India, a land of festivals where no festive occasion is complete without the presence of beverages from The Coca-Cola Company. Of these, Maaza is the country’s favourite mango-based beverage that adds a sweet touch of happiness to every celebration. Then, why should the Ganesh Festival be any different?

This year, Maaza decided to bring forth the authentic taste of mangoes to match the festive emotions of devotees and enthusiasts of Ganesh Utsav in the form of the second edition of ‘Maaza Modak’. It was planned in association with Lokmat across all offline and online channels. The core idea was to give a Mangolicious twist to the recipe of Modak by adding the golden goodness of Maaza.

As a part of the campaign plan, the Maaza Modak team tied-up with popular Ganesh Pandals and invited famed Marathi personalities and celebrity chef to launch the festival. Apart from print, news, and digital associations, collaborations were made with celebrated influencers to add a new-age flavour to the campaign.

MANGOLICIOUS-NESS AT GANESH PANDALS & LAL BAUGCHA RAJA

Marathi TV actress Prajakta Mali, Jui Gadkari, Apurva Nemlekar, Gauri Nalawade, Suruchi Adarkar, Sayali Sanjeev and Samrudhi Kelkar were invited at Pandals to engage and interact with the devotees. They also clicked selfies with the devotees. Maaza Modak Spardha was organised at Pandals and innovative Modak recipes were prepared using Modak. The most innovative and delicious Modak recipes won Maaza Hampers.

As part of the Lokmat Sakhi Manch, Sakhis participated in a Maaza Modak Spardha, where they were asked to get homemade Modak with Maaza. These Sakhis were guided by celebrity chefs and were encouraged to showcase their culinary skills on social media using the hashtag #MaazaModak. The Maaza Modak Wall of Fame showcased 50 shortlisted selfies of the Sakhis from Lokmat Sakhi Manch posing with their innovative Modak recipes at respective Pandals. Marathi TV celebrities also visited Sakhi Manch event. Local influencer like Arti Kataria interacted with Sakhi and gave them cooking tips.

The Celebrities also visited Lal baugcha Raja and offered Maaza Modak. A dedicated Maaza Modak zone where a larger than life Maaza Modak installation was made using Maaza bottles, it grabbed the attention of the visitors.

Celebrity Chef Shantanu Gupte and Yashodhan Deskmukh gave Maaza Modak recipe demo through videos on Lokmat Facebook channel.

Tasty associations were made with popular food bloggers who built stories around all the women who showcased their culinary skills for all.

CELEBRATING MAAZA MODAK SPARDHA DIGITALLY

Lokmat Facebook Page hosted Maaza Modak Spardha where participants were invited to share the Maaza Modaks they prepared using the hashtag #MaazaModak. The prize for this contest was a golden opportunity to prepare Maaza Modak with a celebrity chef.

Numerous celebrity influencers were approached to acquaint their social media following with the delicious taste of Maaza Modak. One of these was Madhura from Madhura’s Kitchen. Every celebrity was encouraged to add their culinary touch to the concept of Maaza Modak through their social media handles by way of promotion, all in true ode to the Bappa.

ARRIVAL OF THE RAJA

Most celebrated collaboration was with the world famous Sarvajanik Ganpati – Lal Baugcha Raja. In a bid to strike a social chord with the audience, the campaign leveraged Lokmat Sakhi Manch, a platform that empowers women and gives them an opportunity to express their creativity.

It started with an experiential Maaza Modak Zone that was installed at Lal Baughcha Raja Pandal in Mumbai. Supporting this, was a Maaza Modak Installation made out of Maaza bottles. This was meant for artists to dismantle at regular intervals, recreate and in the process, showcase their creativity.

A Maaza Wheel of Fortune engaged devotees and encouraged them to win either bottles of Maaza or the modaks prepared at the pandal. The most popular attraction was a Maaza Selfie cut out that allowed visitors to click selfies and post them on their social media handles with the hashtag, #MaazaModak2.

MAAZA ON WHEELS FOR GANAPATI BAPPA
A canter activity was conducted where Maaza Modak vans drove across 44 Maharashtrian towns where mango lovers were encouraged to sample Maaza bottles. This activity was made more interactive with a digital game and a selfie contest on FB combined with region specific filter to add to the festive air.

ACTIVATION OF THE MANGOLICIOUS TASTE
The love for this mango-based beverage was taken to new heights in the form of first ever modern trade retail outlet activation. Here, stalls were set up at retail outlets across Maharashtra, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Five Reliance Retails outlets were the chosen spots in Maharashtra, whereas in Hyderabad it was MORE and SPAR where the Maaza Modak challenge became the showstopper. Similarly, MORE at Bangalore also saw these outlets brimming with exciting Maaza goodies for the customers.

The campaign ended as Bappa got ready to depart to His humble abode. However, one thing that stayed with everyone was the mangolicious taste of Maaza and the enjoyment that was had by one and all.