Kolkata’s Durgapuja – a Successful
Case of Corporatization
If the Durga temple of Aihole
(550 AD) is believed to be the oldest Durga Temple in India, we certainly
cannot consider this Hindu Goddess to be very young. But quite surprisingly,
worshipping the Goddess turned into the biggest annual festival in another part
of the India - in the Eastern side; that too, presumably not before 16th century.
History of Kolkata’s Durgapuja
goes back to 1690s and since then, the festival became part of Bengali life
through many ups and downs. There are lot many aspects of an annual festival in
any of the community’s life. But Kolkata Durgapuja has some unique features.
Recent surprise added to this
annual festival of Bengalis is probably “Corporatization”.
With
the improvement of general economic situation and increasing excitement about
globalization, a new touch of glory was added to this annual festival in post
1980's.
But
the dramatic twist in this came with the introduction of themes in 1990's and
the emergence of corporatism in the whole event. Corporate houses representing
different industries started using the festival as advertiser’s canvas. Again,
Durgapuja took the lead role in the show that was playing another power-shift
in economic history of Bengal. The makeshift pandal was no more a beautifully
decorated shelter for the idol, but representation of Bengal's cultural life,
people's understanding of global history, politics, economy and current
affairs. Painstaking craftsmanship deeply engaged for months was absolute
necessity for themes like ancient Egyptian temple or Harry Potter's world.
Naturally, individual donations were no more adequate to meet the huge cost. At
the same time, count of footfalls in the Durgapuja venues made placing
hoardings and banners near the pandal a necessary option for brand promotion.
None of the FMCG and consumer goods and service companies doing business in
this part of the country could ignore the opportunity. In addition, big puja
organizers introduced theme-based festival to increase visitor's attraction. In
some place, the pandal looks like Rajasthan Dilwada temple, in some place it
resembles to White House. The light artists from Chandannagar and Hooghly
(approximately 50000 people in this area are engaged in this business) also
developed matching skill in light designing over the ages. Anything from
Amartya Sen's receiving Nobel Prize to river pollution control includes in the
range of splendor and spectacle they offer. Obviously, business houses and
corporate sector found an excellent possibility of product promotion here.
Sponsoring pujas depending on their theme, social message and scale of
popularity became an unwritten norm for Kolkata Durgapuja festival.
A
Business standard report in 2007 says that corporate sponsorship could amount
anything between 20,000 to 3,00,00,000 depending the size of the puja. The most
prominent Durga puja sponsors that year included the English daily The
Telegraph of ABP group, Nestle, CESC, and Times of India, who have cumulatively
sponsored over 200 pujas in Kolkata. For these corporate groups, initiating new
Durgapujas in newly growing localities was a profound way to increase customer
base. Organizing different other activities like quiz, musical evenings etc
besides usual worshiping brought scope for customer interaction and motivating
potential clientele as well. “360 connect” including on-ground promotion,
hot-spot activity, leaflet activation, sampling and stall activity came up as a
concept applicable; especially for Durgapuja event management and sponsorship
which attracts approx 3 crore visitors on Kolkata streets. Within couple of
years, by 2012, we found presence of almost all business sectors covering FMCG,
CDIT, electronics, apparel, mobile networks and apps, automotive, banking etc
in the puja sponsor's list. The market forces made the festival a mega
corporate event. Same way as the 19th century neo-wealthy class organized
Durgapuja to establish them in Bengali society; the 21st century corporate houses found
organizing\sponsoring Durgapuja the best option to establish their brand image.
In
2012, Indrani Dutta reports in The Hindu:
“Multinational
Standard Chartered Bank has joined hands with the police to support the
volunteers who are roped in by the city police to help manage the traffic and
the multitudes which throng the 2000-odd pujas in the city and around. The bank
will provide T-shirts to the volunteers. Says Dheeraj Ahluwalia, General
Manager, Marketing, India and South Asia: ‘This will provide visibility for our
brand as the T-shirts would sport the bank logo’.”
Some
firms like FMCG Group Emami decided to adopt a direct approach to both product
and brand promotion. It will sponsor the oil required for cooking the bhog
(rice offering made to Goddess Durga and her children) at a few pujas at the
housing complexes. ‘With this unique 360 degree communication plan, we hope to
gain an instant emotional connect with our target group of Bengali mothers,’
says Debashis Bhattacharyya, General Manager, Marketing, Emami Biotech Ltd.”
In
2014, the lighting division of Phillips, the Dutch diversified technology
company, selected two big puja locations, Mohammed Ali Park and Suhrid Sangha
in Rasbihari Avenue to display the advancement of their LED lighting
technology (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w01RlOGeGP8);
of course by decorating and sponsoring these puja venues. Even jewelers came up
to support exclusive puja-venues. The idols in Ekdalia Evergreen club, Gariahat
were covered with 18carat gold jeweler and the idol in Sreebhumi Sporting club
at Laketown with diamond jeweler worth Rs.10 crore.
Even
FDI turned into a reality for Durgapuja. Alliance Françoise, the cultural
institute, subsidiary of French Government not only sponsored the Pallimangal
Samity's puja in Anwar Shah road to depict the theme of 100 years of Indian
cinema, but also send French artists to work with local artisans for the
project in 2013. In 2014, Germany crossed the limit of the city of Joy and
selected one suburb Puja to tie up with.
We
are sure – Kolkata’s Durgapuja will be celebrated many more years – being
witness of many more changes in the history of commerce and industries in the
country.
