The Moodie Davitt Roarport The Moodie Davitt Report is providing exclusive daily coverage of Wild Tiger’s Roar Trip, one of travel retail’s boldest CSR initiatives. Via phone and social media, we’ll be with Gautom Menon and Paul George V on every stretch of their epic 65-day road trip from Kerala to Cannes and be there to greet them on the French Riviera when they arrive on the eve of the TFWA World Exhibition. We are unlikely to be alone. Duty free retailers: If you’d like to meet Gautom and Paul along the way (see their destination course below) let us know at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com |
efflorescence
noun
- The period when flowers start to appear on a plant
- An example of growth and development
DAYS 5 & 6
KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA
Day 5
The Wild Tiger team have reached Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India’s third-biggest city and the capital of West Bengal.
The weather gods were not kind to the daring duo (Gautom and Paul George V) in Kolkata, so rather than much outdoors promotional work, they spent their down time at India’s newest and most talked-about hotel property, the ITC Royal Bengal.
On its website, ITC Royal Bengal is described as a hotel that “pays tribute to the towering achievements of the great minds of Bengal and its people who encouraged and appreciated this efflorescence of arts, science and the finest experiences that life can offer. An efflorescence that continues to this day.”
Efflorescence, eh? Now The Moodie Davitt Roarport, like its mother title, The Moodie Davitt Report, prides itself on a good command of the English language. But efflorescence? We confess that we had to look it up. And no, it’s not a reference to the brilliant technicolour hues of the TRiger (the Wild Tiger team’s Tata Hexa) but to that exquisite moment when flowers start to appear on a plant. Or, conversely, a term that equates to ‘end result’ or ‘culmination’ of a project.
Well the Wild Tiger Report is still many days from its culmination (arrival in Cannes for the TFWA World Exhibition) so we’ll opt for the flowering interpretation because the journey most certainly is blooming. What an epic initiative this is, what we consider to be one of the great travel retail CSR projects.
While in Kolkata, Gautom and Paul met again with the local chapter of the YI (Young Indians, a highly progressive organisation of young Indian entrepreneurs wishing to converge, lead, co-create and influence India’s future). Young Indians is the Roartrip’s official Support Partner and its members are meeting Gautom and Paul in every Indian city that they pass through. The Kolkata YI contingent welcomed the Wild Tiger pair with a pool party but although everyone knows tigers can swim, the human version chose not to. After all, these are road not aquatic tigers.
Day 6: A long, hot 15-hour day on the road for the Wild Tiger team.
“We’ve crossed 4,000km, time to raise a little toast,” Gautom Menon told The Moodie Davitt Roarport. No prizes for guessing the choice of tipple, which involved a certain rum-tastic Indian beverage, or maybe two.
Tomorrow it’s Darjeeling, ‘Queen of the Himalayas’ and famed for its distinctive black tea. Tea for two? And T for tiger. The journey – and the efflorescence – continues.
[The Moodie Davitt Roarport Chairman Martin Moodie sends a goodwill video message to Gautom and Paul and stops to sip a drop of Wild Tiger Rum]
#RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation
HOW TO SUPPORT THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP
Via the official website – www.roartrip.in
The donation page link is on the website, but anyone can donate directly at www.roartrip.in/donation or https://letzchange.org/projects/roar-trip-2019-an-awareness-drive-for-tiger-conservation
Please encourage your colleagues, friends and family to consider doing so.
En route to Cannes, the daring duo will be meeting up with other travel retailers. Those wishing to ‘meet and greet’ them are encouraged to make contact. Yes, Gautom will be checking his email: gautom@wildtiger.in
EARLIER ON THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP…
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 4 & 5: The team earn their stripes but not a tiger in sight
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 3: High times in Hyderabad
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 2: Wild Tiger roars into Dufry Bengaluru
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 1: 65-day tiger conservation brand odyssey waved off in ‘spec-cat-ular’ style
#RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation
ABOUT WILD TIGER RUM: Kerala-based Wild Tiger is India’s first rum to be produced from a blend of molasses and cane spirit. The rum’s velvet tiger print stripe packaging reflects the fact that no two tigers share the same stripe pattern – so the stripe design of the sleeve has been designed and cut to ensure that no two bottles are alike.Wild Tiger made its Indian travel retail debut in February 2016 and is now available in 53 countries.
ABOUT WILD TIGER FOUNDATION (WTF): Wild Tiger Foundation is a CSR initiative by Wild Tiger Rum, which contributes 10% of its profits to the cause. It is a registered non-profit organisation headquartered in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India that focuses on the conservation of the tiger and its habitat by raising funds and creating awareness. It was founded in 2015 by drinks entrepreneur Gautom Menon and Coimbatore-based businessman Suprej Venkat.
The primary focus is the conservation of tigers and their habitats within the state of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, specifically Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. Wild Tiger Foundation acts as an influencer and an enabler.India had around 100,000 tigers in the mid-19th century. Today it has around 2,200, underlining the urgency of the conservation cause.
