Maradona inaugurates Chemmanur’s new showroom

by EVENTFAQS Bureau | Marketing | October 29, 2012 | News

The football legend was here for two days where he went through a host of activities. Speaking about bringing Maradona to Kerala, Harish Babu, Managing Director, Impresario, said: "Chemmanur was planning something that would make a big hit for their jewellery showroom opening in Kannur. Most of the top celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini had been called by other competitors in the state. So to get maximum media coverage we needed to get some one bigger. Since Kerala is one of the biggest football loving states, we identified Maradona as the best person and tried in that way. The objective was met since we got live coverage in all the channels and the news papers were full of photographs and news."

Before heading to inaugurate the showroom on Oct. 24, Maradona was taken to greet a sea of excited admirers at Jawahar Muncipal Stadium, Kannur. Maradona enchanted the football crazy fans with his famous football manoeuvres, kicking the ball into the crowd. The 51 year-old legend sang and danced to a Spanish number along with TV personality Renjini Haridas much to the amusement of the present one lakh fans. In order to celebrate his 52nd birthday in advance, a special football shaped cake was brought for the footballer. Maradona made it a point to make his fans' hour long wait worthwhile by entertaining them with his wit and talent. A group of 24 artists were called to perform at the venue with the footballer.

Ten LED screens were mounted with 1 lakh watt sound systems to ensure the fans got a clear view of their hero. To manage the icon's visit, Impresario had to go through planning and logistical challenges. Impresario wanted to make sure that the star's stay in Kerala was as comfortable as possible. Highlighting the many arrangements made, Harish Babu said: "Tight security was in place in the city, and the state saw a festive atmosphere with hundreds of fans pouring in from several districts of the state. About 200 senior police officers, 1,500 policemen, 24 special protection group, 150 private security, 100 traffic police officers and 60 Impresario team members were enlisted for security. 64 media channels from all over India covered the event with 24 channels having live telecasts."

Impresario managed the whole affair right from getting the contracts, taking care of stay, travel, security, crowd management, stage arrangements to executing the series of events listed until his departure. A shoot was also organized for advertisement purposes of the company. "This is one of the biggest events Impresario managed impeccably, which is a mark in the Indian history. This is the first time the FIFA player of the 20th century, Maradona, came to South India," concluded Harish Babu on a happy note.