Congress 'Jai Ho' campaign

It made a millionaire out of the slumdogs and the song ‘Jai Ho’ became an anthem of sorts in a country that thrives on supporting underdogs. As the pitch builds up for the Lok Sabha 2009 elections, the Congress party is hoping it will be able to rake in a rich haul in India’s political Oscars, by acquiring the rights of the song. This month, the political version of ‘Jai Ho’ complete with adapted lyrics and the Congress message dominated the airwaves for four consecutive days, to announce the beginning of the campaign. Amitava Mitra, director - Delhi, Percept/H, the agency which made the films says that ‘Jai Ho’ is a curtain raiser for the Congress poll campaign and will play again before the close of the campaigning. “Jai Ho is like a war cry, but has a positive association,” he says.

Using the ‘Jai Ho’ soundtrack, three 60-seconder films have been made. The Congress slogan ‘Aam Aadmi Ke Badta Kadam, Har Kadam Par Bharat Buland’ was also woven into the song. To re-write the lyrics, renowned poet Ashok Chakradhar was roped in. Chakradhar says that the idea was to communicate the Congress message through the lyrics. “Here it’s not poetry, but a message to woo the voters. Therefore, even the words have been kept to bare minimum for impact,” says Chakradhar, who previously had produced a film in 1985 for the centenary celebrations of Congress. On the lyrics, Chakradhar says lines like ‘Kadam Hum Badathe Chale’ in the song was to encapsulate the work done so far. “It’s not India Shining because the films and lyrics talk about moving towards the objective,” he says referring to a campaign by rivals NDA in the 2004 general elections.

The three films focus on themes like heritage of the party and talking about the past leaders, achievements like the nuclear deal, Chandrayaan project and on schemes like the NREGS and education. In the Chandrayaan 60-second spot, the film is a report card of Congress achievements with visuals of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh interspersed with images of rural employment, education, urban development and even a mention of the nuclear deal. The film made by Percept/H uses footage from the Bharat Nirman campaign which was handled by the agency for the past two years. Interestingly ‘Jai Ho’ song was one of the ideas mooted by Percept/H among other filmy ideas which found favour with the Congress.

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

Article on Political Advertising

Hi All,
Here's the link to the article i wrote on political advertising in Brand Equity. Look forward to your comments.

Cheers
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?Daily=ETM&login=default
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?Daily=ETM&login=default