Project in Advertising and

Public Relations

POLITICAL ADVERTISING

NMIMS, PTMBA IInd Year MTKG. Divn.-A

Group No. 10
Shailaja Menon Roll No. 24
Gautam Prabhukeluskar Roll No. 58
Komila Harry Roll No. 10
Anish Patel Roll No. 34
Aparna Kanchugar Roll No. 14
Vinay Shriyan Roll No. 61
Humble beginnings
of Political Advertising in India
• In 1966, Swatantra Party brought in creative genius Kersey Katrak for its campaign.

• Concept of hiring an advertising

agency by a political party started
in 1984, when Rajiv Gandhi roped
in Rediffusion

•From just posters and banners,

political parties now use digital,
SMS, MMS and OOH quite
effectively in their campaigns.

•Technology is a big influencer in

changing the approach and form of political advertising today.

•There are some agencies who don’t pitch for political accounts.
Eg. O&M, huge stress on resources – the returns are meagre.
The influence of advertisements
on the voter

“
Any campaign aims to do three things for a party
- Retain the loyal vote bank
- Influence the undecided voter and

”
- Provide a cushion for the party against any sort of negative voting
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Chief, BJP campaign committee

“
The electorate is generally predisposed towards a political party........
There is at best a small percentage of floating votes – about 5 per cent
– and this could also comprise first time voters.
All campaigning done is to get these swing votes.
Srinivasan K Swamy, CMD, RK Swamy/BBDO
An agency pitching for a political account
(Bagging a client)

“
When one pitches for a political account,

”
one has to be sure of one’s leanings.
Mukesh Gupta, MD, Graphisads & staunch BJP supporter

“
Working with a party has nothing to do with our political

”
ideology. We took up the project like any other assignment
Bargotra , MD Crayon

Crayons worked on the BJP’s campaign for the 2004 election

and prepared the Congress for the elections in 2009
The agency has the responsibility of

 Designing all communication messages for the party leading

up to the elections
 Media planning and execution
 Handle Public relations
 Communication strategies
(How to approach the target group,
what went wrong last time and
how to rectify that – are also issues
that have to be addressed.)
The tone of the campaign is set by...
The very simple question

“whether the party is an incumbent or sits in the opposition?”

The incumbent party – plays up its achievements in its years of power

- ‘INDIA SHINING’ campaign run by BJP in 2004
- ‘JAI HO’ campaign run by Congress in 2009
 
The opposition party –
rather than saying what
it would do when voted
into power, harps on the
failures of the opposition
in dealing with various
issues !
(ShivSena campaign in 2009)
What is being marketed / sold through
this Advertisement?
Neither a product / service – Then what ? Its a promise which is marketed !

Political advertising aims to get the people to buy the product, which is the
candidate or the ideology.

What is a product? A thing which satisfies the needs of a customer,

And what is an MP expected to do?
Satisfy the needs and wants of his voters.
 Adherence to Code of Conduct

EXPENDITURES
Political parties are required to report to the Chief Election
Commission their expenditure since there are restrictions on it.
 
Lot of spending is in the form of direct help from businessmen
that may be in cash or kind and is not included in the figures sent
 

RESTRICTION ON THE PRINTING OF PAMPHLETS, POSTERS ETC.

Candidate shall not print or publish, or cause to be printed or
published any election pamphlet or poster which does not bear on
its face names and addresses of the printer and the publisher thereof.
Tactics, Tools and Techniques
ATTACK AD
• Message is meant as an attack against another candidate / political party.
• form part of negative campaigning or smear campaigns,

CANVASSING
• Systematic initiation of direct contact with a target group of individuals
• Engaging in face-to-face personal interaction with voters.
• Main purpose of canvassing is to perform voter identification –
to poll how individuals are planning to vote –
rather than to argue with or persuade voters.

GOTV - 'GET OUT THE VOTE' operation

Known supporters are contacted on polling day, reminded to cast their ballot.
Tactics, Tools and Techniques
NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING
"mudslinging" - win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of
an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one's own positive
attributes or preferred policies. 

- Dirty tricks – generally involves

• Secretly leaking damaging information to the media.
• Trying to feed an opponent's team false information
hoping they will use it and embarrass themselves

-Push poll - attempts to influence or alter

the view of respondents
under the guise of conducting
a poll
Tactics, Tools and Techniques

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
• Legally investigate the biographical, legal or criminal, medical,
educational, financial, public & private administrative and or voting
records of the opposing candidate, as well as prior media coverage.

• Illegal or unethical means of gathering potentially damaging information

on candidates, such as accessing credit reports, wiretapping, theft of files,

hacking computer files, and interviewing ex-spouses.

• "Vulnerability studies" - when a candidate's political consultants will

amass files of potentially damaging information on their own clients, to
prepare pre-emptive strategies for rebuttal at a later date.
Tactics, Tools and Techniques
STAR POWER
A celebrity is telling the voter that they support the candidate.
 

INTEGRITY APPEAL
The advt. tries to convince that the candidate is honest and trustworthy
 

FACTS AND FIGURES

The advt. uses facts and statistics to support the candidate’s policies.
The Role of Public Relations
59% of the voters feel that the primary motive of
most politicians is to make money.
54% voters feel that the political class will have
no choice but to improve with time.
Survey by IMRB Int. and Synovate,
done across the country

Public Relations uses feedback or public opinion from the public as a guideline
in implementing a project or even to plan for a project.

A difficult issue like the increase of the

petrol prices can be handled better by
effective Public Relations Policy.
The Role of Public Relations

Internet and mobile penetration in India increased dramatically to 365

million for mobile, and from to 80 million for the internet.

Of these, 200 million are eligible voters belonging

to SEC A and B. There is a great opportunity to
convert these into potential voters.

As a result, both BJP and Congress are targeting

young, urban voters like never before.
Rules to run a successful PR campaign

•Communicate a clear and consistent message

•Persuade, don’t educate

•Respond quickly to attacks

•Run a tight ship with a clear chain of command

Twittering and the likes :
A PR tool of new age Politicians

Shashi Tharoor - has over 6,69,000 followers on his

twitter account (as on Mar 4th, 2010), which he had
opened during his campaigning for his parliamentary
constituency.

Twitter offers micro-blogging which allows users to

send short text messages, among others, on various
multimedia platforms.

LK Advani’s blog has been active since January 2009.

Some of the younger Congress candidates like Priya

Shashi Tharoor
Dutt, Milind Deora and Sachin Pilot also have well-
designed websites.
Another most effective PR tool in Politics
Oratory Skills / Oration :
Political speeeches are filled with rhetorics

Mark Antony's funeral oration for Caesar, is one of the

finest examples of rhetorical irony at work. Julius
Caesar is a play that hinges upon rhetoric—both as the
art of persuasion and a craft of manipulation.

Leaders who could hold the attention of lakhs of

supporters with just the power of their expression and
the beauty of their language.

Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee who is a master orator.

So were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

Pramod Mahajan - A fiery orator -

Other PR Avenues

News Channels carry

- Lok Sabha Proceedings

- Interviews

- Debates

-Sound bites :
A brief statement, by a politician, taken from an
audiotape or videotape and broadcast especially
during a news report

- Discussions based on Exit / opinion polls

 Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
Rs 150-crore ad campaign was the largest ever by a political party
 
Had started the hunt for an agency in July 2008.

Many including JWT, Euro RSCG, Madison, Rediffusion, Crayons made

their pitch to the Publicity Committee of the AICC headed by Rahul Gandhi
 
Four of these were shortlisted for the next shootout — JWT, Crayons, Euro
RSCG and Rediffusion.

In August 2008, two of these, Crayons and JWT, were asked to make
presentations to a select Congress team at 10 Janpath.
Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes

September 2008 - Congress handed over the contract to Crayons, the small
Delhi-based agency that had worked for several years with the government.

Crayons had worked with the Bharatiya Janata Party including the 2004
General Elections and was perceived to be close to that party.

What clinched the Congress deal in its favour was its strong pitch for Hindi
and local languages as the medium of communication.

What we said was that the communication is not about

creatives but about content. And for that you need political
understanding. Few voters connect with a campaign in English
Kunal Lalani, CMD, Crayons
Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
December 2008 - a debate within the Congress:
The campaign was big and would Crayons be able to do it alone?
Crayons lobbied hard to say it could. Congress called JWT on board.

Mandate was divided: JWT - electronic media

Crayons - print, OOH & digital media (internet).
The money was split roughly equally between the two.

Congress set up a war room for the campaign

- headed by Jairam Ramesh.
- Other members included Vishwajeet Singh, Digvijay Singh, Motilal Vora,
Mukul Vasnik and Jagdish Tytler.
Since it was a Congress campaign, none of the ministers was involved.
 Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
 Key parameters for the campaign were defined
(in consultation with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi)
 

 It was to be a “positive” campaign that would talk

about the achievements relevant to the aam aadmi —
the rural jobs scheme,
farm loan waiver,
empowerment of women.
The Indo-US civil nuclear deal, was yet to result in any
benefit for the people, therefore, kept out of campaign.

• Actual testimonials were encouraged, celebrities and

models dumped. For the print media, testimonials were
shot at 38 locations such as Sangrur, Nashik and
Jaisalmer
Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes

 From the Congress, only three faces were used: Sonia Gandhi,
Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Local leaders & caste heavyweights were axed from the campaign.
Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
 Fresh creatives were done in local languages

 Hindi advertisements were placed even in English dailies.

The focus was on regional papers with a large footprint.

 In case the BJP decided to opt for negative advertising in its

campaign, the Congress had a counter-campaign ready,
(issues like demolition of Babri mosque, release of terrorists at
Kandahar.)
 Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
The war room ran all the creatives past Rahul
Gandhi. Many a creative was rejected and sent
back to the drawing board.

The final nod always came from Sonia Gandhi.

 

JWT did almost 250 spots for television as well

as radio. Television reached 75 per cent of the
registered voters in the country.

Congress felt the need for a song that could be

played on the electronic medium and had
approached A.R. Rehman in late 2008 late last year
for such a song but he couldn’t find the time for it.
 Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
In early 2009 - Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars.

Congress party sought to associate itself with the film, hoping some of its magic
will rub off on their campaigns.
 

Percept had bought the Intellectual Property (IP) of “Jai Ho” track from T-series
& suggested this to the Congress,
who approved the idea.

Congress paid Rs 1 crore to

Percept for rights of the song

Percept - asked make some short

films with the song. Jai Ho’s
upbeat notes,
 Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
The lyrics, music and visuals of the ‘JAI HO’ film captured
the celebratory mood and spirit of the Aam Aadmi

3 TVCs of 60 second each had been released across TVchannels.

• First one included Congress leaders – Nehru, Shashtri, Indira &
Rajiv Gandhi and leveraged the heritage of the Congress party.

• 2nd & 3rd TVCs - development programmes / schemes that have

made an impact in the common man’s everyday life and promises
of an even greater and happier future.
 

3 TVC’s of 60 seconds each were released across Television Channels as

the first phase of the congress Campaign. As per the media plan, there will
be an initial four-day burst on all national GECs, DD, news channels and
radio.
Congress’ 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes

Win – Win for Congress & the Agencies – Crayons, JWT, Percept
Within days of returning to power, the Congress paid all 3agencies in
full.
Promotions, bonuses, new cars are all in their way for the key campaign
members.
One opposition politician, however, said that Congress was welcome to
take credit for the film – Slumdog Millionare

“
If it were not for Congress misrule for the
last 60 years, there would be no slums and then
no Slumdog (film) and no Oscar
Narendra Modi,
while addressing an election rally
BJP’s 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes

In 2004, BJP had used TV, newspapers and telemarketing to promote

its ‘India Shining’ slogan.

“ ”
We have been shrill about everything. That was our problem.
This year we are careful we don’t do that.
- BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh

Unlike Congress, the final call on the agencies for BJP came after
much delay.

Owing to the slowdown, there was pressure on the country’s main

opposition party’s fund raising which also came from the private
sector companies.
BJP’s 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes

“
There is certainly an impact of slowdown on our budget. We needed
to negotiate properly (with agencies) before taking a final call. However,

”
we do not want to spill money since we have a restricted budget
Siddharth Nath Singh

BJP had a Rs 42-44 crore budget for the campaign

BJP was planning to go big on internet and radio, with less emphasis
on television and print medium (since they were expensive)

Frank Simoes was hired for creative and the media buying duties
(television, print campaign and outdoor media)

Utopia was in charge of the radio campaign.

BJP’s 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes
• March 16, 09. BJP signed-off campaign with punch-line
Mazboot neta, nirnayak sarkar
 

• BJP sent 1 billion SMSes to about 250 million cellphone users, who
are not enrolled in the Do-Not-Call registry.
 
• BJP had tied up with Google to redesign its official website
bjp.org
to make it more user-friendly and interactive. The BJP ran an
aggressive online ad campaign, primarily with Google, with search
ads across as many as 200,000 keywords, placement ads across
50,000
websites, and banner ads across 2,000 websites.
 

• Campaign on radio, through private FM channels and All India Radio.

In 2009, approx. 288 constituencies in had access to FM.

BJP’s 2009 General Election Campaign
– Behind the Scenes

Singh criticised the Congress’s Jai Ho campaign saying that it

was very ‘Bollywood-inspired’.

“
We would have a ready-reply when the Congress

”
goes ahead with their Jai Ho campaign
Siddharth Nath Singh
‘Bhay Ho’ was BJP’s reply to
Congress’ ‘Jai Ho’

BJP tried to metaphorically explain

the bomb that was ticking within all
the Indians while congress was at the helm.

BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh suggested that a party

worth its salt shall not raise slogans of “Jai Ho” amidst a 5 year
long mayhem.
 

Nisheeth Sharan, CEO of advertisement agency Utopia Consulting,

floated the idea of BJP's 'Bhay Ho' ad campaign.

He said that he came out with the parody of the Congress' 'Jai Ho'
as he felt that the message of the ruling party's campaign was an
insult to Indians.
‘Bhay Ho’ was BJP’s reply to
Congress’ ‘Jai Ho’
“Bhay ho…. bhook ho….
Antak ho…. Mahangayi ho….
phir bhi jai ho,”.

The song featured 3 street children singing the song in the

general compartment of a train and a stranger planting a bomb in that very
train.

The song 'Bhay Ho' said that though there is insecurity, hunger, false promises,
recession and price rise, the government wanted everyone to sing 'Jai Ho', he
said.
 

Sharan had produced the commercial on his own and then showed it to the BJP leaders. At first
some BJP leaders felt it was too hot a potato to handle as there could be copyright violation issues.
But then the legal luminaries in the party vetted it and said there is no problem.
Thank You