“Why this Kolaveri Di” – All About Slogans, Taglines, Branding, Trademarks and Viral Marketing!

“Why this Kolaveri Di” Song Lyrics Filed by Sony Music Entertainment India For Trademark Protection in India

Last month, when I was browsing Facebook, I saw one video being shared by many friends, ”Why this Kolaveri Di?’ I really didn’t get it initially. The video seemed to be Tamil. After doing some research, I found out that Song was officially released on 18 November, and then it spread like a fire through social networking sites. Within first week of release, it received 1.3 million views on YouTube, and roughly more than 1 million shares on facebook. Interestingly, this is the first Tamil song to be premiered on MTV India. 

Recently, I came to know that Sony Music Entertainment India, which recorded the Tamil-English song that has become an international YouTube hit, filed for trademark registration of “Why this kolaveri di” last month. While searching the details of trademark registration, I found out very interesting facts:

1. Sony Music Entertainment India has filed for word mark protection of the song lyrics in Class 9 and Class 41, with description of goods and services as,

“THE TRADE LOGO TO BE USED FOR EXPLOITATION OF THE CINEMATOGRAPHIC CONTENTS THROUGH PHYSICAL FORMATS LIKE COMPACT DISCS, RECORDING DISCS, MUSIC CASSETTES, SD CARDS AND OTHER FORMS OF MAGNETIC DATA CARRIERS AND NONPHYSICAL/DIGITAL PLATFORMS THROUGH TRANSMISSION OR REPRODUCTION OF SOUND AND/OR IMAGES”

, and

“ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS OF TALENT DISCOVERY, TALENT MANAGEMENT AND EXPLOITATION OF THE FILM AND NON-FILM CONTENTS AND MATERIAL ON PHYSICAL PLATFORMS AND NON-PHYSICAL/DIGITAL PLATFORMS”

, respectively.

The trademark application, filed under Class 9 and Class 41, will allow  Sony Music Entertainment India to launch one or more products such as  recording discs, music cassettes, compact discs, and SD cards, as well as film and non-film entertainment content and talent discovery programs under the brand  name of the song lyrics “Why this Kolaveri Di”. If this trademark “Why this Kolaveri Di” gets registered will stop the competitors from using this tagline “Why this Kolaveri Di” for goods falling  in Class 9  and services falling in Class 41.

The image filed by Sony Music Entertainment India for trademark protection is:

2. More interestingly, another company, Wunderbar Films Private Limited, has filed for exactly same word mark protection in Class 41, barely 8 days after Sony’s trademark applications,with description of goods and services as

“EDUCATION; PROVIDING OF TRAINING; ENTERTAINMENT; SPORTING AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES.”

Now, it is to be seen whether this spans out to be another case of trademark opposition and / or trademark infringement.

Apart from trademark protection, this Kolaveri song is an excellent example of Viral Marketing. The video song has shown “Making of Kolaveri Di” i.e. how this song is made by the Kolaveri team. It shows Dhanush practising the song, and Aishwarya, Shruti Hassan are sitting along with him to listen the song. Also, the sound and music is refreshing and pleasant, as it is composed by 21 year old young Anirudh Ravichander. The song results from an association of various celebrities, as it is sung by Dhanush, who is son-in-law of RajaniKant, while the movie “3” is directed by RajaniKant’s daughter Aishwarya RanajiKant.  Shruti Hassan is co-star actress with Dhanush in the movie “3”. She is daughter of Kamal Hassan, and a classical dancer and famous Tamil actress. The song was quickly appreciated by Amitabh Bachchan when he stated it as a ‘mind blowing’ song on his blog and twitter.

Generally, viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce an increase in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, text messages, and the like.

There are various advantages of Viral Marketing, and the best part is that you can take benefit of this marketing technique without expensive software or technological expertise, and Viral Marketing involves giving away information to your customers and including back links to your site.

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