“It’s not election-grade, but event-grade,” says Praveen Symphony, an event planner in the city, about the mobile stages he is setting up for several candidates in the Assembly elections in Kerala.
He has, so far, won contracts for 14 such customised platforms on wheels — each complete with quality seating for at least eight persons; a designer podium; an event-grade, concealed sound system; an acoustic generator for noise reduction; and an aesthetically designed background. More orders are on his way.
As the election scene hots up, and with the Election Commission closely monitoring election expenditure, parties are making a beeline for event planners to roll out cost-effective modes of campaigning.
Improved versions
“We tried it out first during the Piravom by-election in 2012 with a great degree of success. Candidates from various political parties used improved versions of it extensively in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. It’s going to be still better in the coming elections,” Mr. Praveen says.
Event planners like him set up the mobile stage on a carriage vehicle.
“The all-up daily charge for the platform, which will have artwork and event-grade sound, even audiovisual or multimedia projection done on demand, is just Rs. 18,000, besides the fuel charge,” Mr. Praveen says.
“The candidate and other speakers can arrive in their cars to the venue, where the ready-to-use stage will be stationed.”
It's all in the branding
T.P. Dileep Kumar, another event planner, couldn’t agree more.
“It’s branding that we do. When it is not used to deliver speeches, the platforms works as a mobile billboard,” he says.
