Advertisement Pujo!
The city’s biggest festival was recently concluded and it was full of crowds and colours and food and fun! But the other stand out feature of Durga Pujo, other than the pandals and the idols of course, is the sheer amount of marketing, advertising and publicity involved. And we aren’t just talking about the publicity that the various pandals do of their Pujos but of the brands and sponsors lining up every street, every open space and every fencing across the city.
One will witness everything from banners, hoardings, drop downs, pillars, framed banners and gates! All covered in advertising material. Recent trends have ensured that even the inside of the pandals and sometimes the idols itself are covered in or decorated with sponsored materials. Sometimes the ornaments worn by the idols are sponsored as well as part of extremely innovative marketing! So many adverts, and such creativity all around.
Arguably the most viral advert/publicity this year was the stunning kilometre long ‘alpona’ on Lake Road, by the Samaj Sebi pandal. The artwork was created by hundreds of art students with the support of a corporate house and the splendid creation added to the visual extravaganza.
There were some other brilliant adverts, Tanishq and Century Ply ads come to mind. Century Ply made a touching advert about the clay artisans, the unsung heroes of the festival. Check out their advert here.
Durga Pujo is many things to many people but to marketers, it is also an amazing advertisement opportunity, where the entire city is part of the tableaux!
