With melas, pilgrimages back; brands roll out new experiences

On June 20, as the annual Pandharpur yatra begins from Dehu in Pune, scores of brands will be lined up on its 240-km route. The 21-day pilgrimage on foot to the town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra, the abode of Lord Vitthal, is believed to be a tradition dating back over 800 years. This year, it is expected to see some three to four million pilgrims — a good opportunity for brands to make their presence felt. And so, many of them will be here: Fena, Dabur, insurance companies such as SBI Life Insurance, financial services firms like Muthoot Finance, and so on.

“Haats, fairs, and yatra-jatras are the best way to get emotionally associated with potential consumers of a given geography, especially when you market economy-range products,” says Heman Srivastava, assistant marketing manager, Fena Pvt Ltd.

Rajesh Radhakrishnan, chief marketing officer at Vritti Solutions, a Pune-based agency that helps companies design campaigns for rural markets, agrees that brands such as Fena enjoy a unique opportunity to market their products at yatras like Pandharpur. “The pilgrimage will require people to rest and wash their clothes, and this is where the brand (known for its detergent powder) comes in,” he says.

Fena will, among other things, set up washing stations for the pilgrims making the journey to Pandharpur.

“Pilgrims coming to these fairs look for new products, schemes and discounts,” says Srivastava. “We do promotional sales at discounted rates along with free sampling at these events, which helps us to reach the maximum potential of consumers and households.”

Rather than simply putting up hoardings and banners or setting up stalls, companies are going for innovative ways to strike a chord with their target audience in small towns and villages. And events such as pilgrimages, religious fairs and haats, many of which are back in full force after two years of the pandemic, are now an important touchpoint for brands to engage directly with consumers and give them an experience of the product.

So, a leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand is setting up a massage centre. Another has an Ayurveda health camp planned. The message is straightforward: catch their attention but also make a lasting impact.

The year ahead promises to offer several opportunities to do so. Besides the Pandharpur yatra, more than 45 such events are scheduled until the year-end.

“The sentiments are buoyant and we are expecting more footfall at these events this year since they are happening after a gap of two years,” says Radhakrishnan.

His agency, he adds, has tried to come up with dynamic campaigns in collaboration with government bodies, pilgrims, and corporate houses. “These events are an opportunity for brands to market their products with contextual messaging.”

For Dabur, such fairs have for years provided an ideal setting for displaying its products like rheumatil oil, mosquito repellents or toothpastes.

“We feel that direct engagement helps us strengthen our bond with consumers. We organise Ayurvedic health camps for Wari yatris en route their holy journey to the temple town of Pandharpur,” says Adarsh Sharma, executive director-sales, Dabur. “Special camps are organised at various places for these pilgrims, offering health check-ups, Ayurvedic foot and back massage with the Dabur rheumatil oil, and other such facilities.”

Earlier this year, in March, Dabur also registered its presence at the Nauchandi mela in Meerut. And it runs foot massage camps at Vaishno Devi.

Among its successes, it counts its “Dabur Red Dant Snan” initiative at the Kumbh Mela in 2021. “We set up an exclusive Dabur Red Paste Dant Snan Zone inside the mela premises. These zones would help spread the message of oral hygiene amongst the millions of devotees, using a unique toothpaste dispenser,” says Sharma.

An Emami spokesperson agrees that these events offer a platform to reach out to consumers to experience the brand first-hand. “This helps the brand to connect with the consumers and leave an impression. We believe that if consumers get convinced about the effectiveness of our brand, it will result in sales when they return home,” the spokesperson adds.

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One of India’s largest religious congregations, the Kumbh is also infamous for people getting separated from their loved ones. The brand launched the “Kumbh mein sukoon (At peace at Kumbh)” campaign. It set up eight lostand-found centres and helped reunite at least 14,210 people with their families, the spokesperson says. It also offered a Navratna champi (head massage) at these centres to drive home the message in the product’s tagline: “Thanda thanda cool cool.”

Not just FMCG companies, lowengagement products are also thinking out of the box to stand out at rural fairs.

Take the example of JK Super Cement. The brand’s messaging is pegged on safety. “In order to give back to society, while participating in such events we focus on engaging people by providing clean water, changing rooms, signages, safety announcements, and taking care of public hygiene, rather than sales,” says Kedar M Shahagadkar, cluster head-south, JK Cement.

For instance, messages featuring the brand’s name on a water tanker might read: “Surkashit paani (safe water).” Or a milestone, with the brand’s name, might carry the message: “Surkashit raasta (safe path).”

Such activations help create a “longlasting effect on consumers and spark a lot of buzz around products and services,” says Shahagadkar. “Furthermore, experiences put a personal face to your brand and can be very helpful in brand recall.”

These activations also become a way for brands to fulfil their social responsibility. “The promotions we do are often for a social cause and for community outreach, and not solely for marketing purposes,” Shahagadkar adds.

While the companies refuse to reveal the money they spend on such campaigns, Radhakrishnan says they spend anywhere between ~3 lakh and ~30 lakh to design them.

“ROI (return on investment) is always a striving factor behind any Fena activation,” says Srivastava. “And we have seen a potential growth in terms of awareness and sales of our products (by pre- and post-analysis) in the given geography after participating in these fairs and yatras.”