Beyond microsites and games- interactive Ramayana
2August 27, 2012 by venke
For those who have been bored with loaded microsites and pointless games to promote brands, here is a refreshing change. The Ramayana fable retold as an amazing interactive experience to promote Chrome browser and Google capabilities. Ramayana is an epic- a personal all time favorite. This interactive experience takes story telling to a new level.
Firstly I am amazed the way Ramayana and Mahabharata have become part of the cultural fabric of Indonesia, a country with over 85% muslim population. They do not see them as religious relics, the way some project in India. All over Jakarta and bali I have seen lovely statues depecting scenes from these epics. I cannot recall seeing such proud public cultural representation of these epics anywhere in India.
Given this background, it is apt that Google chose this fable to demonstrate its Chrome and other product capabilities to the Indonesian audience. The idea and execution is brilliant. This kind of approach opens up a world of possibilities to digital marketers to take brands closer to their audience. From a critical view point this needs some improvements in user interaction and navigation. But that does not diminish the overall experience in any way.
Google Ramayan
Congratulations to Google team and Ogilvy One singapore for pulling this off.
Highly recommend browsing http://ramayana.sites.f-i.com/ My Indian friends will find the Indonesian background score and the characterisation of popular mythological characters, refreshingly different.
Sharing Digital 
Nice post. To take this conversation forward, I was just wondering: are there any other comparable initiatives extant and in your sights? There is an interesting meeting ground here for product features, consumer experience and story telling. And not to mention, immersive game play.
comparable initiatives. none that come to mind immediately. current focus of marketers is more on facebook, twitter and mobile apps. Hopefully we will see more immersive experiences like this.