Pentagon Manages Presenting Partners at Zee Jaipur Literature Festival & Times Lit Fest

by  Shantanu Jain Marketing | January 31, 2017 | News

Times of India Times Lit Fest ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival Pentagon Events

Pentagon Events & Activations, a leading experiential marketing agency headquartered in Mumbai, has been making waves in the festival circuit. The agency was recently responsible for activating the Presenting Sponsors- Zee and Times Group at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival and Times Literature Festival respectively. While the Times Literature Festival was held from December 2 to 4, 2016, the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival took place from January 19 to 23, 2017.

Brief by Clients

ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival

Both festivals and the presenting sponsor brands have their distinct identities. The main challenge for Pentagon from the get-go was to curate a team that could easily adapt themselves to match the need of the hour.

Zee for the Jaipur Literature Festival wanted to bring alive their promise of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ by creating a space that would a melting pot of ideas; a space that was modern but steeped in the cultural glory of Rajasthan. Within the purview of the Zee network, also present were brands WION & Living Foodz, both with separate spaces and a need to showcase their distinct identities as well.

WION being a new English NEWS channel wanted to present its USP - knowledge sharing in a simple understandable language. Living Foodz, on the other hand, was a Food & Lifestyle channel that wanted to create a unique engagement that sophisticatedly combined the two aspects of the brand while being fun.

Apart from the channel brands, there was also the initiative ‘ZEE IS GREEN’ that the group wanted to bring to the Jaipur Lit Fest. For the same, the agency was asked to conceptualize and execute an activity that sends across the crux of the initiative loud and clear to the festival audiences.

Times Lit Fest

Times Literature Festival had Pentagon working on an entirely different concept. Times of India was looking at showcasing the festival's core theme – ‘That Man-Woman Thing’. The theme explored the relationship, or lack of it, across time, place, space, profession, family, and literature. While the theme was a serious one, Pentagon was asked to portray the lighter side of things with a young contemporary feel. The focus here was to give the festival a visual identity. Pentagon was also charged with designing, producing, executing and managing the entire event. Impressed with the agency’s performance in past years, Times also gave the agency the responsibility of managing the hospitality for the VIPs invited to participate in the festival.

Conceptualization Process

The focus for the conceptualization on both festivals was to create experiences that would embody the respective brands. The agency also looked at innovative mediums to take these happenings to the next level. Pentagon also decided to supplement the festivals with their own social media campaigns on Facebook. Live posts and updates across all days, of both festivals, aimed at giving the brands more traction.

Execution

At the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, Pentagon created a Zee Lounge that played host to the VIPs and special guests who attended the festival. Space was curated to embody the essence of Rajasthan with beautiful Bandhani sarees and embroidered umbrellas mixed with LED lanterns and floral décor. The Wion stall was a smaller replica of a newsroom where quizzes were hosted and winners were announced every couple of hours. The stall alone attracted around 15,000 people per day. At the Living Foodz space, Pentagon had created the anti-gravity photo op. The space was kept minimalistic and chic to match the international standards of the channel.

For the initiative- Zee is Green, the agency had people leave a message where they pledged to go green in a small way on seed paper. The agency also had a plastic shredder where people could give away bottles, bags etc. for recycling purposes.

Times Literature festival, on the other hand, had a Spartan look and feel, however, this year, using colors from the Times Network palette, the space was brought to life in hues of yellows, greens, reds, and blues as Pentagon used printed meshes to create canapés. The print had stories from the times archives that revolved around the theme. Inside each of the halls, the walls had blown up articles from the Newspaper archives. Some walls were made to look like they comprised of a multitude of newspapers coming together. In one hall, the agency had created a chalkboard feel, where quotes related to the theme were curated in typography. This year, the fest also had elements like planters, fairy lights, dream catchers, origami ornaments and drapes to build the ambiance of the outdoor space as compared to flex based branding that was done in the years before. At the festival, the agency managed a maximum of 5 studios running parallel sessions every hour.

Challenges in Execution & Clients Reaction

Times Literature Festival covered an area of 9000 sqm. that required a setup time of two days and needed to be managed flawlessly for the next 3. Despite the shortage of lead time, the agency was ready to go well before the gates opened on day 1.

At Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, the agency had created an entire logo out of grass that was maintained for the 5 days of the festival without even a single blade wilting, despite temperatures being at an all-time low of 9 degrees Celsius with biting winds.

Times Literature Festival saw a floating crowd of approximately 15000 people from across India and the world. Impressed by the performance of Pentagon for the 2nd year in a row, Vineeth Jain- MD Times Network, visited the festival along with Festival Directors Bachi Karkaria & Namita Devidayal.

The engagements created for Zee & its brands saw visitors lining up for fifteen minutes to half an hour waiting their turn. The widely popular anti –gravity photo op even featured in a daily edition of the Dainik Bhaskar as part of their coverage of the festival.

Both festivals saw the likes of Gulzar, Sohail Seth, Devdutt Pattanaik, Karan Johar, Twinkle Khanna, Milind Soman, Kangan Ranaut, William Darmple & Ram Chandra Guha among many other noted personalities.

Talking about the execution of the festival by Pentagon, Bachi Karkaria & Namita Devidayal- Festival Directors, Times Literature Festival stated, “We have worked with Pentagon over two editions of the Times of India Lit fest, Mumbai. The team is bright, dedicated and enthusiastic. Their ideas are well researched and creative. They grasped the spirit of a literary festival, which is substantially different from most other events, and executed the project to our complete satisfaction.”

Talking about their work Riyaz Syed-Director, Pentagon Events & Activations said, “We have a had a long standing association with the brands & we have done a lot of work with all of them over the years. For these properties, we have set benchmarks that we’ve shattered and super-ceded. It has been an exciting journey and we are looking forward to growing with these properties.”

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