case 2 adshining -in-difference

7/26/2019 Case 2 AdShining -In-Difference

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MIT School of Business

Advertising & Media Planning

Shining In- Difference

Case: 2

Post Script : 16 May 2014

As the first reports started to trickle in, the apprehensions of the party workers at 7 RCR and Congress

HQ began to crystallize to gloom. The early trends seemed to be daunting and slowly yet steadily the

buildup towards the ultimate result was emerging. Beyond doubt the flow was in favor of Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP), the major opposition party. By the end of the day... The Congress was truly humbled

with an abysmally low tally... 44 seats, the lowest ever in the electoral history since independence. For

the first time in two decades BJP emerged on its own as the largest single party.

Backdrop & Introspection

The result had its impact, at the Congress Parliamentary Board Meeting, the next day. Party President

Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and the Vice President Mr. Rahul Gandhi offered to resign. In an expected twist to the

tale, their resignations were not accepted and the party decided to take collective responsibility. There

were many issues to focus and it was quite unclear as to how the grand old party would seek to address

these.

For two successive terms, the party governed at centre along with its coalition partners. 2004 elections

sprang a definite surprise. The BJP government was on an upswing, the campaign was highly innovative,

the economy in good nick with growth rate around 9.5% and the image of its leader Mr. AB Vajpayee

was most respected. The party perceived itself to be in the driving seat and its campaign India Shining

was expected to hit off well with the electorate. In spite of strong economic indicators, fairly good

record of governance, general sense of well being and all the predictions of re-election, the BJP were

stunned. The congress campaign negated the best of BJPs claims thus enabling them to take the lead in

forming the government. An intrepid and a politically innovative advertisement blitz failed to impress.

The most unexpected happened and Congress secured its victory.

The first five years i.e. 2004-2009, were conservative yet relatively non controversial. The symptoms of

decline began to emerge. The economy was showing signs of recession, growth rate was on the slump,

global economic conditions started to show challenging signs yet the congress managed to pull off in

2009 to get re-elected to form a coalition government again.

Things began to change emboldened by its re-election and the party started to influence policies and

decisions resulting in an indifferent state of governance, conflicts, dilution of control, ineffective

monitoring. Ministries began to exert themselves and more or less operated with impunity and became

non responsive to PMO; abundance of corrupt practices and scandals broke out, economy began to

decline with high inflation, price rise, unemployment, dropping investments, growing incidents of

violence against women, Lok pal agitation etc which put a great deal of pressure. The PM to large


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extent restricted his operations to his domain and was not seen exerting himself to bring the

administration under his control. Coupled with this was the most ineffective approach towards media

and interaction on media which left the party scuttling for cover on many occasions. There emerged a

general sense of stoicism and stagnant state of affairs which was becoming a common perception

among people.

In spite of the issues challenging the party, it seemed to overlook a large number of them. For the

elections 2014, the focus of the party remained on personality i.e. BJP priminsterial candidate and the

issue of secularism. The emergence of AAP and its impact was sidelined and many issues relevant to

the current context of elections were not taken into cognizance. The approach was quite ambivalent and

ambiguous. The net result was a mixed message to the electorate looking for answers to questions

which remained unanswered.

Campaign Challenges : BJP

By 2011, the BJP apparently began its preparations to target the 2014 elections. The party began its

preparation with a focus on identifying the correct strategy. Having faced the double defeat in 2004 and

2009, it realized that success is possible if the party is able to project its image and be identified as a

national alternative. In order to do so, it had to set itself on important issues namely Personality,

Platform, Plank, Diversity, Demography and Development.

By default, the UPA lead government seemed to pave way for crystallization of BJP campaign strategy by

series of actions and inactions. As a first step, the BJP began the exercise of identifying a candidate

suitable for spearheading the campaign. After a series of ups and downs, the party was able to narrow

down to the CM of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi. The choice was fraught with controversy as many

including leading political analysts felt that this would endanger the BJPs chances. Even within the party

there was a dissent from senior leaders like LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj etc. The other national parties

seemed to rejoice as they felt it was a trap BJP had set for itself and the choice would undo their

chances. By 2013, the official declaration took place and Modi was anointed the PM candidate, the face

of BJP for the 2014 elections.

While the choice of Modi was becoming a controversy, the approach towards elections was to be

aligned. The reach out was tremendous, the political alliances were challenging, the geographical

realities were imposing, the regional heavy weights were difficult to rope in, Modi as a choice was also

alienating some erstwhile partners like JD(U). The party had to identify themes and means to reach out

to the target population and make a convincing pitch. The environment had undergone an extensive

technology makeover since 2004. The decade has brought in changes in perception as regards elections,

greater apolitical pro activity and dependence on reliable and fast communications. The demography

too has undergone a rapid change; there was a growing sense of discontent on account of various

factors effecting the society, economy and livelihood. Moreover, issues like unrest due to naxalism,

cross border tensions, reactive neighborhood etc also tended to make the job of convincing electorate

that much more difficult. Though the national situation on multiple fronts was grim, the fact that such a

situation was a hidden opportunity or not was truly debatable. There were challenges in abundance and

the choices were limited by time. The objective was to conceive and present a campaign which appeals

to all sections simultaneously and converts the message to conviction and thereafter to action in terms

of vote. Starting a campaign too early would be self defeating (2004 stands testimony for that) and too


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late would be ineffective or defensive (2009 ... a possible example). The question of when, where, how

and who? For an effective campaign message and medium were to be identified and reinforced

convincingly as a national alternative.

Winning the Who

BJPs approach towards 2014 was characterized by structured planning and focused execution. It se

about the job in a clinical manner with pre defined objectives to achieve. The campaign activity was set

in motion by basic reorganization of the party cadre, revamp & election of national executive, shortlisting prospective Prime Ministerial candidate, identifying issues relevant for campaign, projecting

party agenda through articulate spokespersons, adopting multiple media options to leverage reach &

communicate were part of numerous hurdles that needed to be considered.

The national demography has undergone a substantial change and the increased awareness would also

need specific attention. The climate across the country appears to have undergone a change with

people across the cross section of society evincing a new found interest in elections. The youth and the

educated middle and the upper middle class known for its disregard towards participation in elections

appeared reenergized. A conservative estimate put the number of youth vote bank across the country

was at 100 million. A substantial chunk of this needed to be harnessed and it was also essential for the

party to enhance its vote share across the country. The party needed to correctly identify the challenges

of multiple segments divided by diverse parameters such as culture, language, education, age, economic

status, religion. Large number of local issues were taking precedence over national issues which diluted

the partys influence vis--vis the regional players. The campaign called for deliberate action plan with

defined objectives and with red flags across the time span to accelerate/ decelerate the campaign.

The party decided to go all out leveraging the best of technical brains. A multi-tiered campaign was to

be conducted with the objective of targeting and winning over the circumspect population in its favor..

The impact was like a corporate entity trying to rebrand itself with a new product launch. There was

branding, there was product development, there was segment specific media strategy and there was

people to people contact. As the stage was set, the BJP was in top gear with the assemble results in

northern states showing a thundering favor towards BJP. The time of opportune but the choices were

different and difficult. Any misalignment would prove costly.

The Aftermath

The campaign was highly intense. Both the national parties pitched in all the resources. It was a no holds

bar election with reputations at stake. The results were historic. An outright majority for BJP and an

irrevocable domination of the Lok Sabha along with its allies. The congress and the UPA stood

decimated. The results were a surprise & beyond all the expectations of all political parties, experts and

election surveys. What went right for BJP and why? What factors in this election are lessons for use ofeffective advertising and media promotion? How did Congress Fail to sense the pulse? What went

wrong with experts and pollsters who could not identify the mood? Did Personality, Platform, Plank,

Diversity, Demography and Development influence the advertising and media choices and if so how?

Written By: Prof (Col) N Ram Gopal


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case 2 adshining -in-difference

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