Kolkata is all set to give a roaring welcome to hundreds of Harley-Davidson owners and their families as they come together from 11th – 13th December, 2015 for the fourth edition of the Eastern H.O.G.® Rally. During this edition, Harley owners from across the country’s 15 H.O.G. Chapters will come together to give the ‘Cultural Capital of India’ a flavor of the Harley-Davidson lifestyle. The 4th Eastern H.O.G. Rally, organized exclusively by and for Harley owners, will witness an exciting line-up of activities. These will include a H.O.G. Talent Hunt, a special Kolkata themed street food festival and the signature H.O.G.® Custom Contest where riders show-off the passion, creativity and inspiration they have put into their motorcycles. Mr. Manoj Joshi, Chapter Director, Bengal Harley-Davidson said, “West Bengal has always had an incredible motorcycling culture. The launch of Bengal Harley-Davidson in 2012 has given an opportunity to the riders to be a part of the global H.O.G community as we welcome a growing number of Harley Owners to the brotherhood. This will be the third H.O.G rally being hosted by Bengal Harley-Davidson, after rallies in Bodh Gaya and Puri, and is the first of its kind in Kolkata. We expect more than 300 Harley owners from all over the country to come together for the 3rd Eastern H.O.G Rally in the City Of Joy!” The Harley Owners Group in India encompasses the true spirit of brotherhood and camaraderie, something that Harley-Davidson® is known for all over the world. The Zonal H.O.G rallies are conducted at regular intervals, for customers to ride and experience adventure, self-expression and the freedom of the open road. Harley-Davidson customers don’t just buy a bike, but embrace a culture and a lifestyle. Over the past 6 years, the company has led the way in developing the leisure motorcycling segment in India. From organizing the event, to encouraging fellow riders to join the rally, these customer led events are a true reflection of the passion the riders have for the brand and the H.O.G. brotherhood.
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It is the shared passion for good food that unites different religions, castes and gender biases in the world. And while people across the globe eat to live, we Indians are known to ‘live to eat’. From over 1,00,000 different kinds of known food dishes being served across the country today, India is definitely the food capital of the world. From continental, to Italian, to Mexican to French, everything has comfortably found its place amidst the love India has for food. Till October last year the country surprisingly lacked an event that celebrated nothing but our love for food. But with the entry of the first ever NDMC Palate Fest in November 2014 in Delhi, people now had a reason to celebrate their gastronomic desires. This first of its kind food festival in the capital opened up to a thunderous response with people pouring in from even neighboring cities to join in. Interestingly, this was perhaps one of the few timeswhen something had received such aunexpected response. What followed wasa slew of food festivals serving a chance to experiment with different flavors at one place. As most mid level food festivals failed to re-create the impact of Palate, the creators AditiKapoor and RuchiSibal made a return in February 2015 with a mini edition of the Palate Fest. During this time all the other mid level food festivals went unnoticed. Then entered Aman Kumar, Arjun Jain, ChaitanyaMathur& Mani Singh with a new food festival named ‘The Grub Fest’ in April and the battle of food festivals got more interesting. With massive marketing campaigns and an extensive entertainment line-up The Grub Fest became the second food festival in the country to be organized on the same scale at Palate Fest. And though they could not deliver to all what they promised on the first edition. The recently executed second edition of Grub Fest nailed the expectations of the audiences to near perfection with the attendees going gaga over it. Another considerable edition to the food festival business recently was ‘Foodistan’ of the 10 Heads Festival by Trifecta Entertainment. While The Plate Fest and The Grub Fest were standalone food festivals, the 10 Heads hadFoodistan as one of 10 themes of the overall festival. In conversation with AditiKapoor&RuchiSibal, the creators of The Palate Fest, Aman Kumar, Arjun Jain, ChaitanyaMathur& Mani Singh, the directors of the Grub Fest and AbhishekMankad, Festival Co-Director, 10 Heads Festival we decipher their recipes of making their respective festival models a clean hit. The Grub Fest Q-How did you all meet and how did the concept of The Grub Fest originate? Arjun-Coming up with something like a Grub Fest had been Aman’s idea since 2011. He had discussed it earlier with his wife Sim and after a lot of contemplation he brought it up with his partner Mani. So the concept actually belongs to him. Chaitanya- I was working in London as a banker and once I came back I was doing banking here as well. I later completed my chartered accountant course till level two and started my own events company called EME and it was during this time when I met Arjun. Aman- Mani and I used to own an event company called Tricon media which did corporate events. We conceptualized the MRF challenge series. Plus we also did a lot of work for corporateslike Tata in Delhi we also have an office in London called Tricon Digital London which does digital marketing. So somewhere down the line we all were engaged in the events fraternity and were somehow connected. And rest as they say is history. Q- Were there any inspirations from international food festivals? Aman-Well, we wanted to do a premier food festival and by premier we meant creating pop-up restaurants via large spaces. The inspiration for these have been us visiting places like Chicago, LA, Seattle, the food festival bite of Seattle and Taste of London. However, since we had to create something like an international food festival in a format that fits the landscape of India. And hence, instead of having no seating arrangements like international food festivals we decided to create pop up restaurants. Our biggest pop up in the second edition was 2400 sq feet which is a 120 people seater restaurant. Our aim has always been to create an international food festival experience designed for India. Q-Establishing a new IP from scratch is a daunting task. What were some of the challenges that you faced? Aman- We mainly faced government related challenges, from license hassles, to prior approvals and local administration to support from the government. Our plan is to take the fest international, ironically when you conceptualize a festival outside India you get a lot of support from the government and that’s the challenge you face India, you are not supported at all to create something new. Arjun- Basically we had to go to 8 different offices to get a permission, there is no support that the administration was willing to give easily; they would rather drag you back than actually helping you. They don’t understand it’s something good for the society, something that the tourism can also benefit from. They are more of a hindrance than a support. Q- You had a tough time dealing with the cops at the first edition of the fest. What happened there? Arjun- All the challenges have made us who we are now. The problems that we faced with the cops was that they made us move our box office and they also cancelled our entire entertainment lineup just two days before the event because we were also serving alcohol which they objected to. Chaitanya- JLN being in the VIP area, it was the first time an event so huge was executed there with alcohol which the police were rather skeptical about. They thought if someone got intoxicated and perhaps misbehaved then it could be a big issue for them. So, 2 days before the event they came and said we cannot allow this to happen. So our second last advertisement of the event had our entire entertainment lineup and our last advertisement had no lineup at all. They only allowed Veer Das to perform as there was no music. However, lessons were learned and for the second edition of the Grub we had all permissions in place. Q-What were the reactions and footfall in both the editions? Mani-We had 75,000 people who came to the first edition and 50000 people came to the second edition since we were only covering Gurgaon and a small part of south Delhi in the second edition. We also received requests that please make this a permanent structure as we had some of the best food brands at one place with so much happening at the same time in terms of art installations, engagements and also stellar line up as far as entertainment is concerned. Overall people loved the ambience of both the editions.Grub also received great reviews from people in terms of the security aspects as well. Q-What is the kind of money you have invested in creating the Grub Fest? Aman- Well, we cannot share the exact figures with you but all I can say is that in food festivals we would be investing more than 2 million pounds over the next year. That is our plan and that is the kind of investment you should be looking at if you are serious about creating a food festival of a different level. Q- What is the number of sponsors you had in first and second season? Aman-I believe, no other event in the country attracts close to 1,00,00 people so events like Grub are a heaven for a sponsors. Compared to a music festival which has 10,000 people at a food festival you are looking at just 10 times the audiences and different levels of engagement. We really multiplied our sponsors in the second edition by 4 times. Chaitanya- It was easier the second time, since the concept was introducedpeople already knew about it. Q-What were the highlights of the second edition of The Grub Fest? Chaitanya- For the first time we came up with a four storied travelling restaurant,which provided a 360 degree view of the entire festival. We had Varun Behl doing art installations; we hadflash mobs, infrastructure wise we were more sorted this time as we had luxury washrooms, luxury carts to take people from one place to another. Mani- We also had Grub Explore, where people could have cuisines from around the such as Bengali .Nagaland, Costal, Kashmiri, Iranian and others. Q- The Grub Fest came after NDMC Palate fest had already established the concept of a food festival in Delhi. Obviously there are direct comparisons between the two. What do you have to say on that? Mani- We have a lot of respect for the girls who introduced Palate. When Palate came it showed us something that we had already planned to do but never implemented. With that being said we believe in healthy competition with people who have a vision like us and Palate is something that we have always admired. Q-When is the next edition of The Grub Fest happening? Aman- Well, plans are to go to Bangalore, Pune and come back to Delhi in March again. We are also excited about taking the festival out of India to places like Dubai and Singapore. Chaitanya- We will also be creating properties around Grub such as a Grub Carnival which will be much bigger in magnitude and Grub Express which will be a food festival for tier two and tier three cities. The Palate Fest Q-How did you two meet and how was the idea of creating Palate fest born? Ruchi- We met as parents while our kids were in the same class in nursery so that is how we became friends. During that time itself we decided that we should do something big and different as it makes no sense to do something which is already out there. Once our kids were a little older our common passion for food has us discussing about creating the first of its kind food festival and that is how NDMC Palate fest was born. It took us 1.5 years to decipher on what should be the elements of the festival, what should it showcase, how to get the best hospitality partners and other crucial elements. We feel really glad to see that our efforts paid off and none of this could have happened without the support from the government. Q-Was the idea of Palate fest inspired from any international food festival? Ruchi- Actually no. For Palate fest we did our own curation from scratch. Most food festivals that we have seen so far have just been about having a kiosk and selling what they have, this is something that we really wanted to change and thus creating Palate festival was a different concept and experience all together. Q- What were some of the biggest roadblocks in your journey? Aditi- Since, Palate was the first food festival of its kind to take place ever the country it took a lot of time for us just convincing people about our vision. There were a lot of people who supported us and a lot more who didn’t. Also a challenge was to bring different cuisines, embassy partners and the necessary art & music support. Our idea was always to create a food festival that could be enjoyed by anyone from the age of 1-101 but since we were the first ones to come up with this concept it took us a people a lot more convincing. Q-We have seen two other food festivals recently. One being The Grub Fest and the other being Foodistan, both of them had an entry fee. What makes Palate Fest free? Aditi- Our idea for a food festival has always been people enjoying in the park as if it’s a family picnic. So Why to stop them or put a cap on entering the festival? They will anyways be paying for the food they eat. Yes it is challenging for any food festival revenue wise to not have an entry fees but our vision was always very clear. In fact, we also had many people sharing that drivers also attended the festival with their families. And that was the idea of what we wanted to create, a family experience that anyone could enjoy and thanks to the support of the government we managed to do that. Q-What was the response that you received at the first edition? Ruchi-We had some 1,00,000 people entering by day 2 and then we just stopped counting. Q-When is the next edition of the NDMC Palate Fest and what can we expect from it? Ruchi- Well considering this is second Palate fest it is obviously going to be bigger and better. One can expect more than 60 restaurants to participate in comparison to 35 last year and over 35 cards compared to 22 in the previous edition. We have a lot of surprises as well in terms of different cuisines and art installations. Bands like Euphoria and Nasha are also slated to perform as far as the music quotient of the event is concerned and we are also partnering with Hindustan Times who will be creating on-ground engagement at the upcoming New Delhi edition on the 27th-29th November 2015. Q-What according to you is the size of the food festival business in the country? Aditi-I think we are standing at a very nascent stage of organizing food festivals in the country and it is too early for us or anyone to actually comprehend of its business size. The fact of the matter is that it is getting bigger and better with every edition which is being organized which makes it very interesting. Plus Food is the essence of life in India and hence food festivals always have a great future ahead. Q-The second edition of The Grub Fest has received positive reviews from the people. Does that put a pressure on you? Ruchi- No, as we have our own niche and goals in place. Our idea has always been to put 200% of our efforts into creating this and we have our own vision so with or without any other food festival in place we would have worked the same as we are working now. Q- When is the next Palate after Delhi this November? Aditi- We also have a Palate happening in Chandigarh at Leisure Valley 25th-27th December this year. Next year we shall begin with the Palate Mini in Feb. Our plan is to expand into cities like Pune and Bangalore as well and make Palate an annual property there as well. 10 Heads Festival Q- 10 Heads Festivals had ten different concepts in one property which included the food festival Foodistan. Any reasons for not creating a standalone food festival? Abhishek-We had that idea as well but decided to elevate it up a notch. We wanted to go beyond food and engage people completely. At a food festival what happens is people come eat, listen to music and go whereas at 10 Heads what we saw was families coming in and staying longer period. We wanted to create a family experience that had something to offer to everyone and hence we created 10 Heads Festivals that offered the experience of a food festival but with so much more. Q-What is the amount of investment you had put in to create the 10 Heads Festival? Abhishek- We spent somewhere around 3.5 crores to create the entire festival together. Q-Why do you think a concept of 10 different themes of experiences works better than a conventional one-themed festival? Abhshek- There is no comparison between 10 Heads Festival and other conventional food carnivals as the engagement with 10 heads is 10 times more considering it has more variety to offer. We got some amazing feedback from the audience as well. People appreciated the concept we came up with and even the government officials were really happy. It was a differentiated festival and was enjoyed by all. Q- What was the footfall registered at Foodistan? Abhishek- We had approximately 50000-60000 people coming over 4 days of the festival. Q- When will we see the next edition of the 10 Heads festival? A-Well we will now be travelling to 3-4 cities with individual festivals themes like Foodistan. But considering we have just executed the festival nothing more can be revealed as of now. (The article first appeared in Oct-Nov '15 issue of BW APPLAUSE)
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The Top IPs in India is an attempt by BW Applause to identify the best IPs in the country. That being said, we wanted to ensure that the list covers IPs cross various categories. This research was done in partnership withour research partner Traverse Strategy Consultants, where we used a bottom - up approach and created a universe of IPs across sectors. This was followed by identification of the best IPs under each category – where every category shared some metrics but also had some individual metrics unique to it. A portal created on the Everything Experiential website allowed IP owners to nominate themselves. Extensive research and engagement with IP owners was done to gather information pertaining to all these metrics, given below: Attendees / Viewership* Sponsorship Positive Media Coverage Live Market Research done Digital empowerment Media Vehicles The two fold change we see is that existing IPs that have been around for years are rebranding themselves, and that there are many new properties mushrooming in varied sectors. The consumer acceptance across all these various formats of experiential marketing also will in turn will encourage more properties to be created. Category Rank ART & CULTURE 1 Jaipur Literature Fest 2 Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 3 Comic Con India 4 India Art Fair 5 Vadodara International Art & Cultural Festival Category Rank AUTOMOTIVE & BIKE 1 Tata Prima Truck Racing Championship 2 India Bike Week 3 Bike Festival of India 4 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare 5 Harley-Davidson H.O.G Rally Goa 6 Agra Taj Car Rally 7 Indian National Rally Championship 8 BMW Experience - Multi City 9 MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 10 MRF MoGrip FMSCI National Supercross Championship 11 Toyota Etios Motor Racing Category Rank AWARDS 1 IIFA Awards 2 Filmfare Awards 3 Life OK Screen Awards 4 GiMA Awards 5 Star Guild Awards 6 Zee Cine Awards 7 Stardust Awards 8 Star Parivaar Awards 9 BIG Life OK Now Awards 10 Big Star Entertainment Awards 11 Mirchi Music Awards Category Rank FASHION 1 Amazon India Fashion Week 2 Lakme Fashion Week 3 India Couture Week 4 BMW India Bridal Fashion Week 5 Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour 6 India International Jewellery Week 7 Bangalore Fashion Week 8 Pune Fashion Week 9 Chennai International Fashion Week 10 India Beach Fashion Week Category Rank FOOD AND DRINKS 1 Bandra Wine Festival 2 Sulafest 3 Grubfest 4 New Delhi Palate Fest Category Rank MUSIC 1 Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2 Sunburn 3 VH1 Supersonic 4 Kingfisher OctoberFest 5 Ragasthan 6 Mahindra Blues Festival 7 100 Piper VH1 Sound Nation 8 Enchanted Valley Carnival 9 Kasauli Rhythm and Blues fest 10 Kingfisher Final Wave 11 GoMAD fest 12 Escape Festival 13 Axe Boat Party 14 Magnetic Fields Festival Category Rank SPORTS - NON LEAGUES 1 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2 Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 3 TCS World 10K 4 Puma Urban Stampede 5 The Spirit of Wipro Run 6 Pune International Marathon 7 SBI Pinkathon 8 Reliance Sabarmati Marathon 9 Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 10 Vodafone Cycling Marathon 11 Firestorm 12 Auroville Marathon 13 The Kaveri Trail Route 14 India Surf Festival Category Rank SPORTS - LEAGUES 1 Indian Premier League 2 Hero Indian Super League 3 Hockey India League 4 International Tennis Premier League 5 Pro Kabbadi League 6 Indian Badminton League
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The New Delhi Palate Fest came back with its second edition of the country’s biggest food enthusiasts garden party from 27th – 29th November 2015. It showcased India’s finest restaurants, chefs, entertainers & musicians and saw culinary experiences, a medley of tastings, events, promotions and celebrations. With families and young adults attending the food festival in large number throughout the three days, The Palate fest also hosted some of the most interesting art installations and brand activations as well. Ford showcased one of its new launches ‘EcoSport’ at the Palate Fest with Blue Hive India. Vibgyor Brand Services was roped in set up a large display kiosk at the food fest. The idea was to engage the potential customers and educating them about their product. Ford, a renowned car maker in India wanted to convey how their brand aims at comfort and luxury with an economic value. A lot of visitors were enthused to buy the car and the agency generated 59 genuine leads and 310 potential customers for the Ford.
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AXN is all set to thrill its audience once again. The English entertainment channel has now collaborated with the India’s one of a kind comic based convention, Comic Con India! AXN is the exclusive Television Partner for Comic Con India for its Delhi Comic Con from 4th to 6th December at NSIC Grounds, Okhla and Mumbai Film and Comic Con from 19th to 20th December at Bombay Exhibition Centre. As part of this association the channel has created a unique experiential zone at the events, giving fans an opportunity to interact with AXN characters and win exclusive goodies. At the main arena, AXN will have a dedicated zone to uniquely engage with the fans and visitors of Comic Con India both in Delhi and Mumbai. The AXN experience will include an experiential photo-booth known as the ‘AXN Wall of Hunks’. This will give viewers a chance to get clicked with their favorite characters, participate in customized character interaction opportunities and win exclusive AXN goodies! Sherlock, Hannibal, the Winchester brothers, Dexter, Hank Moody, Jack Bauer, Ray Donovan and many more will await fans at the exciting ‘AXN Zone’! Along with that, AXN will also host two special experiential activities at the AXN Zone with Ray Donovan and Hannibal. The Donovan’s Fight Club will have fans punching their way through a challenge that will get them beat the power of Ray Donovan’s fists and be eligible to win exclusive ‘Ray Donovan’ merchandise. The second innovative activation will have fans literally put their head on a platter at Hannibal’s very own dining table and get clicked. Apart from the interesting on-ground activations, the channel will organize exclusive AXN sessions on the main stage, wherein AXN will showcase the most iconic scenes of its key shows, followed by a Quiz for the audience. In addition, AXN will give a peek into the exciting lineup of upcoming shows on the channel, including the Hollywood’s biggest fixer, Ray Donovan.
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Back in 2011, the Indian Grand Prix was India’s shining moment after the near-fiasco 2010 Commonwealth Games. Close to one lac in audience, the Indian Grand Prix was an ultimate success. Fast-forward to 2013, a black cloud cast upon the supposedly bright future of the IGP. Threatened by a Supreme Court Case and the murky truth that the curtain is closing on the Buddh International Circuit next season, the Indian Grand Prix is standing with one foot in its grave. The hiatus is to allow organizers to shift the race to an earlier berth so they don’t have to stage the race twice in six months. Looking at the bright side it will allow time for the local promoters and the government to sort out the question of whether the government decides to recognize Formula One as a sport, or, as it does now, as a form of entertainment. Why the debate? It’s because being recognized as a sport allows for tax and duty exemptions and an easier visa process for journalists and team personnel. But Formula One’s current status flips the perks, making it subject to entertainment tax and not to mention the reams of paperwork that needs to be done months in advance. “Because we are not a government-backed sport, we are not even a government-recognized sport, we are classified as entertainment,” said Karun Chandhok, a former Indian Formula One driver who now does race commentary for the BBC. “And that is what has opened up this whole can of worms of tax issues.” The status of the event is not even the real problem here. The challenge India faces is the well-reserved truth that once a circuit is wiped out of F1’s charts, it’s very difficult to get it back on again. Yes, fans of the race who earnestly shelled out cash to watch Vettel win (again), 2013 could well have been the last year you saw action at the Buddh International Circuit. Now the question is, is all this drama really worth it? Is the Indian Grand Prix worth all this hype in India? If numbers speak for the game, then here is the blatant truth. The tickets for 2013 Grand Prix ranged between INR 1,500 – INR 21,000, the ticket for the costliest grandstand being 60 percent of the price two years ago. The number of fans that showed up for the race was about 60,000, which the organizers said was up to their expectations. But does that mean they have nothing to worry about? It is said that the number of people attending the race in the second year is always lower than the first. But if the number doesn’t rise in the third, the organizers have a lot to worry about. From an investor point of view, the Indian Grand Prix does not give a very bright picture. Given the downward economy, there is more risk than return. Companies are thinking twice before putting their money behind the event because after the dust has settled and engines have cooled, the only question that is left to be answered is – Is the event raking in the moolah? The Buddh International Circuit is one of the few F1 racetracks in the world that is not backed by government money. Other than the initial investment and running costs, Jaypee Sports International has to pay the F1 management a license fee of about $40 million annually. The revenues from TV rights and track sponsorships go to the F1 management directly. So the organizers mainly rely on ticket sales. And that situation you’re already aware of – no sunny skies. Speaking to F1 fans, this season had nothing exciting to look forward to. According to Virat Maheshwari, a self proclaimed die-hard F1 fan, there was nothing to look forward to this season. “Everyone knew who was going to win, and to be honest no one I knew was even watching it live or tweeting about it.”, says Virat. So everyone knew who the obvious winner was going to be, there was not as much excitement about the race as there was before, and you know that the event had died when no one was talking about it on Facebook. Seems like the $400 million dollar Indian circuit has lost its lustre.
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India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) suggests that the fast moving consumer goods sector in rural and semi-urban India is estimated to cross US$ 20 billion by 2018 and US$ 100 billion by 2025. As a result more brand custodians and marketing specialists are eyeing rural India to expand their market share and churn profits. However, establishing a brand in rural India is easier said than done. Most brands and experiential agencies often fail miserably trying to find the perfect fit that world work in emerging markets. But even though the successful marketing stories in the rural market are rare, they are in fact path breaking campaigns that are paving the way for others to follow. Dedicated to lord Vitthal, the eight centuries old Pandharpur Yatra in Maharastra travels from Alandi to Pandharpur and witnesses the attendance of over 15-20 lakh devotees year-on-year. To complete their ‘Darshan’, the devotees famously known as Varkaris participate in the Waari for twenty one days to cover 250 kms to reach the final destination in Pandharpur. Vritti i-Media shouldered the responsibility of conceptualizing and executing engagement campaigns for Good Knight Fast Card and Iodex in the same yatra. In an exclusive conversation with BW APPLAUSE, Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Director- Marketing Strategies and Public relations at Vritti i-Media, shares how the pilgrims were engaged by both brands. Good Knight Fast Card campaign Good Knight wanted to introduce and thoroughly educate rural consumers of Maharashtra about its innovative and cost-effective mosquito repellant – Advanced Fast Card. The brand wanted to create a mass awareness campaign and reach maximum households through individual engagement activities and demonstration processes to help consumers understand the usefulness of the product. To meet the requirements Vriiti i-Media designed and conceptualized an engaging audio communication campaign called the, ‘Jingle Walla Bus Stand.’ As part of the campaign, devotees travelling to Pandharpur from 30 bus stations were guided about the bus schedules and were welcomed through public announcement systems accompanied with the informative fast card jingles. The Audio campaign was released a month before the main Ashadi Ekadashi to build some initial momentum and to create some anticipation about the product. Passengers were also asked to dial a toll free number and listen to unlimited Vitthal Bhajan free anywhere and anytime. During the break between Bhajans, Goodknight Fastcard audio jingles were played. The highlight of the campaign, however, was the Sriphal Arpan Rath. Good Knight started an activity in Mumbai and other important pilgrimages across western Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, wherein two Good Knight Fastcard branded vehicles travelled around Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi and other important locations across Maharashtra for about 20 days. These vehicles called as the Sriphal Arpan Rath encouraged devotees to offer their coconuts to lord Vitthal. The idea was to reach out to people who were not able to participate in the Yatra and help them send in their prayers / offerings to lord Vitthal at the city of Pandharpur via the Sriphal Arpan Rath. Interestingly, the gestures of the devotees were acknowledged by sending SMS conformations after receiving the coconut and then after offering it to the Lord. Through this engagement the brand collected approximately 12,000 coconuts from various parts of Maharashtra. To ensure health safety standards during the yatra Good Knight had set-up moving emergency vans. These vans were located through the entire route till Pandharpur and catered to issues such as fever, diarrhea amongst others and provided the Varkaris with free of cost treatment on the spot. For serious treatments, pilgrims were guided to the nearest clinics and assisted with the necessary treatment. Facilities of clean drinking water across strategic were also provided. Also branded setups were erected near the pilgrimage to enable short stays for the devotees. The overall impact of the campaign was huge for the brand. Several devotees who had not heard or read about Good Knight Fast card were seen raving about it at the end of the Waari. The brand through the campaign touched 15 lakh people and scored high on recall value. Sales of the product were also positively affected throughout Maharashtra as a result of the campaign. Iodex campaign Iodex has recently launched a new campaign with the singular positioning on being the balm for all types of body pains. The Pandharpur Yatra was a perfect synergistic opportunity to activate the brand and create strong preference in Maharashtra market. “While setting up a massage service or doing sampling during such pilgrimages is a commonly explored idea in the past by many pain relief brands but to make this activation innovative and more effective we decided to plan this activation in 3 stages wherein through different touch points and different media vehicles, the brand reached out to the consumers at different moments of truth in their pain journey”-says Rajesh Radhakrishnan. Step One: Activating Pre Pain State transport buses were one of the most popular modes of transport for most of the pilgrims to reach Pandharpur from different parts of Maharashtra. The very thought of an 8 hour plus journey in a state transport bus would give shivers down the spine for many who suffer from back pain. To activate at this stage Vritti i-Media used the public announcement system at the 80 plus bus stands across Maharashtra to send out catchy & contextual brand messages to consumers. An estimated 64 Lacs consumer were reached out with this activity. Step Two: During Pain Iodex branded vans with 12 promoters accompanied the human procession for 21 days to ensure that their journey continued without any difficulty by setting up massage tents at periodic intervals during day and night. Over 20,000+ Varkaris visited these massage shelters and benefitted from the facilities. Happy with the service provided at the massage centre, one Varkari said, “I have been participating in this Waari (pilgrimage) from five years and walk about 250 kms every year. My body does give me a lot of pain throughout the journey but, my belief in the almighty and devotion towards the Waari motivates me each year. However, this year my pain was treated at the right time. Thanks to team Iodex, I got the best massage at their centre which helped me get refreshed and start my return journey reenergized.” Step Three: Pain post the journey It was observed that the pilgrims usually rest at the public convenience mutts after their journey is over. Across all these Mutts, Vritti team had set up an Iodex Massage camp to further provide a relaxing and rejuvenating massage experience before the pilgrims could commence their return journey. At this final leg, the consumers were also exposed to a strong ambient media branding of Iodex through contextual outdoor advertising at bus stands and mutts in Pandharpur and given a sample of an Iodex pack to drive trial for the product. Also, at this final leg, Mobile medium was used innovatively to geo-target the transit pilgrims who had come in from other towns to Pandharpur during the seven days of the festival. After having exposed the consumers contextually at different touch points with the Iodex brand message, the mobile communication was used to conclude the engagement with consumers with an affirmative call to action that reinforced the key message of the activation – “Badan ke har dard ke liye, sirf Iodex” (For Every Pain in the Body, Only Iodex). Over 1 lac consumers were reached out to with this geo-targeted mobile engagement. This multi-touch point based activation helped Iodex reach over 2 million consumers in Maharashtra and also enabled the brand to Increase in spontaneous awareness by 5%, Increase value sales by 30% and Increase market share by 1% in the state.
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Madison IES, the activation and experential unit of Madison OOH and Madison World recently completed another interesting event on World Toilet Day for its client ROCA Bathroom products by creating a giant WC installation in DLF Place Mall, Saket, New Delhi. The event saw important facts about the necessity of toilets being discussed and customers were motivated to be a part of this noble initiative by signing the pledge. ROCA further pledged to create 50 toilets for every 10 pledges they received at the event. Sharing the objective behind the activation, Jyotsana Singh Kaushik, Sr. Manager PR & Digital Marketing, ROCA says, “The objective behind this event was not to just create awareness or brand presence, but to invite the public to pledge their support towards hygienic sanitation for every Indian in line with the PM's vision.We have received an encouraging response and are in the process of allocating the toilets for under-privileged sections of society.” Speaking about the activation Saumen Roy, VP & Head, Madison IES says, “People generally hesitate to have a discussion on such a private topic as a toilet; but this activation succeeded in breaking this taboo. It inspired, motivated and educated those present to talk, discuss, inspire and sensitize others on the need to have proper sanitation for all. Moreover we were all really delighted that we could pull off the project, from idea to execution in just 3 days time.”
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