It is everyone’s favourite example. Over the last 69 years, Amul, which is a year older than Independent India, has been a proud custodian of our national pride. Be it through television shows such as the Amul India show or Surabhi , or through advertising commercials such as ‘The taste of India’, Amul has always stayed close to its core of being Indian and bringing welfare to lakhs of women across 15,000 villages. But Amul is not the only one to ride the wave of national pride.

In the past, there were others like Bajaj Auto with its lilting jingle of Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasveer, Hamara Bajaj (Towering India’s towering image, our Bajaj), when the brand lorded over the scooter market till the 1990s. Since then, even as Bajaj has shifted focus to motorcycles, for consumers of a certain generation the brand brings up a huge swell of national pride.

Worth their salt What Bajaj did in the past, Honda is trying to do at present. The latest Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) campaign featuring Akshay Kumar is an example. Yadvinder S Guleria, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, HMSI, says, “This campaign is a microcosm of what the India of today really is – a nation on the move, waiting to soar its wings and fly. The new ‘Honda is Honda’ campaign reaffirms that Honda Wings enables people to chase and realise their dreams.”

Or take Tata Salt, which prides itself as Desh Ka Namak. But it was not the first salt brand to harp on its patriotism. That honour went to Dandi Namak, a brand which steered away from stirring up patriotic emotions, though. But on the sheer strength of its brand name – Dandi is the place to which Mahatma Gandhi undertook the ‘salt march’ during India’s freedom struggle – Dandi Namak managed to create a huge market share for itself in the initial years. Then, there is also P Mark, a mustard oil brand which recently launched its campaign starring Boman Irani and uses the tagline, ”Made in India Kyon Nahee .”

Stirring patriotism This ad goes beyond stirring up country-of-origin loyalties to business logic. The company says that with nearly 50 per cent of edible oil requirement being met by imports, Indian mustard oil has the potential to reduce imports. The company believes that mustard oil can be for India what palm oil has been for Malaysia and olive oil for Italy. “With this new campaign, we are scaling up the brand’s philosophy by bringing in the element of desi ,” said Vivek Puri, MD, Puri Oil Mills. Of course, the company is also using this to thwart aggressive campaigns by olive oil companies that proudly sport their made-in-Italy tag and claim to be the healthiest options available.

While riding the patriotic wave might be a safe way to position your brand unless you do something drastically wrong with your communication or otherwise, consultants strike a cautionary note. Raghu B Viswanath, founder and MD of Vertebrand, brand consultancy firm, believes that at a time when the markets and consumers are getting more global, sporting a ‘Made in India’ tag alone does not cut ice with the younger generation. He believes brands need to convince through their campaign the real value proposition of their brands to make it more effective, especially if they are reaching out to a younger target audience.

Aneil Deepak, Executive Director, DDB Mudra Group & Head of Ideas, DDB MudraMax, says that not everything that harps on patriotism sells. “Consumers know the moment a brand announces an Independence Day sale, it is going after the monies. What also looks funny is when the brand tries to portray itself as the sun around which India revolves.” He believes that the factor which sets the patriot brands apart is how genuine the intent is and how far the brand’s communication can hold back its product window.

There are others, such as Nitin Karkare, COO, FCB Ulka, Mumbai who believe that unless a brand is making a difference on the ground and then amplifying its patriotism on media, the consumer will see through the ploy. Karkare, whose agency handles the Amul business, points out that nearly 85 paise out of every rupee spent on Amul’s products go back to the Indian farmer and hence the brand can take the high ground of patriotism.

Others such as Sandhya Srinivasan, Chief Strategy Officer, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, agree. “Patriotism is linked to value systems. It isn’t just about ‘Be Indian, Buy Indian’ but the values that define the Indian at the core, those that make him represent India. Values like integrity, honesty, selflessness, non-violence/harmony, inclusiveness, rising against odds and being successful, local inventions that change lives, all of which bring the spirit of patriotism alive.”

With inputs from Meenakshi Verma Ambwani

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