Brand Promotions in Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Jab Tak Hai Jaan, the Bollywood movie which released in November 2012 by Yash Raj Films promoted a number of brands officially and unofficially. It was the last movie of director Yash Chopra. Though the movies have kept promoting brands by some type of collaborations, Jab Tak Hai Jaan is a latest example.

The following brands were promoted in the movie:

1. Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel went into an official collaboration with Yash Raj Films. Anushka Sharma played the role of the correspondent from Discovery Channel and she shot a documentary on the soldier Shahrukh Khan. “Being an inherent part of a mainstream film reiterates Discovery Channel’s leadership and credibility in India. It is a marriage of fiction with reality", said Rahul Johri, Senior VP and GM of South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific. The crews of the channel were shown in the movie along with its London sample office building.

2. Intel
Intel is manufacturer of electronics processors for computers. It was promoted in the movie mainly with its brand tune which used to rung in Anushka Sharma’s Mobile. It was particularly annoying (at least to me). Secondly, Intel ultrabooks were used in the movie. Anushka Sharma who was an adventurist correspondent and documentary film maker from Discovery Channel used Intel Ultrabook laptop, showing the durability and strength of Intel’s hardware. “Anushka is shown as very sporty. So the kind of laptops she carries are ultra-portable. Hence, Intel has used the product that is not even launched in the country and is planning to launch it with the film” said Ashish Patil, VP of Yash Raj Films.

Intel in Jab Tak Hai Jaan

3. Royal Enfield 
Royal Enfield is motorcycle company which manufactures its motorcycles through its single plant in Chennai, India. The brand was promoted exclusive here and there in the movie throughout. Shahrukh Khan who is a soldier used the Royal Enfield motorcycles to ride in tough terrains of Ladakh mountains. Royal Enfield manufactures heavy duty bikes and the movie shows the use of bike in such Indian army. The same brand motorcycles were used even in London where Shahrukh and even Anushka rode this bike. The latest model from Royal Enfield – Thunderbird 500 was highlighted in London. Shahrukh even said to Anushka that he loves this bike much and would love to borrow from her for a ride. Different colors and models of the Royal Enfield motorcycles were used to show wide range offered by the brand. No other brand motorcycle was used in this movie. Royal Enfield was never that active in its brand promotion but now it is working sincerely to create a youthful image of the brand. Now a days, youth are the main target customers of Royal Enfield.

Royal Enfield in Jab Tak Hai Jaan

The above three were the brands highlighted well enough throughout the movie. There are some more brands which were not highlighted that exclusively in the movie. They are:

4. Wildcraft
Wildcraft is a famous manufacturer of bags, apparels, accessories for tough terrains and sporty uses. Wildcraft bags, camping tents, sleeping bags and many other accessories were used in the movie. Sometimes the name or the brand image was made visible in the movie but it got kind of hidden throughout the movie. Wildcraft is official supplier of Indian Army for accessories like bags, tents, etc. 

Wildcraft in Jab Tak Hai Jaan

5. Puma
Puma is a famous sports wear and accessories brand. It was also shown once or twice in the movie worn by Anushka Sharma at one place when she was going to dive in lake in Ladakh. 

6. Gibson
Gibson is famous guitar brand which provided a special crafted guitar used by Shahrukh Khan in the movie. Though the guitar kept coming again and again in the movie but the brand name Gibson was not highlighted anywhere in the movie. 

Yash Raj Films has gone into official collaboration for brand promotion with Intel, Royal Enfield, Discovery Channel, Wildcraft, Puma, Western Union, Gibson, Pond’s and some more. 

It is quite a good branding exercise to promote brands in the places which have high following of relevant customers. This movie had big star cast like Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. This movie was also from famous director Yash Chopra who has made hit romantic movies like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, and many more. So, it was sure that Jab Tak Hai Jaan will have huge audience. The brands were promoted at appropriate places and were well linked to the story of the movie. The brand promotion in the movies is ethical until it feels annoying to the audience. Brands should take care about not to highlight too much that at one level, it feels it is a trade show where some story is being shown. Only the Intel ringtone in Anushka’s mobile phone was a bit annoying and over-promoted. Other than that, Discovery Channel was shown exclusively at some places. 

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What is knowledge?

Most of us have been to school. Many of us have been to college. Some of us have been to graduate school. And few of us go on to get a PhD. So what is knowledge?


I throw this question open to everyone. We learn a lot of things when we study in school. But many a time, we learn much more through our experiences than our books. So if you were given a choice, between selling your experience or selling what you learnt in educational institutions (assuming both cost an equal amount of $1,000,000) which one would you choose? Then comes the question of who deserves to know what. A lot of the people who are doing their undergraduate degree in India have a feeling that they are not where they want to be. Many get frsutrated with their stream of study. Sadly very few realize there are no barriers that prevent you from gaining knowledge. True, being an engineering student, you might not get to study finanace in as great a detail as the finance student themselves, but no one will stop you if you wish to acquire that knowledge. No one's going to stop you from reading the same books they read. No one's going to stop you from learning from the same teacher as them (unless the teacher himself doesn't wish to grant you the knowledge you seek). Thats the funny part about life. We complain about being stuck with a choice (sometimes for the next 4 years and sometimes for our whole life), but little do we realize that we have the power to control it.

I don't wish to digress into talking about controlling your destiny because the paragraph above may imply that. What I would like to mention is how we accept what is given to us rather than seek out what will not be given to us. Since I'm from an engineering background, its better if I talk about engineering students. India is probably one of the few countries in the world, where so many intelligent students decide to choose an engineering stream after 12th even before they know what each stream offers. Many of them realize that they did something wrong for 4 years and try to correct that with an MBA. Many do engineering just to do MBA after their bachelor's as they believe it's a good combo. Many like their stream so much they go on to pursue a masters and doctorates and then there's the vast majority which wonders what they are doing studying in a particular branch. So often we wait to find out what we like rather than proactively seek it ourselves. We wait to see what our branch teaches us, rather than see whats in this world that we find interesting. The point I'm trying to make here is, many a time, an engineering student gets entangled in his branch and fails to see the beauty of other fields. Of course, the common problem is 'lack of time' but to be honest, thats not true. The fun part about learning things that are not taught by your branch is that you will never get tested in it. That knowledge is free for you to accumulate and use as you see fit. And you won't be judged on it. Many students fail to capitalise on this thought process. For example there are so many artists amongst engineers who keep their artistic pursuits only as a hobby. Why doesn't the Indian student break free from structure and regulation to do what he likes. Ofcourse, we all know the answer to that one. But I hope and I look forward to the day, where an engineering student becomes an artist and keeps his engineering degree as a backup, as compared to the other way round as many people choose. I look forward to the day, when a student in a particular stream decides to learn things from other fields, because he's tired of learning only what his teachers teach him. I look forward to the day when the Indian student finally decides to break free of academic structure to seek knowledge on his own and completely fullfill his curiosities.

originally by (Aditya Kulkarni on Friday, October 1, 2010 at 12:18pm)

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Search Engine Algorithm: What is it?

In Search Engine Marketing, One of the most elusive things that people are scratching their heads with is the algorithms that actually determine what should be the page rank of a page. These algorithms are proprietary in nature and so only very few people outside a search engine company know how the algorithm is designed and how exactly it works.



These algorithms are so complicated that there is debate whether a single person of the search engine company understands the entire algorithm fully? This explains they are so complicated. Even if an ultimate math genius were given a chance to see the algorithm, then he would take lot of time to understand it. This makes optimizing for the search engines really difficult job. They are just so complicated (perhaps more than a girl, who always say ‘You can never understand me’) that understanding their working is ‘huh… I tried everything’ job.

Various researchers have been chasing their complexity and understanding them with experience. They have found that there is a baseline established by search engine to compare different websites. This baseline is of course different for different search engines. For example, more than 200 factors are considered to establish a baseline in Google’s search algorithm.

Even when people find some baseline components of a search engine with their experience, they are not in ‘I have got it’ situation because major search engines like Google make about half-a-dozen changes in their baseline of the algorithm to reflect the manner people make searches on their search engine. Some changes are major and some are minor but after all, they are secret with Google and you never know them, even if you are an expert.

The main thing which experts say about making a website, as per SEO perspective is to make the website for people and the users, not for the search engines. Providing more and more relevant content makes the search engines happy. If you put advertisements on your website, then see if those ads are relevant to what your website is about. If they are really relevant, then they can help visitors in some services that they might require at that instant. Like if I visit a website for booking for vacations in Goa and if I get to see an ad about hotels in Goa (may with some special attractive offers), then I may click that ad and book for the hotel at the same time.

Search engine like the way the website is designed for customers and how it is updated. If you are really paying attention to your visitor’s needs and requirements, then you can trace your way in top search results. But it’s still a game of cat and mouse to play with search engines.
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