“Wah Taj Boliye!” or ‘Ooh Aaah Ouch!‘
The news item that tickled Cool Chilli’s grey cells this time is about the The Taj Mahal at Agra. Understand the officials at the Taj Mahal site are not providing shoe covers and thus are not helping local tourists. Marble by itself maybe cool, but not when subjected to the Tropical sun and therefore the other option of walking over the mausoleum barefoot is painful.
Mausoleums and TV Marketing
Two television ads of times gone by, come to mind. The ads by themselves are not related. But the NewsTikka team sees a connect and learning therefrom.
Taj Mahal Tea (from Brooke Bond/Unilever Stable) in the 1980s made a strong connect with classical Indian music. The latter concept represented by the effervescent Zakir Hussain, the tabla maestro. In response to a younger tabla player complimenting him, Zakir exhorts him to compliment Taj Mahal tea. Brooke Bond struck a good chord and continues to leverage the association.
The other ad is from the pain relieving brand Iodex, which ruled the roost for a long time. But competition, and the inability to understand the customer, cost the brand its place and now, it is not the force it used to be.
Cut to the Taj Mahal at Agra. It is a big magnet for tourists visiting India. Tourism contributes to 6.3% of India’s GDP and almost 9% of its employment. This definitely can grow. What it needs is a simple attitude of treating tourists, both inland and foreign with care and respect when they visit a site. The tourism department also needs to educate tourists on their responsibility towards protecting the monuments. History has bequeathed a valuable heritage to them as citizens of the world.
With the current government’s all round efforts to develop the economy, one is confident that the Indian Tourism Administration will do better than the Glaxo Team did with Iodex.
Related Link
Desi Tourists Caught Barefoot?
