Fountainhead creates 6 events around Vin Diesel’s India visit to promote XXX

Matching the tough style of the Hollywood action star with our Bollywood leading lady Deepika Padukone, the agency gave them a stunning welcome.

“Even before the stars arrived in India, there was plenty of buzz around the airport since wee hours of the morning. This hype around the welcome went so viral that a number of brands approached us for being a part of this experience,” said Allan Mathew, Group Account Manager – Client Servicing and Business Development, Fountainhead MKTG. Along with their director DJ Caruso, the stars received a traditional Arti tikka welcome with Dhol-tutari players at the Corporate Aviation Terminal, Kalina. Their procession to the St. Regis was led by a convoy of women clad in nauvari saris and biker boots riding Royal Enfield Bullets.

The press conference at the St. Regis encapsulated the movie’s most vital attribute ‘Extreme Sports’ with a dramatic content-driven entry for Vin and Deepika. Attended by over 200 media persons, the press conference looked splendid with an end-to-end 270 degree LED set-up. Exclusively designed content flew seamlessly from one corner to the other adding to the dynamic ambience of the entire conference. An experience was created where the different characters of the movie were brought alive on each screen dedicated to their movie posters, exclusively designed for the event.

Simultaneously, one of the biggest fan events was being hosted by Malishka in the Courtyard area of Palladium Mall, Lower Parel thronged by more than 8000 people. Revolving around the movie’s theme, the audience were spoilt for choice with back-to-back power-packed entertainment. The event kicked off with some daring performances by BMX riders, skate boarders and Power Bockers who kept the spectators on their toes. In their first-ever live performance, Piyush and the Finetuners left the audience awe-struck by creating vibrant and pulsating beats on day-to-day instruments like car parts, kitchen utensils, etc. while being suspended midair. The latest music sensation DJ Nucleya, then took over the entire crowd and had them grooving to his electrifying beats. His performance concluded with the fans doing a countdown for superstars Vin and Deepika as they made a dramatic entry. 3 lucky winners who dared to get a ‘XXX’ tattoo on their arm as well as a stencil of ‘XXX’ with their haircut, got a chance to meet their favorite stars on the stage. The fans went crazy when Deepika stepped up to teach her international co-star Vin, a few moves from her famous song Lungi Dance.

The stars then proceeded to the Grand Premiere of the movie held across all the 7 screens of PVR, High Street Phoenix which was attended by over 2000 invitees. From Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor to Kalki Koechlin and Karan Johar amongst others, the who’s who of Bollywood descended on the red carpet to watch the movie and meet Vin.

The first day of Vin Diesel’s much-awaited tour culminated with after parties at Astor ballroom and then at the Zenith Club in St. Regis which went on till the wee hours of the morning.

The second day was full of one-on-one interactions with select media persons. The agency also came up with a traditional “India Photo-Op” for the stars which had an artistically decked up auto-rickshaw. The vehicle even had Rajasthani kathputli puppets attached in the front, making it the most desi auto ever. Vin and Deepika’s photo with the auto-rickshaw and the one where they hold a cup of cutting chai went viral on the internet.

Commenting upon the success of the event, Rohan Sal, VP – Client Servicing and Business Development, Fountainhead MKTG added, “We are glad to have partnered with Viacom 18 for this yet another humongous project. This was the first time that ‘xXx’ movie premiered in India before the rest of the world, so our focus was on promoting and creating an immense buzz about the movie and its key attributes. Also, it was Vin Diesel’s first visit to India that already created hype amongst the media, we were determined to launch this India premiere with a bang and we did it tirelessly to achieve the client’s vision.”

Rudrarup Datta, Head of Marketing, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, said, “The India leg of the Global Domination Tour for XXX Return of Xander Cage has many firsts to it. Rarely has a main league Hollywood star been in India to promote his film. Vin Diesel's visit to India had to have the unique mix of connecting with the Indian masses as well as being ‘badass’ in XXX style. The team at Fountainhead MKTG helped us co-create the entire tour. Their ability to come up with ideas on brief and execute the multiple activities and events with perfection has been the back bone of the astounding success of the tour.”