club catalyst. Why you should go to Ujjain

Ujjain is one of the most interesting towns of Central India. It is one of our country’s most ancient towns, and was once the capital city of the legendary Emperor Vikramaditya. It is one of the most famous places of pilgrimage for Hindus, particularly since the Maha Kaleshwar Temple here is home to one of the twelve Jyotirlingams of Lord Shiva. The Tropic of Cancer passes through Ujjain, and the holy River Kshipra cuts through the city. In modern times, Ujjain has been selected as one of the 100 Indian towns which will be converted into smart cities.

I had the unique opportunity of visiting Ujjain last week and offering prayers to Lord Shiva at the Maha Kaleshwar Temple, just two days ahead of the festival of Maha Shivaratri. So many things about this town captivated me immediately, including its historical places, religious legends and interesting temples. For instance, at one of the famous temples of Ujjain called the Kala Bhairava Temple, the main offering to the presiding deity is not the usual coconuts or flowers, but bottles of liquor. No wonder ancient travellers from around the world called Ujjain a city “full of wonderful sights”!

Modern travellers will see one of the most remarkable sights of this town next month – the Maha Kumbh Mela. Beginning April 22, Ujjain will host the Simhasth Kumbh Mela, which is held once in 12 years. For nearly a month, all roads will lead to this huge Mela, where more than five crore people from across the country are expected to gather. Ujjain is one of only four places in India where Kumbh Melas are celebrated – the other three venues are Allahabad, Haridwar and Nashik. During my visit to Ujjain, I heard that preparations for this mega event had begun over six years ago. Over 3,000 hectares of land have already been prepared to host the massive crowd.

This is expected to be the largest spiritual gathering on the face of planet Earth. Such a gigantic gathering of people is a rare opportunity for marketers. That is why every marketer who is focused on India should think about going to Ujjain this year, and doing many different things at the Kumbh Mela there. Here are a few of these possibilities.

A concentrated gathering of five crore people within a month represents a significant slice of the Indian population. This huge mass of pilgrims will seek a variety of products and services, including food and beverages, soaps and detergents, toothpaste and mosquito repellents, telecom packages for their mobile phones, rooms to live in, the best selfie photographs to take home, and assorted sources of entertainment and fun. Brands will have to prepare for a huge spike in consumer demand in this small geographical area. While some of these products will be provided to pilgrims by the akhara camps where they stay, people will still have to buy everything else they need.

A sampling exercise extending to a crore or more of people, which would normally take several months to implement well, can be completed here within a few weeks, and quite cost-effectively too. Clearly, many mid-market brands which target the huge Indian middle class can benefit. In past Kumbh Melas, brands such as Brooke Bond Red Label tea, Coca-Cola and Hajmola digestive tablets have run very effective sampling campaigns. Sampling can be done at very memorable moments that consumers will remember for a long time – for instance, brands of tea can consider offering a hot cuppa to each consumer as soon as he or she emerges from the ritual bath in the cold river.

Loyal consumers of many brands will be at Ujjain’s Kumbh Mela. This is a good time for brands to bond with their core consumers, by offering special limited-period packages or services. These need not necessarily be price discounts, though such special Kumbh deals will always be welcome. They can be specially designed packs or tins created for the Kumbh Mela, which people can take back home and cherish as collectibles. In the case of telecom, brands can consider offering specially branded prepaid roaming packs for visitors from other States, with free incoming calls for this limited duration, or even special data packs which offer free digital views of the Ujjain Temple, special devotional songs, information about auspicious timings at the bathing ghats of the Mela, and so on.

Such huge gatherings are excellent opportunities to build brand salience, and also to reinforce key brand messages. Of course, such messaging needs to be done very innovatively and differently, if it has to stand out. An excellent example is the story of what Lifebuoy did at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad a few years ago. It distributed 25 lakh rotis at lunchtime to devotees who had gathered here. Each roti was stamped with a simple message in Hindi, which read – “ Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya ?” (“Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?”) This sharp advertising message was heat-stamped on rotis , and worked very well because it got the consumer’s attention at the exact time when hand-washing is critical, just prior to eating. Here was a simple, clutter-breaking idea that made an impact not just on people at the Mela, but also got Lifebuoy huge press publicity with consumers across the country.

I wonder which brand will steal the show similarly, at Ujjain’s Maha Kumbh Mela next month. Marketers will, of course, need to bear in mind that without scale, or without a brilliant new idea, any effort at building brand salience in such a huge gathering is likely to disappear without trace or impact.

Millions of people will come to the Kumbh Mela to immerse themselves in the River Kshipra, but marketers should visit Ujjain for a different sort of immersion – in the world of Indian consumers.

For marketers who are serious about India, who are curious about people, and who wish to develop insights about consumers from the heartland of the country, the Ujjain Mela is the place to be. Here, you can roam around freely, observing people, speaking to them at leisure, eating with them, seeing how they converse and shop, taking in the apparel or jewellery that they wear. You can choose to interact with men or women from Maharashtra, or Uttar Pradesh, or Rajasthan, or Andhra Pradesh, or indeed with all of them.

Most Indian marketers tend to live in large cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore, so a visit to the Mela also offers you an opportunity to step out of these urban ivory towers and take a good look at small-town India in its best finery. In addition, a visit to a town such as Ujjain, which has such a central place in the Shaivite traditions of Hinduism, offers wonderful perspectives on Indian society and culture. I think every marketer who visits the Ujjain Kumbh Mela with a curious mind will go back to his or her workplace with at least a couple of unique and actionable consumer insights.

For all these reasons, your brand and you should certainly consider going to Ujjain.

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