Idea connects at Kumbh

The telecom brand from the Aditya Birla Group has launched a massive outdoor campaign at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad to connect with its consumers and increase visibility.

The Purna Kumbh Mela, held once in every 12 years, is an important Hindu religious gathering and attracts huge footfalls over an extended period of time. Telecom brand Idea has planned to make maximum use of this opportunity to increase brand visibility and engage with consumers. The brand has carried out extensive branding across Allahabad and launched a high decibel out of home campaign spread over more than 1000 touch points in the city.

Idea has placed two branded balloons near the Sangam area to increase visibility. The OOH campaign uses several outdoor formats such as welcome gates, indication balloons, traffic barriers, maps, boats, shlok signages, helpline kiosks, indication kiosks, umbrellas, generic kiosks, inter-city buses, railway stations hoardings, unipoles, bus shelters and others. The brand is providing 'Mela Maps' to the devotees, with information on all key areas of interest.

It is also supporting the local authorities and pilgrims through the welcome gates installed at various entry points across Allahabad, traffic barricades and signage displaying various administrative helpline numbers like fire, police and ambulance, among others.

The mobile operator has also arranged boats to carry the devotees who plan to take a dip in the confluence of the three rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, that are considered to be sacred in the Hindu religion.

To engage customers in the circle, the telecom giant has also launched a contest, 'Shahi Nav mein sangam snaan ka Idea'. Consumers recharging their phones between January 18 and February 3 can win the boat ride and take a dip in the holy waters during February 12-24.

The creatives for the campaign are designed by Lowe Lintas and the outdoor activations are by Platinum Outdoors.

Sunita Bangard, senior vice-president, marketing, brand, Idea, says, "The Kumbh Mela has a deep connect with not only the regional population, but also millions of people who come to participate in this mega event. It provides an ideal platform to connect with the audience, as well as provide them service and support for smooth communication."

Gour Gupta, CEO, Platinum Outdoors, says, "Idea cellular was very clear from the start of creating a dominating position in Allahabad through visibility."

Bangard adds, "We have also launched special VAS services: A voice portal (IVR short code) that offers important information on Kumbh such as dates for shahi snaan and how to reach Allahabad. Subscribers can also listen to live arti on their Idea mobile."

The telecom giant has come up with special dialler tones for the Kumbh Mela. Along with this, the brand has also ensured the availability of recharge coupon stocks at more than 500 retail outlets, ashrams and akharas. Canopies have also been placed across the city, and at several prominent ghats.

Besides strengthening its network in the region for the visitors and the local people, it has also installed PCO booths that offer telephony services to the visitors.

For all the devotees going to Haridwar for the holy dip, Idea has installed more than 150 PCOs in Haridwar, across major locations such as Har-Ki-Pauri. Fifteen additional mobile towers have been hoisted in Haridwar in order to ensure good coverage and congestion-free network amidst a large gathering.

Idea, an Aditya Birla Group company, is the third largest mobile services operator in India with a subscriber base of over 117 million. It operates across all 22 service areas with 2G services and 3G services spread in over 3,000 towns and 10,000 villages. The telecom brand has come up with several innovative campaigns to engage with its customers in the past. Some of its notable campaigns are What an Idea Sirjee, Honey Bunny and Har tyohar manaana achha hota hai.

Kumbh Mela witnesses the largest congregation of devotees at one place. It is believed that by bathing in the Ganges during Kumbh, one is freed from one's past sins (karma), and thus becomes eligible for liberation from the cycle of birth and death. It is held at four places - Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik, every three years in turn. The Purna Kumbh Mela takes place every 12th year.