In the current landscape of strategic marketing, where brands eagerly embrace trends to market their partnerships like Zomato x BlinkIt’s ‘Doodh mangoge, Doodh denge; Kheer mangoge, kheer denge’ have become increasingly common. Brands are swift to capitalize on opportunities arising from pop culture events as well as campaigns such as the successful moon landing of Chandrayaan 3. This is moment marketing.
The upcoming consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22 holds a profound significance from a religious perspective. Hence a lot of brands are associating themselves with this event.
Indigo cabin crew are dressed as Hindu deities Ram, Lakshman, Hanuman, and Sita. The launch of this flight service was on January 11 and was conducted through a virtual event by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. IndiGo is also providing flight services from 8 cities in Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Prayagraj, Bareilly, and Ayodhya. SpiceJet Airlines announced a special flight operation from Delhi to Ayodhya catering to passengers attending the inaugural ceremony at the Ram temple.
GreenCell Mobility, an electric mobility solutions provider, has been chosen by the director of urban transport as a partner to introduce 150 intra-city electric buses to Ayodhya for the ceremony.
PM Modi also inaugurated the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station and flagged off two Amrit Bharat and six Vande Bharat trains for the devotees’ ease of travel to the sacred place. Travel booking sites like MakeMyTrip have seen a 1,806 percent increase in searches for Ayodhya on their platform since the announcement of the inauguration.
Uber has also launched its e-autorickshaw service in Ayodhya. And with the expansion of UberGo, the company’s affordable car product, and Uber Intercity, travel solutions are being made easily available.
Social media is also not behind in promotions. Apps like ShareChat have launched #AyodhyaKiTicket, its an in-app campaign to bring the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya to every user virtually.
The Uttar Pradesh government has asked its cultural department to work with well-known social media influencers on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and X to promote stories about the Ram temple, and its construction.
Major players in the retail industry, including Zudio, Westside, and Pantaloons, are showing interest in Ayodhya by planning on opening outlets in the city.
In the quick-service restaurant (QSR) sector, Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza are planning to establish outlets in the city, with Burger King having already launched a QSR in Ayodhya nine months ago.
Paytm has also signed a tie-up with the Ayodhya municipal corporation, facilitating seamless mobile payments in the city through QR codes and Soundboxes.
The grandeur and significance of the occasion will be amplified by the presence of India’s favourite influencer Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with a large number of celebrities, athletes, movie stars, business people, and spiritual leaders.