January - February 2010 22 Mumbai runs... across the Arabian Sea By Priyanka Borpujari FOCUS N nt I e Ev

The year was 2004. At 3 am on a Sunday in January, the concluded seventh edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai foggy Mumbai roads were lit by street lights. Several men Marathon (SCMM). were busy fixing flex banners, while some others were giving instructions on walkie-talkies. At a podium near The marathon race, which gets Mumbaikars onto the streets the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) stood Dilip Jayaram, – either through their participation or by way of their cheering who was at that time with ESPN Star Sports. “It suddenly for the participants – is a huge logistical exercise. Nevertheless, struck me that India was having its first ever marathon race. Procam International, the promoter of the race, along with In that midnight silence of the city and the cacophony of title sponsor Standard Chartered, have managed to deliver the volunteers working on the last minute details of the successful runs year after year, since 2004. It comes as no marathon, I heard the city and the country screaming, ‘We surprise that the number of participants this year was 38,520 want road races’,” reminisces Jayaram, today the COO of across all the five race categories, with athletes from 32 Procam International, as he sits back after the recently- nationalities too running across the Arabian Sea.

Seven years on, and still new! Label races today,” said Jayaram. Although this was the seventh edition of the marathon, there were several firsts attached to it – the prize money has been Now let’s go back to a few centuries to understand why the Mara- enhanced to $ 310,000, which is $ 60,000 more than the last thon Flame is so significant. As is known, the modern Athens Mara- edition’s $ 250,000; SCMM is now a Gold Label marathon race; thon commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a the Marathon Flame was brought to Mumbai from Athens; the battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens in half and full marathoners ran through the Bandra-Worli Sealink; 490 BC. The run was introduced in the Olympics Games in Athens and the race timings were recorded compulsorily for the half and in 1896, and a flame was lit that year. full marathoners. The flame now travels to two marathons in a year. “So far, outside In October 2009, the International Association of Athletics Feder- ation (IAAF) conferred a ‘Gold Label’ to SCMM, as well as all the forthcoming road races within the country to be organised by Procam International. This includes the Airtel and the Sunfeast to be held in 2010. The Gold Labels are conferred upon meeting certain criteria such as high participation of world-class male and female athletes; strict course measurement and racing standards; national television coverage along with global TV distribution; high standards of or- ganisation for participants, media, etc.; and strict anti-doping pro- cedures. “It is prestigious as there are only 12 marathons across the world which have received the Gold Label, out of the 240 plus marathons across the world. India does not have a running culture as such, and hence it is great that we have three Gold

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which indicated which runner was at which location, at any given point in time. At the end of the race, the runner received a timing certificate which certified his/her best timing during the race. So in terms of data points, with start and finish, two split points for the half marathoners and four split points for the full marathoners

– more than 62,000 points of data were recorded by Timing Tech- FOCUS nologies India. N Explaining the reason for making the timers a must, Jayaram said, “We always had timers for races but people had the option of using them. Only regular runners who are competing with them-

selves would use these timers earlier. But this time we made it nt I

compulsory because we have seen that the number of half mara- e thoners has increased exponentially,”

In 2004, there were about 1,000 half marathoners. This year, the Ev organisers had to stop registration at 11,000. So for a serious runner, maintenance of such data helps such that benchmarks can be set. Over a period of time, Procam intends to have a cut-off time for both the races.

Logistics and more... Organising an event of a magnitude as large as SCMM has its own challenges. “In the seven years of the marathon, it seems like we have become specialists for managing crowds. We have 2,200 vol- unteers, 44 tons of equipment, 140,000 liters of water, 300 medical personnel, 11 ambulances – everything that has to be done is huge. Even when we buy fruits, it is all about 40,000 oranges or 35,000 apples. But I think we have managed to tackle the main challenge – we are attuned to what participants are looking for. Today, we are also able to learn from other road races and bring the best practices here,” Jayaram elaborated. of Europe, the flame has travelled only to Berlin, which hosts the world’s largest marathon. But this is the first time that it travelling out- “We plan for the marathon through the year. Immediately after the side and coming to Asia. It is actually an honour for a marathon to marathon, we have review meetings for each of the 10 verticals, be awarded this flame. That is what the Standard Chartered Mum- each of which are extremely detailed. We then analyse the things bai Marathon has achieved. The marathons may apply for the flame that we should continue doing, those that should be changed, and to the Hellenic Athletic Federation, but ultimately, the flame chooses those which can be good e specially for a participant. The most the marathon based on various parameters,” explained Jayaram. paramount aspect for us is the runner. Anything that we can do to Venice is the other city where the flame will travel this year. be able to improve his race is our priority, he added.”

Greek athlete Maria Polyzou, who is the first women athlete to take Of all the races, the dream run is the one which attracts maximum part in the Olympics in Greece, and the sole carrier of the flame, participation. This year, there were 18,000 people doing the dream lit the flame in Mumbai on January 10, 2010. The flame was kept lit run, and needless to mention, it is one of the most significant races, near Flora Fountain till the culmination of the marathon. from the point of view of crowd management. “The dream run is the fun element that actually brings people in to the event, and This year, the track for the full and half marathon runs was literally in there are scores of people cheering the runners. It is our imperative the middle of the sea. The half marathon began in Bandra, and then to design a plan for managing the ones cheering. It is a given that terminated at CST. The full marathoners started their run at CST, around 5,00,000 people line up the streets to cheer the runners. So ran through the Sealink, and then completed their run at CST. In all, other than having barricades, we receive from the police, both law 14,000 runners ran through the Sealink. and order, and traffic, to be able to manage the entire process of the road race,” he said. Another added feature this year was that the half and full maratho- ners were timed with the help of a timer chip attached to their shoe. Running partners There were mats on the course of the run which fired back data, When it comes to the partners, all of them are blue-chip compa- nies which have invested into the phenomena of road races in the country. Almost all the brands which today have been so since the inception of the race. They have been working with us to be able

Approx. Figures of participants: Wheelchair – 200 people Dream run – 18,000+ Senior citizen – 2,000+ Half marathon – 11,000 Full marathon – 3,000

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to sample and are not competing with one of our partners. We make about 40,000 goody bag, which we also give to some key stakeholders, which includes the huge volunteer base, that consists of college students. Some of them have been so involved in the races that within them we have sub-heads. We have a total of 1,600

college students as volunteers. FOCUS

Besides, Procam gives out more than 5,000 bibs to charity, and N another 5,000 to corporates, which reroutes itself back to charity. That is almost 30 per cent of the total running space taken. Around Rs 34 crore was raised this year in charity, through the 140 NGOs

registered with United Way, which managed this significant aspect nt I

of the race. e Ev

inception of the race. They have been working with us to be able to make this phenomena come true.

At the same time, we give a goody bag to all our participants which includes goods by non-competing brands. This helps them sample a huge consumer base of the upwardly mobile strata. We go to brands and tell them about the opportunity through this goody bag. We have about 23 products in the bag, which include snacks as well as tips on how to be able to run. Partners can also choose to be part of the goody bag – say, for example, Kingfisher makes the sipper bottle. But the bag is mainly for brands which would like

Mirchi Activation and Encompass set pace for the run with ‘Get Active Expo 2010’

The idea for the property germinated from the fact that all registered entries for the marathon had to come to the World Trade Centre to collect their running bibs. This ensured an assured footfall of over 30,000 people visit- ing the location, which was no lesser than the perfect platform for brand promotions.

According to Sriram Kilambi, Senior VP and Station Director, Radio Mirchi Mumbai, “Get Active is a huge property for us and has been taking place for the past four years. Each year it has increased in its scale and grandeur. The Expo is also organised in Delhi and Bengaluru, for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and the Sunfeast World 10K Bangalore Marathon, respectively.”

The participating brands at the Get Active Expo 2010 included official sponsor Standard Chartered, associate sponsor Tata Consultancy Services, official drink partner Lucozade; sports shoe brands like Asics, Nike and Reebok; and health and wellness brands like Herbalife, Amway and Asian Heart Institute, among others.

Energy and sports drink Lucozade from the UK conducted its first-ever sampling in India at the Expo, prior to its formal launch in the country. On the other hand, sports footwear brand Asics set up stalls for the second con- As a prelude to the Standard Chartered (SCMM) 2010, secutive year at the Expo, which is the brand’s sole platform to showcase the Get Active Expo 2010 was organised at the World Trade Centre at and sell its collection, considering that it doesn’t have a store in India. Cuffe Parade, from January 13-16, 2010. Currently in its fourth year, the expo is designed as a health and lifestyle exhibition, which is staged four days This year, a ‘Marathon Jock Hunt’ was conducted by Radio Mirchi among prior to the marathon event. Marketed and managed by Mirchi Activa- the visitors. The winner got the chance to be a RJ for Radio Mirchi on the tion since its inception, Encompass was the official ground management race day, in order to report the developments live from the race track. agency handling all production and execution related aspects of the Expo The other new feature at the Expo this year was the 10-feet wall that was this year. erected for rock climbing.

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Chivas Studio – When Grandeur Becomes Grand By Priyanka Borpujari

advertising, research work on it though critically, the work fulcrums around the event agency. We start conceptual work almost seven

FOCUS months before the event,” he said.

N Evidently, designers find this platform to be the perfect one where they are not just able to showcase their collections, but also engage with an eclectic audience. Adding to the grandeur this year were several art works by artists of varied skills. nt I “This year, we have tried to set the benchmark for ourselves and for e other such events which attempt to bring the various lifestyles and art forms together. Having said that, it is also essential to point out

Ev here that the vision for an event such a scale was conceptualised way back in 2003. the planning was done then itself; only, we have augmented the scale,” added Kewalramani.

t was a melange of different art forms. The Chivas Studio, which “We wanted to immortalise the Chivas Regal bottle and the best Iwas hitherto known as the Chivas Tour, was back with more style way that we could do it was with jewellery. We got jewellery de- and verve. This year, some of the best artistes in the fields of photog- signer Seema Mehta to make a ‘Maharaja of Chivas Regal’, with raphy, sculpting, installation, mixology, jewel craft, music and fashion showcased their creations for the discerning and elite crowd.

Having already been in countries like Madrid, New York, London and Sydney earlier, the Chivas Studio enthralled art aficionados in four cities in India - Bengaluru on December 4 and 5, 2009, at ITC Royal Gardenia; Delhi from December 18-20, 2009, at ITC Maurya; Mumbai from January 8-10, 2010, at Grand Hyatt; and Kolkata on January 16 and 17, 2010, at Oberoi.

When it was first started in 2003, it was known as the Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour. After four years, the event was rechristened as Chivas Fashion Tour, and it continued so for three years. It is only this year that keeping in line with the international name and branding, the event is now called the Chivas Studio. With the new name, it has become all the more encompassing and combines disciplines of fashion, installation, photography, jewel craft, music and mixol- ogy.

Explaining the rationale behind chang- ing Chivas Tour to Chivas Studio, Bikram Basu, VP-Marketing, Pernod Ricard In- dia, explained that it was essential to offer creative talent a great platform, and to thus enable a wider audience to appreciate different forms of art. “Chi- vas Regal stands for exuberant luxury and it has always been acknowledging Bikram Basu creative excellence through red carpet Pernod Ricard India events, like Cannes. The Chivas Studio is an experiential marketing programme to position the brand in this space by associating with the best in their own creative field - be it fashion, design, sculpting, art, music or mixology. It’s closely targetted towards a Chivas audience, on- ground and among the media,” he said.

Showhouse Events has been managing this property ever since its inception in 2003, while Alison Kanuga of Luna Piena has been the creative and fashion consultant to the event. According to Lalit Kewalramani of Showhouse Events, the event was earlier just a the bottle made to sit on a gold gaddi. The bottle itself was given a platform where various acts of entertainment were showcased. facade with gold. The entire Maharaja of Chivas Regal was worth “However, it has now evolved to be one large platform where a Rs 1 crore,” added Kewalramani. perfect amalgamation of business, lifestyle and art experience and entertainment can take place,” he said. Additionally, there was a bar made for the event, but of course, it reflected the eclectic creativity of the man who designed it – Rohit Basu added that the planning process would begin at the internal Bal. It was set on a backdrop of a large mirror-work, with motifs strategy plan and annual marketing plans. “We develop a specific of lotuses made of beaten metal and polished with gold, put up on objective and brief. Multiple agencies in the fields of events, PR, the backdrop.

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To add to the grandeur, a six-feet chandelier was made Other than this mega event, Chivas Regal also with 200 bottles of Chivas Regal. It was christened as conducts several activities to specifically ‘Regal Star’ and had a look and feel of an orbit. target the financial community, lead- ership summits and conclaves, in This year, the music too was not mere fusion – it was a travel retail, duty free, and of more collaborative effort to bring together all forms of course at the best on- international music. Apart from this, the number of design- trade in the country. ers was reduced to six from the original number of 18, to make it a much more compact show. A brunch was added to the plan this year to give the whole event a languid and informal feel.

Talking about the way forward, Basu said, “We don’t see the large format being extended to other cities at this point of time. However, the same for- mat at a smaller scale can be extended to other cities without compromising the work on display. I don’t envisage more fashion events to lever- age this as we think we have the appropriate level currently.”

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