situation: Illegal Torrent Downloaders cost the Indian Film Industry Billions of Dollars in lost revenue, each year. Many times, a mainstream movie gets leaked onto torrent websites before the movie has even released, costing it gravely, on account of missed box-office numbers. URI: The Surgical Strike – a film on the verge of release, was dreading a similar fate. Brief: Discouraging torrent downloads and promote a film based on a covert-op. Objectives: A creative communication targeted towards torrent users; wherein, for a film based on a covert strike, we wanted to conduct a covert strike of our own on illegal torrent downloaders in-order to generate awareness about the issue of piracy on a national scale in a unique & humorous way.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We shot a video with the actors from the movie, disguised it to look like a real movie by putting a real certificate, real distributors, the folder contained real screenshots from the movie. The video was looped to be exactly the movie’s runtime of 2h 18 mins. On the day of the release (usually when the first print of the movie is leaked), the fake movie was uploaded on various torrents sites. It was seeded to keep our movie at the top of the torrent search. But when people downloaded the movie the actors broke the 4th wall and spoke directly to the audience and trolled them, urging them to catch the movie only in the theatre.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

Our TG primarily were movie buffs. Someone who would rather watch a film first rather than watching it right. Therefore, on the day of the movie’s release, we silently uploaded the movie and waited for it to be downloaded and shared. We then seeded tweets about the leak so that more people downloaded, the news got picked up. Vicky and Yami (Film’s actors with millions of followers on social media) expressed their disappointment. But when people who tried to download the movie got trolled, shared their thoughts. When the word got out that Uri: The Surgical Strike has conducted a covert strike on torrents, people began sharing the news. It became hyper-viral. People began tagging Prime Ministers Office and Ministry of Information. 7 days later, the Prime Minister of India, addressed the issue. On the 22nd day, the government of India amended the 67-year-old Cinematograph Law.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

1. We shot a fake film using the actual movie’s 2 main leads – Vicky Kaushal and Yami Gautam. 2. We uploaded our fake film on multiple torrent websites on the day of the movie’s release, to make it seem like the movie had been leaked online. 3. We packaged our fake film in such a way that it would fool even the most seasoned torrent downloader. a. We uploaded the film in the 2 most widely downloaded torrent sizes and resolutions [3.4GB / 1.3GB | 1080p / 720p] b. We even added a fake censor certificate and opening credit sequence. c. The length of our film was also looped as per the 2-hour runtime of the actual movie. 4.We constantly seeded our file so that our fake film would appear at the top of the search results. 5.CAT-C influencers were used to spread the word of a leak.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

Business Impact – 1. Opening week collection 15 million Dollars. 2. Earned Media worth over 1.5 million Dollars. 3. The film became an all-time blockbuster crossing several films which were leaked. 4. The revenue of the film grew after the campaign. Response Rate – 1. One in every 150 Indian Torrent users downloaded. 2. 20,000 downloads in one day per website. 3. Above 250k Torrent downloads overall. 4. $ 1.5 Million earned Media. 5. Widespread coverage by national and international media. 6. Prime Minister of India addressed the issue and promised a change. 7. The Piracy Law was amended after 67 years. Change in Behaviour – 1. People feared downloading torrents 2. People watching movies in theatres 3. People who downloaded the movie went to the theatres to watch it and tagged the brand.