It is known that Disney+ Hotstar roped in RRR actor Ram Charan as their brand ambassador. The OTT giant rolled out an ad film featuring Ram Charan a month or so ago. It was heard that Charan will be promoted as the face of the OTT platform. But that isn’t to be. Disney+ Hotstar is failing to cash in on Charan’s image.
For instance, Disney+ Hotstar’s latest Telugu direct to OTT outing Adhbutham, featuring Teja Sajja and Shivani Rajasekhar in the lead roles premiered on the platform today. It is fair to say that the vast majority of the Telugu OTT audience don’t even know that this film is premiering on Hotstar today. Such was the effectiveness of Hotstar’s subdued promotional campaign.
Keeping the ultimate result of the film, or its canvas aside, Disney+ Hotstar should have at least tried to bring some visibility to this film. A promotional event featuring Ram Charan ahead of the film’s premieres on Hotstar would have helped the cause. But instead, there wasn’t even a simple social media post from Ram Charan pertaining to the film’s release.
It was said that Disney+ Hotstar paid Ram Charan a whopping amount of money to bring him on board as their brand ambassador. Well, what is the point in shelling out big bucks for endorsements if one can’t make proper use of the prospect? Ram Charan is awaiting the release of RRR now and the entire Indian film industry is likely to speak about him as the Rajamouli directorial approaches its release. Using Charan’s brand image can be of great help to Disney+ Hotstar but they seem to be least bothered about it.
The OTT giant has been investing big in acquiring the digital rights of Telugu films but they have been putting very little effort as far as marketing goes.