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141 Sercon flags off marketing for Kerala Festival
The Government of Kerala, which is marketing the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival, for the first time ever, has set aside Rs 18-20 crore as its marketing budget
141 Sercon, the marketing services division of Bates Asia, has added the Grand Kerala Festival to its kitty. The festival will be held from December 1, 2007 to January 15, 2008. This festival will have a well planned communication strategy for the first time. The state government is learnt to have set aside a marketing budget of Rs 18-20 crore for the same.
The festival will comprise of 92 events in 45 days, across the state of Kerala, which includes 14 districts. It will be targeted at the local residents, NRI's and inbound tourists. Vijay Singh, managing director, 141 Sercon, says, “The marketing initiatives will primarily be inclined at the local residents – 80 per cent of the marketing will be skewed towards this TG; and the rest of the budget will be spent on attracting international travellers, particularly from west Asia and south east Asia.”
The festival promises to offer numerous opportunities for brand exposure, in the form of on-site signage and displays, cross-promotions, contests, naming rights, and destination marketing activities associated with tour packaging – plus official status with promotional opportunities in print, web, and broadcast media, and high visibility to large, targeted audiences at the lifestyle level. Brand awareness and association, with an experiential connect are some of the benefits that brands can leverage.
The state government is contemplating that the festival will become a fully fledged one in five years from now, and apart from attracting tourism, it is also eyeing at creating business opportunities for the state.