Brand Rahul Gandhi

In 2004, after watching the campaign which Leo Burnett had planned for Congress, party leaders Jairam Ramesh and Salman Khurshid took Arvind Sharma and team to meet Sonia Gandhi. Clearly then it was Mrs Gandhi who was marshalling and planning the Congress attack on BJP. Circa 2009 and sure enough it’s still a Gandhi — just that it’s Rahul Gandhi this time. True to his reticent style, Rahul Gandhi may not be at the forefront when it comes to talking about things, but baba it is believed is keeping an eagle’s eye on the Congress campaign strategy.
Senior officials from one of the agencies mandated to handle the campaign indicate that though Rahul is not part of the publicity committee, he is very much in the know of what the party is going to talk about in this election. In the run up to the general elections , Congress is increasingly using Rahul as the face together with Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Thus campaigns like ‘Atit ke Neev Par Bhavish Ka Nirman’ has Rahul with the slogan ‘Bhavish Ka Saath De, Congress Ka Saath De’ . Gandhi’s importance in the overall scheme of things is not surprising. Even as the party is projecting him as a potential prime ministerial candidate albeit not in this election, but in the time to come, the fact that Congress can use Gandhi to woo the youth has emerged as a key factor. “Congress clearly looks at him as a future leader. Look at Omar Abdullah . He’s cogent and logical and is part of the next generation of politicians. He completely immersed in understanding the nuances of politics and emerged as the chief minister. Gandhi in all likelihood is following the same route,” says Prathap Suthan, NCD, Cheil Worldwide. Given the surge of consciousness which followed post 26/11 particularly amongst the youth to participate in the electoral process, political parties realize that the segment can no longer be ignored. And that’s where Congress hopes to use Rahul and other young leaders to entice the target audience . “Congress’s claim of focusing on the youth will be more credible because there is Rahul and other young leaders in the party,” says an official close to the party. So it’s no surprise that Rahul is expected to be the key differentiator for the Congress. Interestingly though while the older generation of politicos like LK Advani and Narendra Modi of the BJP, have made their presence felt with blogs/websites in order to connect with the youth, Rahul has no cyberspace presence of his own. Not that, it’s stopping others from writing about him on the web. From people commenting about his visit to campuses to institutions to an online TV dedicated to the young politician — Aam Aadmi it seems has a lot to say about Rahul Gandhi. So will this latest and very carefully packaged ‘Brand Gandhi’ extension deliver in the coming general elections? That as they say is the billion voter question.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Brand-Equity/Kin-Cong/articleshow/4186437.cms