On the 70th Republic Day celebrations, several brands are joining in the festivities with offers, special campaigns and innovative anthems. Even as the usual Republic Day sales are on at e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart, Lava Mobiles has joined in paying tribute to the tricolour with its new film ‘Proudly Indian’. The film, created by Soho Square, tries to evoke a sense of pride among citizens by asking a simple question — ‘How difficult is it to make a small effort for the country?’ “Proudly Indian’ is a hashtag that Lava started about a year back, to celebrate the ‘made in India’ mobile brand. “In this film, Lava and Soho Square wanted to bring out the fact that for some of us the significance of Republic day is lost. We feel that what is unsaid in this film is far more important than what is said. After all, Republic Day is not yet another holiday,” says Chandana Agarwal, President, North, Soho Square.

Rapping with the Railways

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Travel marketplace ixigo is celebrating Republic Day with a rap song that is a tribute to the Indian Railways. Titled ‘ Train mein Hai Swag ’ it is a continuation of its video tribute last year to the Railways, Train Mein Hai Ghar Wali Baat . If ixigo’s take one last year showcased how Indian Railways unites the country through the warmth of journeys and train trips, this year the video is from a millennial point of view and the cool moments with friends and families on trains. From daydreaming sitting at the window seat, carrying bucket loads of useless stuff thanks to unlimited space in trains, to chilling like its your personal drawing room, the idea is to bring swag back to train journeys!

Robot food delivery

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Student meals will never be the same again at George Mason University with Sodexo and Starship Technologies teaming up to deliver food to 40,000 students, faculty and staff through a robot fleet. Blaze Pizza, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ and 2nd Stop, a Sodexo-branded campus grocery store, are the first retailers to participate in this innovative delivery service. Each on-demand delivery costs just $1.99. With a fleet of more than 25 robots at launch, this initiative is the largest implementation of autonomous robot food delivery services on a university campus. It is also a test case for Sodexo's next-generation technology portfolio for the college and university market.

To get started, users open the Starship Deliveries app, choose from a range of their favourite food or beverage items, then drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent. They can then watch as the robot autonomously makes its journey to them, via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert, and can then meet the robot and unlock it through the app. The entire delivery usually takes 15 minutes or less, depending on the menu items ordered and the distance the robot must travel. Each robot can carry up to 20 lbs — the equivalent of about three shopping bags of goods.

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