Divine Marketing - advertising the holy Lands of Vrindavan

I have told you that we had a few guests from the US here last week. They thoroughly enjoyed their time in Vrindavan, even though they only had a few days. One day, they walked the Parikrama, the ten kilometer pilgrimage walk that goes once around our town. They came back with a good impression of the complete town – and impressed with the creativity of those who wrote the advertisements here.

Oh yes, on the way around town, you get to see a whole lot of advertisement, as nowadays there are huge hoardings, banners and posters everywhere where people could be reading them. Of course there are a lot of posters for spiritual lectures, advertising gurus and the like. These are mostly in Hindi though – but you do get to see a big variety of gurus and preachers on the way!

What they were smiling about however was especially how advertisement here reflects people’s view on Vrindavan as the ‘holy land of Krishna’. It is a place of worship, of course, and Hindus believe it to be a blessing to live here. You wouldn’t think that businessmen would miss that, would you? Of course not, that’s how we have so many new housing societies, apartment buildings in process, big gated communities and more, which very often have very devotional names appealing to the pilgrims that could have enough money to buy a flat, an apartment or even a house.

Seeing it from an outsider’s view however, you have to admit that it is very amusing: ‘Krishna Bhumi Apartments’, the ‘Hare Krishna Orchid’ and, of course, ‘Krishna Heights’. Joking around, our friends said it would be like naming a building the ‘Jesus Tower’… well, why not?

Of course the slogans keep the same tune. You are invited to ‘live blessed’ in ‘a spiritual abode’. Buying an apartment will guarantee that you are ‘living in divine grace’ and are ‘at home in god’s paradise on earth’. Paired with an affordable home loan, why wouldn’t you want to experience ‘divine luxury at its finest’?

The award for the best advertising slogan however doesn’t go to a housing society but to the hotel that advertises with a hoarding right at the exit of the highway. It was the first one that our friends saw and the line remained in their minds throughout the stay:

‘Magic happens when luxury dwells in holy lands.’

Wow! 🙂