Top Indian Actor Shah Rukh Khan Joins Hands with HomeShop18 to Sell Movie Merchandise

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has joined hands with India’s e-commerce giant Homeshop18, to retail Ra.One’s original movie merchandise through its web portal, www.homeshop18.com and its 24 hours home shopping television channel.

The actor claims that this deal will enable audiences from across the country to buy the movie’s official merchandise with free home delivery and cash on delivery on a smarter and convenient shopping platform. He said:

It gives me immense pleasure to collaborate with HomeShop18 as the association would help us reach out to the masses with our super-movie. Through this association, we are trying a new form of movie marketing in India, much like the practice in Hollywood. We want our audiences to not only get entertained by Ra.One but also get a chance to own a piece of the movie as they shop in the comfort of their homes.

Movie fans will be able to buy a range of merchandise including Ra.One action figures, G balls, Ra.One frisbees, pencil boxes, lunch boxes, stationary sets, notebooks, sipper sets, exam boards, coin banks, toy laptops, fridge magnets, wristbands, key chains, car danglers and so on.

Shailja Gupta, head of digital and licensing and merchandising, Homeshop18 said:

Ra.One is a special movie. With the release of Ra.One we are bringing a new trend, quality and reach of movie merchandising and marketing in India. We are happy to partner with HomeShop18 and leverage their pan-India network and quality processes to delight movie fans.

However it must be noted that, this store will be different from the original online store or the Seventymm store that was set-up to sell movie merchandise.

Over-The-Top Promotion?

I am not sure if it is just me or is the actor really going overboard with the promotional drive for this movie. He has already tied up with the majority of prominent consumer brands like Google, Nokia, NVIDIA, Disney’s Indiagames, HCL, Coca-Cola, Horlicks, Nerolac, Western Union Money Transfer, and Cinthol, apart from his prolific public appearances and interviews about the movie. As a result, you can spot a Ra.One movie promotion literally everywhere, both online and offline, which has the potential to kill all enthusiasm among avid movie fans.

However, this is India’s most expensive film to date with a movie budget of Rs 150 crores ($30 million), including a marketing budget of Rs 52 crore ($10.38 million). Hence, I assume it becomes quite necessary to carry out a marketing blitzkrieg like this. If nothing else, it could set a precedent on how a movie should be successfully marketed.