‘Ship of Theseus’ digital campaign wins this week’s Great PR but UGC has some learning to do about gender rights

 3rd July 2013    Good and Bad PR 

‘Ship of Theseus’ presented by Kiran Rao and marketed and distributed in India by Disney UTV Studios, is being marketed with a different digital campaign - as different as the film itself. The film is quite unlike the mainstream Bollywood potboiler, filled with larger than life heroes and dance numbers. And if you do want to watch it in your city you will have to vote to see it. While the film will premiere in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and NCR on July 19th, cinema aficionados’ in other places can vote in their city to have the film released. Nice innovative campaign which intelligently targets what is bound to be a niche audience.

 

‘Cape Times’ reimagines historical moments as selfies in this innovative campaign

South African newspaper, ‘Cape Times’ campaign airbrushes pictures of historical moments as selfies. The implication being, you can’t get closer to the news than this.

Take a look at the pictures here.

‘Lootera ‘producers Balaji Films tie up with Mills and Boon to publicise romance movie

The star pair from Lootera, which releases July 5th, are on the cover of a special Mills and Boon edition to market the movie to romance lovers.

This is yet another innovative marketing and PR campaign by Mills and Boon, after their decision to introduce the novels in Indian languages last month.

Bad PR

University Grants Commission (UGC) has some learning to do about gender rights

Many are outraged with one of the answers to a multiple choice question from the University Grants Commission's National Eligibility Test.

The question asks why women make better primary school teachers. One of the 4 answers to this question is, believe it or not, because women “are available on lower salaries.”  The question papers were framed by the UGC, the country’s top body for higher education in India.

This is wrong on so many levels, perpetuating gender discrimination and profiling in a culture that is already grappling with giving women a more equal say in their lives.

Have you seen any great or even bad PR?

Write to Paarul Chand at paarul@prmoment.in or tweet @PaarulC or @PRmomentIndia throughout the week and we’ll happily credit you for your trouble.