The curtains of General
Elections of 2014 are finally drawn. It has been nothing short of a spectacular
Blockbuster Movie with a resounding and riveting climax that one may have seen
in one of those Marvel Comics Superhero movies. Only that in this case the
Action, Drama, Emotions everything was pitched in real life for viewing and to
experience. In this long drawn electoral battle, which was fought pretty
bitterly, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious with a huge margin
with India voting for its current blue-eyed boy Narendra Modi. Till a fortnight
ago, people were debating whether the so called “Modi” wave is actual or fictitious;
it can be safely assumed that all doubts have been put to rest. In fact
yesterday the joke started in social media was it wasn’t a wave but a Tsunami
that drowned Congress’s fortune completely. By the day end, people said it wasn’t
Tsunami but a TsunNamo. That way this election has been very symbolic right
from “Maa Ganga ne bulaya hain” to “Har Bharatbasi jeetega”, with underlying
political overtures.
This has been that kind of
election where India saw maximum citizen involvement including the affluent
class who had stayed away from politics in the past. Modi had successfully
polarised India into two schools of thoughts– one who saw him as Leader who
would build New India and other who thought was a threat to democracy. There was
hardly a third set. We witnessed an upsurge in social media, where friends
turned foes, guards were thrown off, there were no mincing of words and verbal
duel happening all across the space all for one man -Modi. Hence it wouldn’t be
a bad idea to deconstruct the Brand Modi, purely from an academic point of
view, to understand how Modi became such a strong brand, that people talked
about both way and eventually the marketing campaign of BJP, which took a huge
risk to build it around Modi but eventually got back rich dividends.
Phillip Kotler, who is the
renowned Marketing Guru talked about Marketing Mix – which basically talked
about the 4Ps of Marketing – Product, Place, Pricing and Promotion. Basically
putting the right product, in the right place, at the right price in the right
time. But starting point of any product had to begin with understanding the
basic need of the consumer and assess if there is a demand for it and existing
supply.
India was going through a
crisis on back-drop of recession and subsequent economic slowdown, complemented
by Policy Paralysis, Multiple High Level Corruption, Inflation, Jobs, Security
issues and most importantly lack of vision and strong leadership by the current
government. While India saw meteoric rise of Arvind Kejirwal, as voice of Mango
people of India but euphoria was short-lived with his exit from Delhi
government. Though he chose to fight in the Lok Sabha election, including
standing against Narendra Modi, from Varanasi, doubts in the mind of people on
his sustainability was already seeded. The ruling party had put forward their
royal blue-eyed boy Rahul Gandhi as their messiah but his connect to people of
India was like former belonged to Mars
while the latter belonged to Venus. So from a market standpoint, there was
clearly there was a gap for a good leader or organizational set-up which could
bring India on right track.
Product:
BJP
knew that they had a product in their factory that had these core qualities of
strong personality, proven track record of governance, tech-savvy, great
oratory skills and could potentially be their ace-card in these elections and
that can turn the fortunes for them. But the product had its own Achilles heel–
he came with a heavy baggage of the past – of being a Religious Extremist, a
tyrant with intolerance towards certain minority community and being seen as
someone who did not do enough and had alleged linkages in Gujarat riots of
2002. While highest court of India, acquitted him of any charges, he remained a
matter of discussion in the people’s court till date. But that didn’t stop Modi’s
growing appeal to sect of society particularly the youth and Business class,
thanks to his well marketed Gujarat Model.
While BJP was confident that
it had a product that had all potential to cater to market needs, they had to
eliminate the risks of its failure owing to stiff opposition they may face due
to extremist image. But probably party counted on the fact that that we Indians
as a nation love to move on and generally forgive and forget things of past. But
it was still critical to reposition Brand Modi before relaunching for the Lok
Sabha Elections 2014. Repositioning reminds me of Cadbury repositioned itself
as a substitute to dessert, in recent years as “Kuch meetha ho Jaaye”. To be
fair to Narendra Modi, he too had evolved a long way for being RSS worker to
one of the best Chief Minister of India.
Hence Brand Modi was
launched with an image makeover as Prime ministerial Candidate of BJP who could
be viewed as a Leader who was ready to move beyond caste, creed and spearhead
in re-building this nation into a New, Progressive India. The brand was
typically addressing three kinds of needs: a) Roti, Kapda and Makan b) Jobs and
Facility c) Hope and Aspiration And Brand Modi was launched
with an image makeover, re-positioning as their Prime-Ministerial candidate who
was ready to offer:
a)
Development across all core sectors
b)
Inclusive growth
c)
Vision for a new India
d)
Good Governance
The advantage in BJP
offering was a strong decisive leader which inspired people, something the
competition clearly was lacking on.
Place:
For
any product to be successful, it is necessary to reach out to people, through
right distribution channels. The successful and effective use of multiple
mediums , be it print, television, social media or technology to reach out to
the maximum number of people with its message ( Read product offering) has been
a key success factor of BJP. But the most telling factor that ensured this
victory was their biggest distribution system – The vast network of Feet on
street RSS and BJP cadres who worked relentlessly to pull off this historic
victory. The biggest example would be BJP winning 71 seats out of 80 in UP
which probably the biggest optimist within BJP wouldn’t have thought as well.
But the herculean task was pulled off by the workers, who reached out at each
home at village level with their pamphlets/videos of Modi, to communicate their
product offering. They were like those numerous cells inside human body to keep
it functioning well.
Apart from traditional media,
BJP was more active in social media with Narendra Modi himself present on
twitter, uploading his speeches interacting with his followers. 3D Hologram
Rally/ Video-conferencing were the master stroke which ensured Modi had maximum
reach even to far flung people in various villages in India at a limited time.“Chai
pe Charcha” was another interesting platform which Modi used to discuss
relevant issues and reach out to people. The multiple channels, used by Modi
and BJP members in putting the product proposition to people of India, ensured
the slow but steady built up of euphoria of Brand Modi that peaked at the right
time and the fever reached its peak during elections. Modi’s high rhetoric
speeches in multiple rallies was icing on the cake.
Pricing:
In
this case the price India had to pay was simple – go out, stand in the queue
and cast their vote sometimes, in the soaring temperature of 40 degree plus in
the heat to elect a Modi Government. BJP here too run a focussed campaign to
specifically reach out to first time voters, to come out to vote. However
cynics would say, India may have to pay a much bigger price for electing Modi –
whether those 39% of people who voted for them are right or cynic’s only time
can tell.
Promotion:
It
is often said that you being good doesn’t help unless the world knows about. This
election saw BJP run a very high-visibility campaign almost at your face
campaign just like SRK did few years back for his film Ra.one which drew him a
lot of flak. A dear friend of mine told me the other day that Manmohan Singh,
despite all criticism, had practised some of best foreign policies only if
people of India would know.
But BJP left no stone
unturned to hype it campaign – which had a fair bit of risk in it – of revolving
around Individual Brand Modi with the party as backdrop. The advertising
campaign got it right from the go with a tagline that caught the fancy of
people from Day 1 - the most used, abused phrase of 2014: Ab ki baar, Modi
Sarkar. The creative brain behind the campaign knew fully well that given the
active social media, the phrase would spread like wild fire and various
by-products of the taglines i.e. joke would be invented and circulated. That’s
what they precisely wanted and banked upon with an ultimate end objective that of
– Brand Recall. Every time the message was circulated, Brand Modi got
registered fast and thick among voters. Brand Modi was visible in hoarding to kites to sarees.
Next in the line was there
cleverly disguised television campaign which addressed the need of consumer i.e.
Indian citizens that of Hope and Aspiration– “Acche Din Aaane wale hain”. The
ads here was rolled out in phases, covering people of different sects be it
Auto–rick Shaw driver or women in villages, where they spoke how Modi would
bring back Good days. This was clever marketed campaign which reflected Modi as
Messiah of hope with a reassurance message and the inclusive growth Brand Modi
wanted to advocate. But it is the BJP Anthem for 2014, which put across a
direct co-relation between Brand Modi and Brand India. – That spoke about “Main
desh mith ne doonga, Desh nahi jhookne doonga” putting across subtly to voter
of India, that if Modi wins, ultimately India will win. The campaign touched
the raw nerves of voters and that’s why it worked big time.
Power of any brand depends
on how strong reaction evokes – both positive and negative. Brand Modi did that
to the core. But most importantly it successfully invoked national sentiment
among Indian voters, which eventually resulted in historic euphoria and as one
would call wave ensuring a huge favourable mandate towards Modi and by virtue
of same to the BJP. The critics would say BJP would have won anyways given the
high anti-incumbency wave that was blowing across country irrespective of campaign
– my reply to that would be yes they would have probably been single largest
party with 170-180 seats but this marketing campaign boosted their chances many
folds and ensured they get an absolute majority in next govt, which neither BJP
nor its opponents would have thought in their wildest dream. And that’s why it wouldn’t
be surprising if Harvard picks this campaign as Case Study for future reference
and analysis of Successful Marketing of Brands. If that happens three men needs to be applauded - Piyush Pandey, Sam Balsara and Prasoon Joshi, the real brains behind the campaign !!!!
