Google Grand Diwali Mela
Google Grand Diwali Melahttp://www.granddiwalimela.com/

After Amazon's "Diwali Dhamaka Week", Snapdeal's "Diwali Bumper Sale" and "The eBay Dilwali Fest," search-engine giant Google has launched "Grand Diwali Mela" to cash in on the festival of lights. However, amidst all the loud advertising for online shopping websites, "Grand Diwali Mela" was lost somewhere in the background.

Although the platform went live on 2 October, the campaign was quite low-key with Google India mentioning "Grand Diwali Mela" in a tweet only on 14 October:

Powered by Amazon, Google's "Grand Diwali Mela" gives discounts, deals and offers and is partnered with Shahrukh Khan's "Happy New Year", which is set to release on the Friday after Diwali. Google has also set up a Grand Diwali Mela website, which provides two activities that Indians love to indulge in: shopping and entertainment.

Last month, Google had stated plans of launching a virtual shopping and entertainment platform by tying up with the media buying agency GroupM. While GroupM is responsible for bringing brands onto the platform, Google provides the tech support.

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"As more Indians go online, digital media is already an integral part of our everyday lives," Trak quoted GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas as saying, "We have conceptualised a virtual Diwali Mela for users in the country to experience the festive season in a specially designed online platform, where brands will showcase their latest products, run promotions and sampling along with all the fun and entertainment elements that are part of the festive season.

"Leading brands are excited about the potential of this initiative, and this could possibly become the largest digital activation platform for this festive season," he added.

"(Grand Diwali Mela) will be the first-of-its-kind initiative to kick off the festive season in India," said Rajan Anandan, Google India managing director, feeling excited and optimistic about the success of this online shopping festival.

The website, which will run live till 22 October, invites patrons to try samples for products across various categories at just one rupee each, and to play and win awesome prizes and a chance to hang out with celebrities.