Mood Indigo, or MoodI, as it is fondly called, is the annual cultural festival of IIT Bombay. Held towards the end of December every year, it attracts a whopping 88,000 students from more than 700 colleges all over the country. Started in 1971 by a bunch of enthusiastic IITians, Mood Indigo has now snowballed to become the largest festival of its kind in Asia. The colour chosen to be representative of the Mood was Indigo - a fusion of Red and Blue. Red for the warmth and passion of an artistic adventure, blue for the originality of the rational mind, giving Indigo - the symbol of creativity and intellectualism.



Every year, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay’s (IIT-B) annual extravaganza, Mood Indigo’s team gets the best names from across the world to be a part of the festival. This year too, they are doing just that and a lot more with technology.



However, that’s not all. Visitors to the festival over the three days will also be able to upload real-time content through a wireless network using radio frequency. Mood Indigo will be the first college festival to use the Radio Frequency identification (RFID). “This not only would be a great learning experience for us, but it also paves the way for many future projects, which when combined with online social media would create unique hybrid technologies which would satisfy the new age user’s need to stay connected,” said Abhirath Sharma of Mood Indigo.



So when a brand gets associated with an event like this one, they not only get the attention of their target audience but also incredible exposure and credibility. They say that the emotions attached to an event translate to the brand associated with it. And when that happens, it’s only magic.



“To be able to be associated with an event like this, we are able to get the right exposure for our brand. We are a young brand and getting associated with Asia’s largest college cultural festival is absolutely an honour. After getting Ranbir Kapoor as the brand ambassador, this is the next big thing.” says Aviral Johri, Marketing and PR, Cadbury.



Using the RFID bands, participants can register, upload pictures or locate events with just a tap.



“Use of RFID is expected to enhance the visitors’ experience. It will ensure that every person is identified. Participants can register using their Facebook user IDs and will be given a RFID band using which they can upload real-time posts,” said Tushar Saxena, technical head, Mood Indigo.



Saxena said, “We will have android photo booths on the campus and students who click their pictures can tap their RFID bands in front of the sensors. RFID can then tag the people who tapped the bands in the picture that will be posted.” The Mood Indigo team is currently in talks with a vendor to import the bands from China and develop all necessary software.



Twitter screens are also being planned around the IIT-B campus which will display live tweets of the people about the fest. With all the technology innovations slated for Mood Indigo, the organisers are sure they will make a buzz on social media.