Mumbai: GroupM and Google are now in talks to rope in a top e-commerce company to partner the event and provide logistics support, officials of the two firms said. While GroupM will bring in the brands that will sell their products on the website, Google will help with the technology for the shopping festival that will run for three weeks starting October 1.
“Grand Diwali Mela is taking offline festive experiences online,” CVL Srinivas, chief executive officer at GroupM South Asia, said. “It will allow users to window shop, browse merchandise and, in some cases, sample products as well, just like your local mela,” he added. Rajan Anandan, country head at Google India, said people can join the festival through their mobile phones. “This will be first of its kind initiative to kick off the festive season in India. Our teams are very excited about this and we are sponsoring the effort that will be accessible across all kinds of devices, including mobile phones,” he said.
The festival site will have all kinds of categories including real estate, automobiles, consumer durables, electronics, FMCG products, music and entertainment. A number of FMCG brands will sample their new food and beverage products through the website, officials said.
The real estate segment will provide information on new properties including layout plans and facilitate site visits. Similarly, people interested in cars and bikes can get details of different models and schedule test drives on the site. GroupM and Google are in the process of signing on brands — including those that Group M does not handle — to participate in the event. “Through this initiative we are trying to help brands graduate to the virtual world,” GroupM’s Srinivas said.
GroupM has already ideated and created an advertising campaign to promote the Grand Diwali Mela across different media platforms including TV, radio, print, internet and social media. Officials said that if the Diwali festival proves a success, than they will host similar events around other major festivals and occasions.
