Poll positioning

The Great Indian Elections are around the corner and it’s all that anyone’s talking about. It’s almost as if you cannot ignore them this time, they are literally in your face. No wonder brands see it as an excellent opportunity to ride the wave and become visible.

Why are these elections different from earlier ones? Arun Iyer, National Creative Director, Lowe Lintas, says people are thinking about this election a lot, like never before. “So much has happened: the Delhi incident, the rise of the AAP, the economy isn’t in the best shape, the sentiment resting on the election is very high.”

The Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook 2014 predicts that owing to the elections, the Indian advertising market is expected to grow at 16.8 per cent to reach ₹37,000 crore in 2014. Clearly, elections in the world’s largest democracy are serious business.

Joining the fun Brands are seeking novel ways to gain visibility by using it as a theme. Google, Idea, MTS, and HeroMotoCorp, amongst others, are joining in on the fun.

While Shyam Saran Negi from Himachal Pradesh, whom Google calls “Independent India’s first voter” in a two--minute film, part of its #PledgetoVote campaign urges you to vote through his moving soliloquy, Idea’s Ullu Math Bana ad provides a nifty tip to hold leaders accountable. It has inspired at least one spin-off featuring a real-life politician on YouTube. HeroMotoCorp’s ad for its new HF Delux motorcycle asks you to vote in a non-partisan manner, and vote for talent.

MTS is offering value-added services such as the election and news packs. And through its tie-up with social media content portal Social Samosa, it wants to keep you on track of all that’s happening through its Election Tracker.

“Advertising has always tried to capture the zeitgeist,” explains Abhijit Avasthi, National Creative Director, Ogilvy India, that conceptualised Google’s film. “Cricket’s World Cup, Diwali or any other occasion, different brands use the theme in different ways,” he adds.

In the case of the general elections some can use advertising as a call to action, urging people to go out and vote, or they use it as part of their CSR activity, says Avasthi. “Idea’s Ullu math bana ad is about getting the right information with Idea’s Internet. Tata Tea’s Kala Teeka campaign is about encouraging them to use their power,” says Iyer of Lowe Lintas, the agency behind these campaigns. “This kind of advertising also makes brands relevant,” he adds.

Digital election Aside from the standard mediums of print and television, the Web is gaining popularity as well. “This is the first digital election, in a manner of speaking, that Indians are witnessing. Since the last election, social media’s presence has proliferated, so has its use, and people spend as much time online as offline,” Avasthi explains. In such a situation, Google, as one of the biggest technology brands and a social media enabler itself, has to be visible. In that respect, its motivation for advertising using this theme is a bit different from that of other brands. For Google, it was a strategic decision to be part of the buzz surrounding the election mood, not a case of just jumping on to the election bandwagon. A substantial number of voters are connected online, and a lot of political parties use Google Hangouts to connect with voters, Avasthi says.

MTS and Social Samosa’s Election Tracker initiative is aimed at enlightening citizens. “The tracker collates data from across the web and tracks mentions of major political parties and politicians and displays the data live in the form of bar graphs, pie charts, and such,” says Aditya Gupta, co-founder of Social Samosa.

Amitesh Rao, Director Brand and Media, MTS India, believes that the tracker and election packs are not just a promotional exercise. MTS is providing a specially created caller tune free to its customers as well. The lyrics are the Election Commission's. “By encouraging our customers to vote, we are extending our support to the Commission,” he adds.

Amidst all this, the million-dollar question is: Will these moves motivate audiences to go out and vote and vote well or will their effect end with establishing the brand’s presence through the occasional ‘share’ or ‘like’ on a social networking website?

“I will go out and vote, these ads don’t change anything,” says Ashwitha Jayakumar, a teacher from Mumbai. “However, I gravitate towards ads that showcase social responsibility, and I’m likely to purchase the product on account of the ad or initiative.” Navin Dorai, a brand manager from Chennai, doesn’t know if he will be voting. “I am disenchanted with the political system,” he says. “But I do remember Tata tea because of its Jago re slogan.”

In the meantime, Google’s video has received over 5 lakh views on YouTube since it was released a week ago.

There’s no denying that these ads and initiatives project the brand as a socially conscious one, and perhaps, add to its brand recall. But to know their impact on a person’s voting habits, one guesses we will have to wait till the end of the elections for the answer to that question.

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