Saturday, June 04, 2011

Ramdev fast gains sponsors

After talks with the Government apparently failed, Baba Ramdev announced his fast against corruption and graft. A lot has been written and said about this fast, coming fast on the heels of Anna Hazare's recent "blackmail the government" attempt; allegations have been laid that the fast is politically motivated.

But, advertising gurus are most impressed with what they consider a complete sponsorship coup that Baba Ramdev pulled off. The fast has been sponsored by VLCC and Talwalkars, two companies providing personalised weight loss programmes, in addition to other fitness and beauty care services.

Dieticians from both companies said that a good fast helps clean the body. Spokespersons for both companies said that the fast was a great event for them to market their weight loss solutions. They also mentioned that the packaging of food items sold at the fast will be contain equal sized logos of both companies.

The two companies are commercial competitors and the fact that Baba Ramdev was able to get both to sponsor the fast, amicably, has left marketing gurus stumped. C.K. Prahlad stated at a media meet at the IIM-B yesterday that he is going to update his book with a new chapter discussing the same.

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