Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Party in the skies

The "Kurkure Jackpot Party" in an aircraft reflects the flight of marketing techniques, but sometimes customers have other ideas.

`For the past one month whenever my son Tanmay sees an aircraft fly past our house he asks when are we going to fly mama,' narrated an excited Ashima Gupta. Ashima from Delhi's Kamla Nagar area was one of the eight lucky winners of the Kurkure "Mast Family Jackpot" who recently enjoyed a party in a plane with family and friends.

An innovative marketing technique, the party proved to be a clincher in connecting with the customer. "In aircraft one has to buy full tickets for kids, something we can't afford. The jackpot gave us the opportunity to fulfil a long standing demand of our kids," shared Ashima. Son of a doctor, today Tanmay could stand up to his father over Kurkure. "Earlier he used to restrict his eating too much of it. Now the bar has relaxed a bit," smiled Ashima. The amazing thing was, the company allowed each winner to take 14 members along on the flight. For Ashish Sadwhani, a management student at Bangalore it was an occasion for a family get-together. "My parents live in Mumbai and I hardly get time to meet them or take them for an outing. Here not only parents, the company has made arrangements that my relatives from Jaipur and Agra could also assemble and stay in a star hotel for two days." Both Ashish and Ashima said it was a complete surprise when they got to know that they had won the jackpot. "I was of the opinion the company gives it to their dealers or it's just a marketing gimmick. I stand corrected," added Ashish.

Memorable moment

For Neha Nagpal who has been lucky with such contests - while others bought dozens she hit the jackpot with just two - having won goodies like T-shirt and walkman earlier, the party was a much better option than getting the jackpot in kind. "It's a memorable moment that we would cherish for life."

Nodded Ashish and Ashima, "We generally don't spend on such parties. And when one does, it's time and energy consuming." Neha's father, A.K. Nagpal, however, felt otherwise.

"Such an outing is good for boosting the confidence of the girl but I would have preferred a car, which the company gave away as a jackpot last year." The passengers were an interesting mix. Some were boarding the flight for the first time but were making an attempt that nobody should get to know. The clumsy movement and tension on their face, however, was a definite giveaway. For some it was an opportunity to take out the long-forgotten bridal outfit from the trunk. The reticence of the winners limited the fun to some extent. The emcee tried hard to bridge the gap between the eight groups with games and banter but the groups remained almost watertight.

"We are meeting our relatives after so long, how can we get comfortable with strangers in such a short time," asked Nagpal.

For once, the plane seemed a melting pot.

ANUJ KUMAR

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail