Will Maha Kumbh catalyse a new era of religious event marketing?

The once-in-144-year festival, Maha Kumbh Mela attracted a record-breaking 66 crore visitors at Prayagraj. The 45-day religious festival was the planet’s largest human gathering in documented history. Its spiritual ethos notwithstanding, many companies across sectors leveraged the event as a great branding and marketing opportunity, actively engaging in on-ground marketing activities. According to some reports, Indian brands reportedly spent a total estimated value of over INR 3,000 crores on marketing at this religious gathering.

The Maha Kumbh Mela witnessed brands exploring multiple marketing avenues including boat, train, and city branding, providing services such as mobile charging or installing relaxation zones. Some offered immersive augmented reality-powered cultural experiences, and some participated in prasaad distribution (food for devotees), or helped by carrying out ground cleaning and plastic recycling. Brands also supplied recycled life jackets, built changing rooms made of recycled materials, or assisted local police in locating lost persons.

Shuvadip Banerjee, chief digital marketing officer, ITC Ltd

“The Maha Kumbh was not just a spiritual gathering, it was a melting pot of cultures, traditions and communities, making it an unparalleled opportunity for brands to forge meaningful connections,” commented Shuvadip Banerjee, chief digital marketing officer, ITC Ltd.

As brands evaluate the performance of their marketing activities at Maha Kumbh Mela, a key question arises: will this experience drive fresh and recurring marketing investments in other mass religious gatherings—beyond the festive season?

The Maha challenges

Although most brands view the religious marketing experience at Maha Kumbh as a grand success, they also caution about the challenges it came bundled with. Cluttered advertising, severe competition for limited advertising real estate, and complications in assessing return on investment were some of the concern areas.

Shrikant Shenoy, assistant vice president – Lodestar UM, Interpublic Group (IPG), said, “Clutter was a major challenge leading to overlapped advertising. Given the limited ad real estate, many brands were clamouring for the same inventory. So we had situations where multiple banners were placed on top of each other leading to multiple brand messages going to consumers simultaneously.”

As hundreds of brands vied for limited consumer attention, they had to come up with innovative strategies for visibility. Some brands established engagement zones providing essential services to visitors, while others invested in creating brand visibility through transit advertising and OOH advertising throughout Prayagraj City.

Some brands introduced novel ideas such as ‘digital snaan’ (digital bath) and ‘digital dip’ to capture consumer attention. For instance, under its incense sticks brand, Mangaldeep, ITC used augmented reality (AR) to help people experience Maha Kumbh from their homes. Similarly, the audio OTT brand Kuku FM hired local actors and artists to enact spiritual plays narrated through the Bhakti app. “This ensured that footfall to the stall increased and users could experience and download the app,” informed Jhoomer Sinha, vice president – Hindi business, Kuku FM.

The impact

The gigantic scale of Maha Kumbh allowed brands to target a diverse audience across demographics and geographies. Brands from nearly all sectors, BFSI, automobile, consumer durables, electronics, FMCG, hospitality, or telecom—invested in Maha Kumbh marketing in some way or other.

Richa Agrawal, founder and director, AUM Life, a spiritual and well-being retreats brand, provides three KPIs to illustrate the success of her brand’s Kumbh marketing experience: number of attendees, management and logistics, and guest feedback. “Our usual guest count for AUM experiences is around 25-30. Kumbh curation witnessed a significant increase. Despite circumstances beyond our control, we successfully coordinated the logistics for 200 guests, including the Snan and Akhara visits, ensuring an enriching experience. The participants described it as a wholesome experience—attending the Kumbh and understanding AUM’s deeper intention of spiritual growth and community.”

For Kuku FM’s Sinha, the response has been stellar. “We felt we were at the right place at the right time. For our Bhakti app, the targeting was spot-on and users could find a direct correlation with the product which only made it more relatable for them. During the mela, the expected reach for Bhakti was about 1 cr people in terms of footfalls and eyeballs for our stall.”

According to Ashutosh Kumar Gupta, director of sales and marketing at Summercool Home Appliances, the response to his organisation’s marketing efforts at Prayagraj was highly positive. He said that the brand visibility created through static and mobile advertising at every entry and exit point of Maha Kumbh, and at every consumer touchpoint such as the boats and the trains, helped Summercool effectively achieve a strong brand recall.

According to IPG’s Shenoy, the biggest benefit that Kumbh marketing delivered was the ability it provided to reach tier-2 and tier-3 audiences face-to-face. “Traditionally, television was the primary medium for reaching these audiences, but it lacked precise targeting. Digital efforts were also limited due to smartphone penetration and cluttered platforms. The Maha Kumbh Mela provided an opportunity to directly engage with these consumers, who formed a substantial portion of the attendees. Unlike metro audiences, who can be targeted through multiple channels, this event enabled focused outreach in previously hard-to-access locations.”

Shenoy, however, also pointed out that while the scale of impressions mostly met the brand expectations, the long-term impact of the marketing exercise at Kumbh on various brand metrics will take some time to be seen, indicating that the brands will need to continue with the massive engagement push they derived on account of Maha Kumbh with sustained follow-ups through digital means.

Future possibilities?

With Maha Kumbh’s marketing potential being gradually assessed and established, brands will evaluate whether similar marketing exercises can be carried out at other mass religious gatherings in India, especially those that fall beyond the festive season—September to December.

For instance, Jagannath Rath Yatra takes place sometime between June and July (Aashadh maas), the Makaravilakku festival in Kerala’s Sabarimala is held in January, Waari in Maharashtra’s Pandharpur is held twice every year in February and June-July period. These events attract crores of devotees, potentially offering consumer marketing opportunities for brands.

Looking ahead, Coca-Cola India plans to expand its ‘Maidaan Saaf’ initiative, bringing similar sustainability-driven interventions to other large religious gatherings across India. By working closely with local authorities, partners, and communities, the company will tailor its approach to different regions, ensuring maximum engagement and long-term environmental impact.

“Maha Kumbh has shown us the huge potential of bottom-of-the-pyramid marketing at mass religious festivals, and one is encouraged to look for similar possibilities outside the festive period,” said Gupta of Summercool Home Appliances. According to him, festivals such as Durga Puja, Rath Yatra, and other similar religious events beyond the usual festive season can offer high-visibility, cultural-intensive consumer interaction opportunities for consumer brands.

Sharing her perspectives on this, Agrawal of AUM Life said, “Through our pilgrimage retreats, we aim to deepen awareness of Sanatan Dharma and India’s rich cultural heritage, offering seekers a space for exploration, reflection, and transformation — all while ensuring a touch of luxury and comfort.” Following its positive Maha Kumbh experience AUM Life plans to hold six to eight immersive pilgrimage retreats this year. However, it will not be every religious gathering, but rather, a properly evaluated selection, she mentioned.

However, not all brands seem to be looking at leveraging every religious gathering for marketing Sinha of Kuku FM explained, “Think of Maha Kumbh like World Cup. It was focused, targeted, and generated massive word of mouth. Being a digital-first brand, our focus is on digital-first events, which is why Kumbh served as the perfect platform for the Bhakti app given its large footfalls and widespread digital awareness,” she said. Going forward, Kuku FM will focus only on the marquee religious events that offer better ROI.

According to IPG’s Shenoy, if brands observe both short-term sales impact and long-term branding benefits from Maha Kumbh Mela, they may consider similar strategies for events like Kerala’s Makaravilakku festival, Odisha’s Jagannath Yatra in Puri, or the Waari pilgrimage in Maharashtra’s Pandharpur. “Maha Kumbh has certainly led to a growth in brand interest in religious event marketing. However, much depends on what emerges through their post-event evaluations,” he said.

Lessons for marketers

While Maha Kumbh Mela offered a once-in-lifetime experience for devotees, it perhaps, also offered a unique learning opportunity for brand marketers. Given its gigantic scale and spiritual focus, the event challenged marketers to balance their consumer promotions with cultural sensitivity. With Maha Kumbh now over, experts reflected on what they learnt from the event that offered branding opportunities amidst unparalleled scale.

According to Gupta of Summercool Home Appliances, while the deeply religious nature of the event may be seen as a challenge by brands, it can also viewed as a great opportunity if a brand can immerse itself into the sentiment—being one with the consumer. “Maha Kumbh offered us invaluable branding insights, showcasing the power of spiritual branding in creating deep emotional connections with devotees,” he said.

Offering another lesson learnt in this regard, Agrawal of AUM Life said, “We experienced that simple, need-based branding drives greater impact and practical and thoughtful branding resonates at a deeper level.” For instance, every Maha Kumbh Mela retreat guest of AUM Life was given a curated selection of AUM merchandise designed with both utility and religious sentiment in mind. This included apparel, a jacket, a customised water bottle, and a specially designed bag for the Kumbh Snan.

Shrikant Shenoy of IPG opined that Maha Kumbh Mela showed that brands should not expect to see any immediate impact of their marketing investments at such events on their revenues or profits. “The focus should be on long-term brand development and not immediate returns on investments made,” he said.

According to AUM Life’s Agrawal, a religious event marketing like this cannot be seen as a one-time activity, but rather a continuous journey. “Given the scale and unpredictability of an event like Maha Kumbh, consistent communication is crucial.” AUM Life, for instance, shared two WhatsApp messages every week with guests registered for its spiritual retreat during Maha Kumbh Mela, providing them with essential information and updates to ensure they felt well-prepared and reassured.

Shenoy also mentioned that the clutter at such religious gatherings, once again points to the need for being innovative and creative, the foundational pillar of advertising and marketing. “Given the messaging overlaps at large religious gatherings, the only way brands can capture consumer attention is through innovation.” What different a brand is doing to attract attention became critical.

Agreeing with this, Gupta of Summercool Home Appliances said that since his brand went beyond hoardings and billboards and carried out boat branding and train branding, it helped it offer greater visibility. At another level, given the very large number of devotees present at the venue, just a tiny percentage of people noticing the brand may also be enough for brands to achieve their visibility objective, he observed. “For instance, even if just 1-3% of visitors have noticed our brand from the total footfall, it is still a huge number for us.”

Marketers also pointed out that for marketing at any such large-scale religious event to deliver optimal results, structured advertising facilities should be created at such venues. However, this will require careful planning and close collaboration between industry associations and the state and municipal authorities well in advance.

Lastly, according to Shenoy, Maha Kumbh demonstrated that a brand could easily and effectively reach tier-2 and tier-3 city consumers. This provides an important lesson for brands that going forward, they may consider integrating similar large religious gatherings into their annual marketing plans. Such gatherings provide immense opportunities to engage demographics that are difficult to reach through traditional media, he opined.