Golden Chariot- A Golden Opportunity to test our PR mettle

A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front-page ad”

Richard Branson

The news that Indian Railways is going to resume The Golden Chariot – an alternative for Southern India to the Palace on Wheels for Golden Triangle up in the north, brought back a litany of memories of an uphill task that our team executed to perfection.

Déjà vu

Almost a decade ago, K2 Communications Pvt Ltd was proud to be associated with KSTDC to help position Karnataka Government’s gem-in-crown project -‘The Golden Chariot’- in a higher brand-bracket. Through a well-chalked out process for Press and Media Relations, our PR team was able to bring out the best-known features of the brand, and garner a lot of positive press publicity with media junkets that ensured experience traveling.

The game plan that our team came up with had three major milestones

1. Reinforcing brand ‘The Golden Chariot’, underlining luxury, comfort-and high-end fine dining traditions onboard a running tourist train
2. Positioning ‘The Golden Chariot’ as the ultimate luxurious travel on wheels with real value for money proposition in terms of travel, but without losing its ‘high-end’ charm.
3. The popularization of the brand to reach out to domestic as well as international tourists

The proof of the pudding:

With our concerted efforts to organize a press contingent(media junket) to travel on-board and report a firsthand experience to the public, as well as ensuring that the postponement of the launch didn’t dampen the enthusiasm and media frenzy that was created, our team managed to pull off this feat and helped establish the brand organically. The service received a lot of rave reviews in India as well as internationally.

Its relaunch is indeed welcome news for travelers, heritage enthusiasts, as well as Indian Railways, as it is also a much-needed measure to promote the culturally rich heritage of the Southern peninsula with a route covering myriad destinations like Bandipur National Park, Mysore, Halebidu, Chikmagalur, Hampi, Badami-Pattadakal-Aihole and Goa in a week-long sojourn.

About the author:

Shiv Shankar – He is the Executive Director & Founder of K2 Communications. Under his astute leadership, K2 Communications has developed into a frontrunner among PR agencies that incessantly delivers excellent regional and national PR support to clients belonging to various sectors including government, IT, education, consumer, and healthcare.

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