Editorial
The Gist
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Tech meets tradition. Brands blended digital innovation with ancient rituals and made Maha Kumbh 2025 a showcase for experiential marketing at an unprecedented scale.
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Phygital engagement works. AR, AI and blockchain transformed brand interactions and showed that immersive storytelling strengthens consumer connections.
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Beyond the festival. The strategies used at Maha Kumbh offer a roadmap for experiential marketing in cultural events, retail and beyond.
It’s a chilly morning, and dense fog has covered Prayagraj, a city in India. There is also a chance of rain, but still, millions have arrived in the city to camp on the banks of the Ganges and bathe in the sacred river.
Welcome to Maha Kumbh, the largest spiritual gathering on the planet. This Maha Kumbh, celebrated in 2025 after 144 years, witnessed a gathering of approximately 660 million in Prayagraj, which is almost double the population of the USA.
The term Kumbh originates from Sanskrit and means “pitcher” or “pot.” The story of Kumbh Mela is rooted in Samudra Manthan, the mythical churning of the ocean. In this confluence, not only did 660 million physical visitors participate, but millions of visitors also participated virtually.
The event presented many opportunities for brands to take advantage of during the mela. To immerse themselves in this sea of humanity, a diverse range of brands reached the sangam (the confluence of rivers). From automotive majors to FMCG giants, and from top BFSI players to quick commerce platforms, brands used cutting-edge experiential marketing strategies to create a meaningful connection with consumers.
The emergence of virtual brand immersion has allowed brands from multiple sectors to create meaningful and engaging experiences and seamlessly blend tradition with digital innovation.
Table of Contents
- Brands Immerse in the Experience
- Immersive Digital Experiences for the Masses
- Virtual Brand Immersion Takes Center Stage
- Experiential Marketing Shapes Immersive Brand Storytelling
Brands Immerse in the Experience
To mark and celebrate this significant milestone, Lifebuoy created a mesmerizing drone show at the Maha Kumbh, which captivated millions of devotees and created meaningful connections with cross-generational consumers:
- Along with hydration stations and food courts, Coca Cola installed 3D Anamorphic LED screens to offer the devotees immersive experiences.
- ICICI Bank set up a temporary branch in the mela ground to provide financial services.
- MakeMyTrip offered unique spiritual experiences with luxury accommodation.
- Amazon transformed its iconic delivery boxes into ergonomic box-beds for visitors.
- Dabur, PepsiCo, IIFL and others installed restrooms, changing rooms for women, medical camps and more.
The ultimate goal for brands is to stand out in the crowd, create a memorable experience that resonates with consumers and enhance consumer engagement and brand recall. But this requires creativity and innovation. So, several brands strategically integrated technology in their marketing campaigns to engage this mass effectively with a blend of tradition and modern-day innovation.
One example is the Bollywood catchphrase 'Kumbh ke Mele mein bichde huye bhai' ('Brothers separated at the Kumbh Mela'). This refers to a fictional plot where families are separated at the Kumbh Mela and then dramatically reunited. Due to the massive gathering of millions of pilgrims at Kumbh, people have often gotten lost or separated from their relatives.
To address this issue, DSP Mutual Fund, Asian Paints and Shaadi.com turned this age-old cliché into a genius brand activation.
- DSP Mutual Fund used drones at the Maha Kumbh to locate and reunite missing people. With their Garuda Rakshak initiative, they developed an offline drone-based search-and-rescue solution that uses low-frequency radio bands for long-range communication and precision satellite tracking.
- Shaadi.com distributed connected wristbands that helped people find each other in the massive sea of devotees.
- Asian Paints turned paint cans into beacons of hope for uniting lost pilgrims in the mela. They installed 30-foot Neo Bharat Latex Paint cans equipped with LED screens displaying real-time images of the missing individuals, which helped reunite lost loved ones amidst the massive crowds.
Related Article: 4 Ways to Infuse Personalized Marketing With Immersive Technologies
Immersive Digital Experiences for the Masses
Not everyone gets the chance to witness the grandeur of Maha Kumbh 2025. Keeping this in mind, ITC, with its agarbatti brand Mangaldeep, launched the “Mangaldeep Ka Mangal Kumbh” (“Mangaldeep's Auspicious Kumbh”) campaign to touch the devotees who cannot be present in this spiritual gathering. With their stalls, restrooms and bhajans, they captured the 660 million attendees, and with AR technology, they brought this sacred experience closer to millions who did not physically attend.
From interactive 360-degree experiences to a hybrid ritual where virtual offerings were carried to the Ganges, the campaign blended tradition with technology. With the goal of transporting users to Maha Kumbh through their small screens, the brand developed a foundation for an immersive AR experience. It allowed users to perform shahi snaan (bath in the sacred river), deep daan (lamp offerings) and ghat aarti (riverbank prayer ceremony) virtually. A team used 360-degree cameras to capture the festival, while experts created an interactive digital space with immersive sights, sounds and gestures.
Brand recall was strengthened, branded infrastructure was subtly integrated, and users could generate personalized Maha Kumbh selfie frames to share. Mangaldeep also introduced a hybrid Deep Daan ceremony, where virtual offerings were physically carried to the Ganges each week, seamlessly blending the digital and physical worlds for an emotionally engaging experience. The initiative truly went beyond bridging distances. It deepened the connection between tradition and innovation to make sure the divine could reach everyone, irrespective of geographical boundaries.
IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation), a public sector undertaking, used blockchain technology at the mela. It created NFT-based railway tickets for pilgrims visiting Prayagraj. The NFTs were minted on Polygon Blockchain and were made available through real-world assets as well as traceability platforms. The ticketing platform for the state-owned Indian Railways also featured interactive quizzes on the festival and Indian mythology, which enriched the spiritual experience for both physical and virtual mela attendees.
Brand Activations at Maha Kumbh 2025
A look at how leading brands engaged 660 million attendees through immersive and phygital strategies.
| Brand | Activation |
|---|---|
| Lifebuoy | Staged a mesmerizing drone show to connect with cross-generational devotees. |
| Coca-Cola | Installed hydration stations, food courts, and 3D Anamorphic LED screens for immersive experiences. |
| ICICI Bank | Set up a temporary branch at the mela grounds to offer financial services. |
| MakeMyTrip | Offered unique spiritual experiences and luxury accommodations for attendees. |
| Amazon | Converted delivery boxes into ergonomic box-beds for resting visitors. |
| Dabur, PepsiCo, IIFL | Installed restrooms, women’s changing rooms, and medical camps for devotees. |
| DSP Mutual Fund | Launched Garuda Rakshak, a drone-based system to locate and reunite missing people. |
| Shaadi.com | Distributed connected wristbands to help people find each other in crowds. |
| Asian Paints | Installed 30-foot LED paint cans to broadcast real-time images of missing individuals. |
| ITC (Mangaldeep) | Created AR-powered virtual rituals and hybrid Deep Daan ceremonies to engage physical and remote audiences. |
| IRCTC | Issued NFT-based railway tickets on Polygon Blockchain and hosted mythological quizzes. |
Virtual Brand Immersion Takes Center Stage
Maha Kumbh 2025 highlights the power of virtual brand immersion. It proves that tradition and technology can coexist harmoniously. This novel combination of spirituality and innovation has changed the way brands interact with consumers, not just as sellers, but as the architects of memorable experiences.
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As brands continue to evolve their experiential marketing strategies with technology, the lessons from Maha Kumbh will extend beyond this spiritual meeting. The success of virtual brand immersion at large-scale cultural events presents new opportunities for hyper-personalized engagement. Technologies like AR/VR, AI/ML and blockchain will continue to blur the lines between physical and digital experiences and create “phygital” experiences.
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Experiential Marketing Shapes Immersive Brand Storytelling
The Maha Kumbh served as a blueprint for the future of immersive brand storytelling. Through holographic rituals, AI-powered pilgrim assistance or digital twin experiences, brands will find new ways to combine tradition with contemporary advancements in technology. They can make sure that no matter where audiences are, they can still feel connected to something greater.
The future of experiential marketing is more than just immersive. It’s infinite. In the evolving landscape of immersive marketing, Maha Kumbh 2025 has set an example, where storytelling is immersive, engagement is endless, and the connection between tradition and technology is stronger than ever.
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