Can political promises or achievements be packaged like FMCG products to woo, seduce and win over people? Monojit Lahiri attempts a dipstick
Remember the hi-profile, celebrated, BJP sponsored ‘India Shining’ campaign of 2003? Conceived and crafted by reputed ad agency Grey Worldwide, I recall vividly how serious and renowned practitioners within the adfrat genuinely believed that it was a watershed in political advertising! Ironically, when the BJP lost, these very people – along with a score of drifters – dismissed it as over-the-top and misleading! Even the top brass of the BJP were reported to have [after much introspection] acknowledged that the tone and tenor of the communication appeared to be arrogant, and glossing over critical social and economic inequities.
A decade later, with elections knocking at our doors, is the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-sponsored Bharat Nirman campaign doing a déjà vu? A [reportedly] Rs.150 crore effort, with B-town heavies like Pradeep [Parineeta] Sarkar, Javed Akhtar, singers Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan coming on board, will the Bharat Nirman ad campaign do what effective communication is meant to: inform, educate, persuade, sell?
The ‘Pope’ of Advertising, the late and legendary David Ogilvy, in his long and illustrious innings has confessed that he always, consciously, stayed away from political advertising. Not quite his cup of tea. He was fond of quoting his colleague, Robert Spero who, in his landmark book ‘The Duping of the American Voter’ categorically believed that this genre was “the most deceptive, misleading, unfair and untruthful of all advertising. The sky is the limit to what can be said and promised, what accusations can be made, what lies can be told.”
Leading the pack from closer home is the respected National Creative Director (NCD) of Leo Burnett, Pops Sridhar. He believes that Spero is being a little too harsh on this genre. “This segment and type is undoubtedly tricky because faith, trust, integrity and confidence are the core products on sale. For this exact reason, the current Bharat Nirman campaign is shockingly bad because it is way off-centre in form and content, strategy and tactic! Glorious achievements is the last thing today’s aam aadmi – who is battered and bruised as he is with the rampaging demons of unemployment, corruption, scams, economic doom and gloom, law and order breakdown et cetera – wants to hear!
The presentation of these ads too look very contrived and amateurish and overall remains ludicrous. Political commentator Paranjoy Guhathakurta agrees. “It’s India Shining re-visited! When ads and promos are more dazzling than the product, they only flatter to deceive, disappoint and mislead. You are not selling colas or chocolates, hence authenticity, seriousness and focus in an attractive way is critical, something that is totally missing from their effort.”
Next, two well-known ad professionals with political ad experience come to the fore with their respective points-of-view. The first, fittingly, is the very creator of the India Shining campaign, Pratap Suthan. “Contrary to popular perception and belief, India Shining did not start out as a political campaign. Its mandate was to invite and motivate people to invest in India because of the quantum leaps the nation was taking in every direction. It was a celebration of a resurgent India-on-the-move. Interestingly, just days after the campaign broke the Sensex went through the roof!” He agrees that the present Bharat Nirman does appear to echo the India Shining template “but the circumstances and timing couldn’t be worse, plagued as the country is with all possible problems on a daily basis…unless of course the strategy is: this is a UPA campaign and the Congress campaign will follow, cleverly acknowledging the problems and promising to address them, swiftly and effectively”.
Sushil Pandit, CEO of Hive Communications and an experienced hand in political advertising, offers his informed take. “First things first. No advertising on earth can ever work based on puffery, self-congratulatory mode or flaunting truths that are suspect…and God help if it arrives at a time that is inappropriate! Bharat Nirman seems to be doing this both in letter and spirit.” The Indian Shining campaign, believes Pandit, is an unfair and inaccurate comparison because that campaign did what it was meant to. If you remember, only after the BJP lost did the buzz start and like making a century on the losing side doesn’t count, it was brushed-off and even blamed – by people who should’ve known better – as one of the reasons they lost. “Bharat Nirman for its turn is a classic example of wishful thinking. This self-indulgent package may have been tolerated in better times, but with everything hitting shit creek, the timing is most unfortunate. Little wonder that very few take this ad campaign seriously and are most shocked at its total disconnect with the ground realities. The presentation too is very un-creative and the recitation of facts and figures appear too pat n’ cosy to believe or get charged up. Overall, bizarre.”
Ad world specialists are all united, however, about one fact – how UPA has lost out on an opportunity to do an effective damage control act by not raising its hand, acknowledging its goof-ups and promising to be transparent and accountable. Also, not articulating some critical issues – like side-tracking the oldies and replacing them with younger can-do, will-do functionaries – that would demonstrate its intent about initiating solid steps towards offering a more dynamic blueprint.
Let us wait and watch how this campaign – attempting to play out the India story over nine years across print, TV and social media in 11 regional languages, with a budget in excess of Rs.150 crore, in its goal of convincing the Indian public of its aims to bring forth UPA’s public delivery schemes and pro-poor programme – works.
Remember the hi-profile, celebrated, BJP sponsored ‘India Shining’ campaign of 2003? Conceived and crafted by reputed ad agency Grey Worldwide, I recall vividly how serious and renowned practitioners within the adfrat genuinely believed that it was a watershed in political advertising! Ironically, when the BJP lost, these very people – along with a score of drifters – dismissed it as over-the-top and misleading! Even the top brass of the BJP were reported to have [after much introspection] acknowledged that the tone and tenor of the communication appeared to be arrogant, and glossing over critical social and economic inequities.
A decade later, with elections knocking at our doors, is the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-sponsored Bharat Nirman campaign doing a déjà vu? A [reportedly] Rs.150 crore effort, with B-town heavies like Pradeep [Parineeta] Sarkar, Javed Akhtar, singers Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan coming on board, will the Bharat Nirman ad campaign do what effective communication is meant to: inform, educate, persuade, sell?
The ‘Pope’ of Advertising, the late and legendary David Ogilvy, in his long and illustrious innings has confessed that he always, consciously, stayed away from political advertising. Not quite his cup of tea. He was fond of quoting his colleague, Robert Spero who, in his landmark book ‘The Duping of the American Voter’ categorically believed that this genre was “the most deceptive, misleading, unfair and untruthful of all advertising. The sky is the limit to what can be said and promised, what accusations can be made, what lies can be told.”
Leading the pack from closer home is the respected National Creative Director (NCD) of Leo Burnett, Pops Sridhar. He believes that Spero is being a little too harsh on this genre. “This segment and type is undoubtedly tricky because faith, trust, integrity and confidence are the core products on sale. For this exact reason, the current Bharat Nirman campaign is shockingly bad because it is way off-centre in form and content, strategy and tactic! Glorious achievements is the last thing today’s aam aadmi – who is battered and bruised as he is with the rampaging demons of unemployment, corruption, scams, economic doom and gloom, law and order breakdown et cetera – wants to hear!
The presentation of these ads too look very contrived and amateurish and overall remains ludicrous. Political commentator Paranjoy Guhathakurta agrees. “It’s India Shining re-visited! When ads and promos are more dazzling than the product, they only flatter to deceive, disappoint and mislead. You are not selling colas or chocolates, hence authenticity, seriousness and focus in an attractive way is critical, something that is totally missing from their effort.”
Next, two well-known ad professionals with political ad experience come to the fore with their respective points-of-view. The first, fittingly, is the very creator of the India Shining campaign, Pratap Suthan. “Contrary to popular perception and belief, India Shining did not start out as a political campaign. Its mandate was to invite and motivate people to invest in India because of the quantum leaps the nation was taking in every direction. It was a celebration of a resurgent India-on-the-move. Interestingly, just days after the campaign broke the Sensex went through the roof!” He agrees that the present Bharat Nirman does appear to echo the India Shining template “but the circumstances and timing couldn’t be worse, plagued as the country is with all possible problems on a daily basis…unless of course the strategy is: this is a UPA campaign and the Congress campaign will follow, cleverly acknowledging the problems and promising to address them, swiftly and effectively”.
Sushil Pandit, CEO of Hive Communications and an experienced hand in political advertising, offers his informed take. “First things first. No advertising on earth can ever work based on puffery, self-congratulatory mode or flaunting truths that are suspect…and God help if it arrives at a time that is inappropriate! Bharat Nirman seems to be doing this both in letter and spirit.” The Indian Shining campaign, believes Pandit, is an unfair and inaccurate comparison because that campaign did what it was meant to. If you remember, only after the BJP lost did the buzz start and like making a century on the losing side doesn’t count, it was brushed-off and even blamed – by people who should’ve known better – as one of the reasons they lost. “Bharat Nirman for its turn is a classic example of wishful thinking. This self-indulgent package may have been tolerated in better times, but with everything hitting shit creek, the timing is most unfortunate. Little wonder that very few take this ad campaign seriously and are most shocked at its total disconnect with the ground realities. The presentation too is very un-creative and the recitation of facts and figures appear too pat n’ cosy to believe or get charged up. Overall, bizarre.”
Ad world specialists are all united, however, about one fact – how UPA has lost out on an opportunity to do an effective damage control act by not raising its hand, acknowledging its goof-ups and promising to be transparent and accountable. Also, not articulating some critical issues – like side-tracking the oldies and replacing them with younger can-do, will-do functionaries – that would demonstrate its intent about initiating solid steps towards offering a more dynamic blueprint.
Let us wait and watch how this campaign – attempting to play out the India story over nine years across print, TV and social media in 11 regional languages, with a budget in excess of Rs.150 crore, in its goal of convincing the Indian public of its aims to bring forth UPA’s public delivery schemes and pro-poor programme – works.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
| ExecutiveMBA |
