When was the last time you took a pause in your life and thought about the sacred core in and around yourself? Well, if like me the answer to your question is 'No' too, then Shree Cement The Sacred Pushkar festival is truly the place for you to be at.
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A large chunk of a marketing journalist's time goes into scouting for some of the most innovative experiential campaigns across the world. Hence, a lot of time you can catch us talking about how an experience driven marketing plan for a consumer has to be very innovative in order to engage them. But at times, even we fail to understand that experiences are subjective and there are different things & elements that appeal to different target audiences. The Bazaar Activity is an initiative by Vodafone Delhi to reach out to its existing and prospective pre-paid base targeting the lower echelon of Delhi population by engaging them in activities which reward and acknowledge the support the customers. The name of the activity ‘Vodafone Bazaar’ brings in the element of a marketplace beyond just telecom services, products, associated activities and provision of household goods to help Vodafone establish a deeper connect with the audiences. The concept of the Bazaar is simple, a flashy and inviting stall is set up in a busy market. Passerby's are motivated to come and understand the features Vodafone is offering through the bazaar, get direct sim activation and recharges done, have photographs clicked with Vodafone zoo-zoo standees, get rewards in form of consumable goods and also participate in the lucky draw. The 8th Vodafone Bazaar was organized yesterday near Nizamuddin Station in Delhi and for those of you who think that the activity is too simple to churn out a massive change in minds of consumers need to understand that the success of this experiential initiative by Vodafone roots back to its ideation itself. The first point that works in Vodafone's favor here is the Strategic Location; since the festival of Chatt is on going currently, the bazaar was able to target floating population from nearby areas which increased their outreach than usual. Secondly, the brand encouraged people to visit them through the concept of 'Buniyadi', which involves brand advocates creating recall value through microphones and persuasion. Thirdly, the Vodafone Bazaar had something to offer for every age group. Be it Vodafone zoo-zoo cartoon for the kids on TV, or a photo opportunity and direct printout for the family, engaging offers for the users and rewards in forms of necessities were more than sufficient elements to engage the audience Vodafone had set out to target with the activity. As a result anyone who participated in the bazaar had a reason to be happy about. Talking about it Ramkishore Jha (48) says, "I am very happy as the offers are really good. I had always heard about Vodafone but never tried it. I was on my way to buy some sugar when i saw this stall and now i have a Vodafone connection with low call rates and got a packet of Sugar as a reward. I am enthralled." Rajni (22) said, "I have not seen any other brand doing an activity like this for us. I use Uninor currently and i am not happy with the call charges and sudden balance deduction. With this activity this is the first time a brand has come to me and i am happy with it. I got a photo clicked too and will also have one done with my family tomorrow. I hope Vodafone continues to surprise us like this." Interestingly, the most beneficial part of the activity was that by providing exciting offers to this segment of audience Vodafone was able to make maximum conversions from different telecommunication brands to its benefit. Its strongest competition Airtel has a 24% share in the particular market but has not retained its customers with an activity like this and hence had its customers converting rapidly to make the best out of the offers. With an estimated 800-1000 people reach out with every edition of the activity. It would be safe to say that Vodafone Bazaar has certainly managed to create a favorable experience for customers in the lower income segment. With a simple concept matched with personal touch and engaging rewards, this experiential initiative is truly an example of why sometimes it is the most simple experiences that manage to create the maximum impact in the lives of a consumers.
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I will be honest, as i sat in my car to reach Ambience Lawns i was skeptical about how Grub Fest 2.0 would be like. I had been to the first edition of the food festival, then organized at JLN lawns and was disheartened to see how a smartly organized experience had suffered as a result of administrative issues and bad weather. No doubts the first edition of the The Grub Fest was a descent enjoyable experience but with major performers advertised and taken off from the card at the last minute, the overall ethos of 'celebrating the love for food' was dampened. However, this time around the organizers of the gastronomic fest were prepared to deliver a thundering experience to its attendees and to be honest they surpassed all expectations. To start off, the exact location of the fest was neatly marked out and as soon as one entered the venue they could not help but submit themselves to the festivity and joyousness in the ambiance. The attendees were indeed having a good time and that reflected in the overall vibe of the event. With light jazzy music, stunning art installations by Varun Behl, photo booths and a plethora of eateries to choose from, The Grub Fest was undoubtedly one of the best places a family could be at during the festival season. Even crucial details like security for women, parking facilities and layout of the festival were taken care of. The toilets which usually are a massive let down at such crowded events too were a pleasure to be in. The food exhibitors this edition included names of Punjab Grill, Olive Bistro, SodaBottleOpenerWala, Social, Indigo Deli, Flyp by MTV, Fio, Smokeys, À Ta Maison & PCO, Urban Pind, Dao Dimcha, Koyla Kebab, Holy Smoke, The Backyard, Zerzura, Imperfecto, Karim’s, Mamagoto, Hybrid, Fat Lulu’s, Koyla Kebab, Fork You Too, Asian Haus, Sugarama and others. Though a few attendees wished that some of the restaurants would not charge such fairly steep prices for their services so that they could try more diverse cuisines however since the festival was strategically organized to get the best out of the Dussehra festive season, restaurants did not mind demanding a bit extra. Speaking about it an attendee, Maitri Sharma (23) said, "I am loving every bit of the festival and it is great fun. Really love the food outlets but i wish some of them serve something in student budgets too." An interesting fact about the Grub Fest 2.0 was the Grub Market that featured fresh produce from vegetables to salads homemade jams, namkeen, wine ice-creams, waffles, cupcakes, honey and even aam papads. Clearly this was a section that grabbed most attention from the women members of a family. Also the luxury zone curated by Leela Ambience, although had restricted entry but was a unique concept which served dishes prepared by reputed chefs like Ramon Salto and Pablo Moralis. However what truly made The Grub Fest stand out among everything else was its entertainment quotient. With artists like Nikhil Chinapa and Vir Das combining the fun & frolic of scrumptious food and gala entertainment, life seemed pretty good at that moment to everyone present and people could not stop themselves from joining the fun. Also Grub Stories - the one of its kind multi storey travelling restaurant provided the 360* live action of the entire festival took the attendees breath away. Speaking about the entertainment, Roopanki Kalra (22) said, "Well i got to dance to the tunes of Nikhil Chinnapa today and it was amazing. I have been to a lot of such food and entertainment festivals but this one is truly amazing. My friends and i are having a gala time." To conclude i entered The Grub Fest with a lot of assumptions about it and halfway into the festival i became an indispensable part of its experience. Yes, i ended up spending a lot more than i should have because of steep prices at stalls in spite of me paying the entry fees however the festival delivered on what it promised. Entertainment, Food, Music, Art all at one place, The Grub Fest 2.0 was simply the place to be at last weekend.
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Gone are the times when movie trailers and songs were enough to ensure the success of a film. Today much like the ideology adapted by brands, bollywood film producers and stars too have to woo their target audiences with out of the box, immersive and creative experiences to make sure their produce is not welcomed by empty screens at theaters. And thus, city promotional events of big budgeted bollywood movies have become a routine culture nowadays. However, what most producers and bollywood stars do not understand is that for a promotional event to actually work in the movies’ favor, more than just the presence of its leading superstars is required. Case in point- the promotions for action packed, bollywood flick, ‘Singh is Bling’ wrapped around a 'Style and the Sikh' themed fashion show by ace designer JJ Valaya organized by FDCI. Just imagine, stars like Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson and Lara Dutta walking the ramp in their dazzled outfits, talking about their film and engaging with audiences; sounds happening right? Well the real event actually wasn’t. To start off, the venue of the promotional event was Yes Minister, Essex Farms in Delhi, which is a decent venue for let’s say someone’s birthday party and but definitely a misfit for a fashion show. Adding to that, media officials actually had to wait a good half hour outside the venue for their favorite stars to make their grand appearances. Now, I agree that actors and actresses of the Indian film industry are used to be treated like kings and queens but showcasing them like one is an idea that sold in the 90s. Audiences today want their favorite stars to be more like them and not spend hours waiting for them outside a venue. This is the era of content oriented cinema we are talking about. However, the wait was not the most painful element of the entire event. That award goes straight to the sight of models struggling to walk, not the ramp but the platform of the bowling alley in their heavy dazzling outfits. Needless to say, the fashion show was clumsy, disorganized, out of synch and did not do any justice to the designs of the renowned designer. With a total of 9 designs at display and models unclear about where to go after the walk, this promotional event for ‘Singh is Bling’ was clearly a last minute cooked Khichdi which turned out to be a ‘Raita’ instead. Though an interaction round with the media was supposed to be an important part of the promotional event however unjustified is only taking 3 questions stars to answer when you have called 300 media professionals to attend an alleged ‘media preview event.’ The only saving grace of the evening was dancer and director Prabhu Deva, shaking a leg with Akshay Kumar towards the end of the evening. With abrupt beginning and an even more clumsy finish the promotional event for ‘Singh is Bling’ was certainly less bling and more blah! What I cannot understand is why don’t event organizers much like film producers of the recent times, start focusing more on the content of the event altogether?
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Have you ever faced a situation when you cooked a mouth watering scrumptious meal for yourself, but as you sat down to satisfy your hunger pangs you were joined by a couple of unexpected guests? As a result you had to share your gastronomic experience with them to the point where neither you nor your guests were satisfied. Sad isn’t it? I had a similar experience as I went to attend the Zenfestival organized by the leading motherboard and consumer notebook brand ASUS. ASUS had promised a larger than life festival experience to its guests as through the event they aimed at launching their six new technological devices in the country. And with their last Zenphone 2 launch at Kingdom of Dreams being a humongous success, expectations were high from EO2 events who are a regular executing partner for ASUS. I was truly excited to see how will the event agency elevate themselves up a notch from their previous execution and with the venue of the Zenfestival being the JLN stadium in Delhi, I simply could not wait. However, with so much hype in and around the event its execution turned out to be rather an abysmal affair. The entry to the venue of the Zenfestival was marked by crowd lining up outside in large numbers to get in, which is an unlikely sight to see considering it was a non-ticketed event. The demo zone however was stunningly designed and entry points to the stadium were neatly marked out and with installations, tattoo artists and volunteers present throughout the venue to help the attendees it was more than clear that EO2 had spent a lot of time designing the intricate aspects of the event. Another highlight of the event was the stunning aerial performance that used a combination of LED, Drums, Lights and Music to create a long lasting impact. The anchor Cyrus Sahukar too, was on top of his game here with his quick witty comebacks and managed to tickle the funny bones of the audiences. However, even the dazzling Sonakshi Sinha could not save the event from drowning as the excessively long presentations from the ASUS team left the attendees wondering whether it was festival or a board meeting? Another low for the event was the college crowd in large numbers that showed up at the last minute. Clearly the event would have been a near to perfect execution from team EO2 but the repetitive hooting and unnecessary remarks from the crowd were enough to make one cringe in despair. The nail on the coffin was the refreshment area that looked worse than the Rajeev Chowk metro station during office hours. Everyone had plates in their hands and very little idea of where to go? An insider from the ASUS team reveals that the idea to invite college students was a last minute addition from ASUS and hence the overall execution of the event fell apart like a house of cards even after meticulous planning. The Zenfestival from ASUS was not a bad event at all however with their past events having set their own standards so high, this particular one failed to cross the bar even after trying way too hard. EO2 however aimed at creating something truly out of the box with the Zenfestival but the majority of their efforts went in vain with their intention to nail a perfect execution being so close yet so far.
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Every once in a while organized is a music festival that though looks incredibly promising on its golden wrapped advertisement brochures and invitation cards but fails rather miserably in terms of its execution from the get go. But rarely, just rarely organized is an event of same genre that you can’t help but admire, appreciate and completely surrender yourself to. “Emerge Music Festival’s” Delhi tour organized by Viacom 18 on 21st May promised to bring to India the greatest, freshest and newest musical and art experiences from across the world. The tour which was headlined by 2 times Grammy-Award nominees Alt-Jwas looked upon with a lot of expectations by the alternative rock music lovers in India and the festival turned out to be a crowd-pleaser in every sense of the term with fans moving out of the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex with a consistent smile on their faces. Unlike most recently organized other music festivals in the country Emerge Delhi had its focus solely set on the content that the festival had to offer. As soon as one entered the arena at Emerge they could easily be surprised by how little did the festival by Viacom 18, (a global brand behind the unabashedly incredible IP like Supersonic) had to offer in terms of the venue decoration and surprising elements. Barring a life balloon of Vivo Smart Phone, installation of a giant monster drink and a free makeover section by Hindustan Unilevers TIGI, the venue hardly had anything interesting to offer. While for most music festivals this might be one of the biggest disadvantages but in case of Emerge the music loving attendees however looked happy with the absence of too many distracting elements allowing them to solely focus on nothing but the music A fact that makes Emerge standout in terms of delivery was how beautifully the event faired in terms of time management.Not only did the event begun and end bang on time but the smooth flow of performances one after the other sustained the growing engagement of the audiences present. The opening act performed by post fusion, psychedelic band Advaitaadded to the audience’s enthusiasm as the alleged party of the year already started even before the main performers had come up on the stage. As advertised, at sharp 8 Alt+J got on to the stage and shook the foundation of Indira Gandhi Sports Complex off its foundation by their phenomenal performances. Rajiv Singh Sodi, 27 year old businessman from the city said, “This is exactly what you want in a music festival. Give the performers the musical equipment that they need and allow them to take the audience by storm.” SebaSodi, 19 from Delhi University said “Most music and dance festivals today in an attempt to increase their value try to offer too much on the plate and that makes the event chaotic rather than an experience you would want to remember. I paid 3000 bucks to come here and listen to Alt+J rock me and in the manner the festival has progressed so far I feel I have already received the value of my money.” Another interesting highlight of the festival was the performance by Singer-Songwriter PrateekKuhad. With the language of his music being multi-lingual, theaudience was able to connect more to the performer as he performed the songs from his new album “Tokens and Charms”. Coming down to the main content there is no doubt that Emerge was showcase for the immensely talented performers Alt+J, who with their magnificent performances created a frenzy that left the audience dancing, hooting, applauding and mesmerized till the very end. This was the first time that the English Indie Rock Band had come to perform in India and the impact they created at the festival is certainly going to make them a regular demand for upcoming musical festivals. With tremendous scope of improvement in the sanitation facilities department Emerge Delhi, by Viacom 18 is a testament of the fact that a successful musical event is not merely a conglomeration of loosely attached diverse elements into an event format but allowing the main content of the festival i.e. the performers to take the center stage and blow the audience away with their magnificence. I wish more music festivals organizers take a note from this event on the fact that ‘Simplicity while organizing and Sensation while execution’ is the ultimate success mantra for an event. You don’t always need to have the most elite, expensive and exquisite meal to curb your hunger, sometimes a sincerely cooked home meal does the trick.
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It is a common saying that Cricket and Cinema are the only two religions in India. I for once, disagree with the quote and fervently believe that the “Love for Food”triumphs all religions and is most religiously followed in the country. Even today, as I walk towards my home I can easily see numerous “small vendors” and “open area eateries” successfully catering to the gastronomic needs of hundreds and earning big bucks in the process.Be it a wedding featuring a lavish buffet or a nearby street joint, an exclusive 5 star hotel diner or a standalone restaurant they all are never out of business and downswings in economy never affects them. The explanation to all such phenomenon is simple- India loves food and Indians love to fancy their taste buds every now and then. The events industry however realized this fact very recently and hence the latest buzz word in the list of concepts yet to be capitalized upon is Food Festivals and Carnivals. November 2014 saw the first of its kind New Delhi Palate Fest. The 3 day festival showcased a diverse range of different restaurants, chefs , gourmet pop-ups and allowed food enthusiasts to taste and experience new flavors all in the lap of nature. The event was a massive success and the organizers followed the celebrations by organizing NDMC Palate Fest Mini on March 13 and 14, 2015; this however being the teaser for the upcoming edition of the fest. The most recent addition to events in the same category was The Grub Fest held onApril 3 – April 5, 2015 at the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium lawns. With the organizers of both The Grub Fest and New Delhi Palate Fest looking towards establishing their event as a signature brand, the comparison between the two is inevitable. So which food festival was better organized? Which one was bang on bucks and which festival failed miserably to live up to the hype? We at EE, reviewed both the events and definitely have the answers to above mentioned questions. To start off with the venue and entry; while New Delhi Palate Fest was organized at the Nehru Park, The Grub Fest was managed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Lawns. Both the venues are ideal for events like these but the key differentiator here was the utilization of space. While the Palate Fest had loosely organized restaurant arrangements with people almost forgetting where to head up next, The Grub Fest certainly had an upper hand as they learned from their competitors experience and combined the two huge lawns to create a better exhibiting area for the eateries. However, this scenario was completely different as far as entry to the festival was concerned. Though The Grub Fest had an established parking area and valet parking facility but an integral aspect where they lagged behind was the walking area towards the fest. With improper arrangements of lights and a long distance to go I almost wished that they also had an auto rickshaw to commute us. Simran Banwaid (18) said, “I feel irritated as my grandparents have to walk so much. I wanted to treat them with my first salary today and not exhaust them up completely.” Also, while the New Delhi Palate Fest had an open entry, The Grub Fest was ticketed and people had to pay 100-200 INR as entry fees in addition to the food that they were going to eat and pay for. Ruha Fatima (45) commented, “I was there at the Palate Fest too and I do not understand why we have to pay for entry fee if we will obviously be paying for the food too?” However, In terms of installations and art pieces it was The Grub Fest which managed to score brownie points with interesting installations at every step. While they might not have had giant installations of plates and tins like their rivals but they did had installations of Mercedes Benz, a dedicated photo booth by United Coffee House with a backdrop of Connaught Place in older times and multiple art-works by Studio Arc which managed to thoroughly engage the audiences who were standing in long queues to get their photographs clicked. An added advantage for the New Delhi Palate Fest was it being properly timed in terms of weather. However the same was the biggest challenge for the organizers of The Grub Fest. With the sudden downpour adding obstacles to their overall plans they also faced issues by the police authorities at the last moment who asked them to re-locate their ticketing centers which resulted in the audience having to walk extra miles. Mani Singh, one of the organizers of The Grub Fest said, “It is something which we cannot control. It was supposed to rain on Tuesday but it has rained today and we are expecting it to rain tomorrow as well. There are a few other interesting technological elements like the LCD screens that we wish to have included at this point but I do not want anyone to get hurt.” Also, Chef Anahita from Soda Bottle Opener Wala who was scheduled for a live demonstration was ticked off with bad weather conditions as her demonstration was called off. Interestingly, the negative weather conditions for organizers were actually welcomed by the audiences as some of them enjoyed the change in climate as it had been a little too hot in the past few days. Another positive factor in favor of The Grub Fest was the new restaurants and food brands participating in their festival being sold off completely much before the end of the first day. In terms of the participating restaurants The Palate Fest had 40-60 stalls including leading names in the culinary space likeThe Oberoi, Radisson – Kebab Factory,J.W. Marriott – Akira Back,The TajMahal HOTEL-New Delhi, Vivanta by Taj Ambassador, ITC Hotel – Dakshin, Kebabs &Kurries, Tres, Mamagoto, Hungry Monkey and others but the lineup offered by The Grub Fest was far more superior as they had many new restaurants exhibiting themselves first time at a platform so huge, with eateries like Royal China, United Coffee House, Smokey’s, Fio, Town Hall, Khan Chacha, Switch, NYC Pie, Kathi’s, Shiv Sagar making their presence felt. However, managing the vivaciousness in the atmosphere was another aspect where The Grub Fest failed miserably as The Palate Fest had a livelier ambience which is a pre-requisite for a food carnival. As per unofficial sources a total of 15000 participants attended The Grub Fest at day one which is much lower than the figures registered by The Palate Fest. Without a doubt, The Grub Fest was a more organized food festival, roaring to serve the best gastronomic experience to its customers however with the rains acting as a dampener to their plans, desperately missing ambience, an additional entry fee, reduced audience participation and less engaging elements adding as they could sadly not reach at par with the standards set by the New Delhi Palate Festival. It will however be an interesting insight to see what food festival succeeds in engaging the audiences in the long term as the organizers of both festivals aim to continue with successive editions of their festivals in the future as well.
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The second edition of the Comedy Central Chuckle Festival was able to generate a tremendous amount of buzz from the moment it was announced. After all it was the first ever performance of the satirical British comedian, Russel Brand, in India. While reaching the Talkatora Stadium on June 26 ’15 one could easily anticipate the amount of hard work put in by the organizers of the event. Clearly displayed sign boards at equal distances and well mapped out security ensured that the problems of traffic were taken care of. The entry into the auditorium was easy but like most events, not even a bottle of water was permissible inside the auditorium. Clearly the organizers have not experienced the horrifying heat in Delhi the way we have, Anyhow. As I entered it was surprising to notice that not even half of the total seats of the venue were occupied and the results of an inadequate marketing campaign were widely evident. We did see some outdoor advertising in the city and Comedy Central had been announcing the event for a while, but clearly that wasn’t enough given the turn out at the event. The event did not start on time (Namaste India!) and the audience faced a collective dilemma whether should they move out for some food or stay and patiently wait for their moment to Chuckle.The curtainsrose at 8 PM as the insanely funny Sanjay Manaktala welcomed the audience. Sanjay was effortlessly charming with his puns on his own accent and his corny yet hilarious representation of an Indian woman while taking seflies pulled the crowd together. And so just 5 minutes into the beginning of the fest the audience could already be seen chuckling. Second in line was Jeeveshu Ahluwalia who was absolutely riveting with his unabashed and unapologetic depiction of the problems of a fat man dealing with ordinary struggles of life. NeetiPaltawas OK!Her performance at the most was average as the audience struggled to find reasons to laugh. The biggest surprise came when Sanjay Manaktala announced the absence of Papa CJ from the show. With Papa CJ being prominently advertised to perform at the event,I too like most fans present in the auditorium felt somewhat cheated. Though organizers claimed the reason for the last hour cancellation wasa result of him missing his flight, inside sources reveal that Papa CJ was very well present in Delhi on the day. His absence was because he never signed the contract with Chuckle Fest to begin with. The source quotes, “Though negotiations were ongoing, a final deal was never struck. Live Viacom18 sent Papa CJ an amended contract at 6PM while the show was about to begin at 7.30 on the same night.” Interestingly, validating this point is the fact that Papa CJ who is quite active on social media never really posted anything about being a part of the Chuckle Festival. So was this event an effort to capitalize on his popularity? Oh well. The disappointed audience was comforted almost instantly as Russell Brand took to the stage. The 40-year-old performer truly lived up to his name from the moment he stepped on the stage and had the audiences hooked onto his one-liners and strong witticismsright from the get go. His signature British accent, crude cockney slang and the part where he involved the audience through phone conversations made the audience stand up from their chairs and applaud him. Needless to say Brand was at the top of his game here and delivered a great performance to his fans in Delhi. Big smiles exiting the auditorium were evidence of an audience having received its money’s worth. Though it may have grappleda bitin terms of execution but the second edition of the Comedy Central Chuckle Festival 2015 indeed managed to make the audience Chuckle as promised. Yes a lot of things from dirty toilets to Papa CJ-gone-missing irked me, but it is the overall enjoyment quotient that actually matters for an event at the end and,as far as the deliverables of the main content is concerned,the Chuckle Festival was absolutely bang on.
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