Why the Kolaveri craze di? Dhanush gyaan at IIM-A

AHMEDABAD: Managers-to-be at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) will learn the art of viral marketing from the man who has re-defined the concept. National award winning actor Dhanush, who has become a household name after the success of 'Kolaveri Di', will deliver a lecture and discuss the success story of the soup song at the premier institute on Tuesday.

Dhanush along with cousin and music composer Anirudh Ravichander, will address a class of about 130 students of Contemporary Film Industry (CFI) course at IIM-A. Bharathan Kandaswamy, faculty and co-ordinator of the course, says, "The hour-and-a-half long lecture will focus on the success story of Kolaveri Di, perception and insights by Dhanush and Anirudh, viral marketing and social media.

Today's youth are very quick in sharing experiences and this can be an effective tool in marketing." The song, from upcoming Tamil film '3' (Moondru), created mass hysteria on cyberspace since its digital release on November 16. The song sung by Rajinikanth's son-in-law became a raging success online with over 10 million downloads. Incidentally, Kandaswamy is the executive director of film production company Kavithalayaa Productions, founded by veteran filmmaker K Balachander who discovered Rajinikanth.

Dhanush tweeted, "Gearing up to make my speech at IIM institute ahmedabad tom. I don kno good english. but who cares, I'm an indian. not english." The IIMs have been treating the popular song Kolaveri Di as a classic example of viral marketing. Most IIMs have screened the song in class to discuss how the same strategy can be used by companies to leverage their marketing activities. Students have also carried out case studies on Kolaveri Di.