T.N. balloon soars over Mexican skies

The 80-foot balloon carries images of most popular spots in the State

An eye-catcher: The T.N. tourism balloon has been creating a buzz at the Leon International Festival.

An 80-foot tall hot air balloon with pictures of tourism spots in Tamil Nadu was launched at the Leon International Balloon festival in Mexico recently. Called the Tamil Nadu balloon, it intends to promote tourism and showcase interesting spots in the State, including Mamallapuram, Valluvar Kottam and Chennai Central Railway Station.

Benedict Savio, Business Development Director, Global Media Box Innovations Pvt Limited, the brainchild behind this project, said: “It took three months to come out with this balloon. It has images of all the tourism spots of Tamil Nadu. The cost of making this balloon was over ₹25 lakh and it was partly funded by the Tamil Nadu tourism department. We asked the tourism department to opt for this medium because a hot air balloon soaring through the sky creates a buzz among the people and is widely shared on social media, creating free and effective promotion for the brand,” he added.

Branding value

According to him, studies prove that hot air balloon produces a branding value of over seven times that of the investment, the highest return on investment when compared with other formats.

One of Mr. Savio’s recent works was the 2.0 super star balloon with the life size image of actor Rajinikanth. “The 90 feet tall superstar balloon will be brought to India for the fourth Tamil Nadu International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Pollachi in January 2018,” he said.

Till date, Mr. Savio has come out with more than 15 hot air balloons, including one of the Angry Bird. “The Angry Bird balloon has an approximate height of a ten storey building made of 2,500 yards of nylon fabric and 15 miles of thread. The Angry Bird game has captivated the minds and eyes of millions of people and that prompted us to make this balloon,” he said.

These balloons are made at a factory in the U.S. and the design is done out of an office in Chennai. In India, permission is required from civil aviation authorities to fly these hot air balloons. “The pilots who fly these balloons are certified and should have flown such balloons for a minimum of 200 hours,” Mr. Savio said.