The film Manthan [originally released in 1976] based on the origin story of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation [GCMMF – Amul Dairy] was in the news recently [Business Standard 7 June 2024]. A wonderfully restored version of the film got rave reviews from the audience at the famed Cannes Film Festival. This five-decade old film even had a select run in Indian movie halls. Social media was abuzz about the quality of the restoration and the movie’s enduring magic.
The news about renewed interest in the film Manthan made me think about how prophetic Dr Kurien and the team at Amul were to commission a full-fledged movie on their origin story. Yes, the movie did not use the names of real characters but no one is left in doubt that it is about how Amul came to be.
If you look around you do not see too many movies that have captured the origin of a company or the struggles of the founder. In the Hollywood pantheon on can think of, in recent years, Founder [Ray Kroc / McDonald], Social Network [Zukerberg / Facebook], Aviator [Howard Hughes / TWA] and a few more. In India there has been Guru [Dhirubhai Ambani], Soorai Potru [Tamil / Captain Gopinath / Deccan Airways], Vijayanand [Kannada / VRL Roadlines] and the award winning documentary Pralhad [Finolex]. Some of these were produced by the companies [the last two] but the others were all produced by mainstream movie production companies, with or without explicit permission. There are hunderds of movies that are built around semi or fictional business stories; even the highly acclaimed HBO original series Succession is supposed to be loosely based on the life of a media tycoon. And there may be many more movies and series of that ilk.
Why is this relevant for us marketers and what can be the lessons we can learn from an effort like Manthan?
Content marketing is a term that has found favour among marketers in the last decade. Companies have been told that you need to get out of the mindset of making one ad or one campaign and running it for a year or two. The attention span of consumers is narrowing, their field of vision is changing all the time with a variety of media clamoring for their attention. The customer decision journey is becoming more complex. Hence brands and companies need to create a constant stream of content to engage with their prospective and current customers. Companies like GE have even mandated that they need to have a Content Factory [in addition to having a factory that makes products]. So, what is really made in these content factories? And why will a consumer want to see a 30-minute film on turbines or engines? Well not all of us will be interested in spending time on the latest engine technology, but if you are a student of mechanical engineering, or a prospective customer of GE engines or a researcher working on engine technology, you may very well invest the time to see the film. And it may have a number of beneficial side effects. The brightest of bright students may get impressed and may want to apply for a job with GE. The buyer of engines may want to give GE a few extra points when they evaluate them against their direct competition. And the researcher may want to collaborate with GE on her new idea or even share her patentable idea with GE.
Content factory does not just produce 30 or 90 minute films, it could produce white papers, books [Tatas set the standard here with the early books by RM Lala and in recent years books by Harish Bhat, S Ramadorai, N Chandrashekaran and R Gopalakrishnan], podcasts [check out the Harsha Bhogle narrated podcast series ‘Paradigm Shift’ produced by Microsoft about AI], infographics, topicals [again Amul sets the high bar here], influencer content, events, games etc. It is important that the content factory stays true to the purpose of the corporation and the brand. Often enthusiastic brand managers engage multiple social marketing agencies to participate in every little ‘moment marketing opportunity’ leading to negative blow-back. That in my book is content marketing gone wrong.
Finally, there is the big bold idea like Manthan. What was the secret of its success and how do we measure its impact? For one it was good cinema, not just a hagiographic account. Dr Kurien assembled a great team, Shyam Benegal, Vijay Tendulkar, Kaifi Azmi, Govid Nihalani, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Girish Karnad to name a few. The film was critically acclaimed and went on to win several national awards. It probably recouped its investment and paid off richly to Amul in the goodwill it generated. Snippets of the film have been used by Amul / GCMMF in numerous corporate ads that also often feature the lilting song ‘Maro Gaam Katha Parey’ by Priti Sagar [music director Vanraj Bhatia]. Manthan worked because it was a bold move that did more than tell a corporate story, it was good filmmaking. I have to admit that I have tried in vain to get brands to support a full-fledged feature film venture but never got beyond a simple product placement. Manthan remains the polestar in my book.
Coming to films about founders this column will not be complete without the mention of possibly the best feature film ever made: ‘Citizen Kane’. Based loosely on the life of the newspaper moghul William Randolph Hearst, it continues to inspire all ‘content creators’ with its breakthrough filmmaking and narration.
Appeared originally in Business Standard June 2024