On the second day of knowledge seminar sessions at Goafest 2013, Shiv Singh, Global Head (Digital) of Pepsi, spoke about “Why no one cares about marketing” and outlined five ideas which he said were important in the current climate.
1 Leave marketing behind
Expanding on this, he gave the example of Beyonce’s unmarketing campaign, #beyherenow. “It was not just an ad but a new lens into Beyonce,” he said. The ad also launched a new song, Grown Woman, and the visuals and lyrics were anchored in the culture of her past and her future. It was the start of a deep creative collaboration.
2 Think about experiences, not more ads
In an age when every brand can have a tangible relationship with customers, original programming, owned or shared distribution, and sustained engagement and loyalty are replacing traditional marketing, Mr Singh said. He said digital data should be used to drive new business insights. “The insights you get from social impact how you understand cultures, consumers, brands and products, and how you can predict sales and measure engagement.”
3 Bet on Facebook.
He said that though Facebook was here to stay, the mere number of likes a brand has on Facebook is meaningless. “Having a lot of likes is like having a large hall with empty chairs. It’s meaningless unless you have people sitting in these chairs,” he said, adding that it is more useful to have a smaller audience that engages.
4 Develop a 365-day culture. When the customer is listening 365 days, the brand should be there too, Mr Singh said. Realtime marketing is the answer, with realtime insights, and response, content studio, co-creation and distribution happening in real time too.
5 Capitalise on the India opportunity. He said advertising needs to look at new forms of creativity. “Commercials are videos. Embrace that notion now,” he said, recommending that agencies should hire as many journalists as they have creative directors.
The Q&A with the audience at the end of Mr Singh’s presentation was moderated by Viral Oza.
Yahoo!’s CEO Marissa Mayer doesn’t like her employees working out of their homes. So she’s turned the ‘tech connectivity’ clock into reverse mode, and it’s back to the good old ‘water cooler’ for thousands of rather displeased Yahoo! staffers. The HR memo explains Mayer’s rationale: ‘Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.’
I agree with Mayer in principle. It’s not just about speed, the best ideas happen when you collaborate face to face, and that simply cannot happen over e-mails, phone calls and Skype. I have been working out of home for some years now, and the one thing I miss the most (from my last full time job with Mumbai Mirror) is the fertile smoking zone (don’t know if it still exists in these hyper politically correct times). Not just because we used to bond there, but that bonding often resulted in leads and new angles for stories and opinion pieces. Now that I work on my own, there’s no one to bounce off ideas with, I have to rely on my own instincts. And admittedly, that’s not the ideal scenario.
Having said that, must say this arrangement works nicely for me. The peace (no loud phone conversations in the background) is a huge bonus. And there’s no chance of being distracted by pretty staffers traipsing around my cubicle. Not to mention the obvious benefit: Being able to duck the mind-effing Mumbai traffic jams. And of course, that biggest plus of all (for us men): Not having to shave every day. The productivity therefore shoots up, and am able to achieve more in a work day. And still have time left to do my own thing. Ms Mayer may have overlooked these advantages in her controversial memo.
And yet, I can say with some degree of confidence that in the Indian context, the ‘work from home’ policy will seldom work out. This is because we desis are natural shirkers, and when left unattended, most of us will go off track. Also, many Indians live within joint family households, and this can lead to many disturbances. In addition, India isn’t a nation known for its strong work ethic. Even while being on the employee payroll, I am certain some staffers would be using time to make a quick extra buck from elsewhere. Therefore, when viewed from our prism, Mayer does have a point. Perhaps she should have restricted the memo to Yahoo!’s Bangalore office. 🙂
PS: Congrats to Leo Burnett for scoring big at the Goafest. Was refreshing to see folks dressed in colourful clothes (rather than the usual all-black) in the Big Winner picture. However, with O&M backing out this year, and Lowe as usual not participating, does this victory really amount to much? Is it a big high winning a cricket World Cup when Australia and England don’t take part? I suspect not.
The Brief: Convince progressive women to buy Nihar Shanti Amla not just as a hair oil but as a step towards progress. Nihar Shanti Amla not only keeps hair black but also gives women a chance to contribute to children’s education by giving 2% of its revenue from every bottle towards CRY’s projects across the country.
Research insights: Women believed that if the country progressed, their own children would have a better future. Women felt a sense of pride about their responsibility towards their children’s future because they felt that only they could do something about it.
The thought process behind the creative: The challenge was to communicate the product benefit and the emotional benefit with equal emphasis. We positioned Nihar Shanti Amla as a progressive step to be taken with ‘pride’ – the pride of having great, black hair and pride from having contributed to children’s education. The creative device was meant to communicate that every time a bottle of Nihar Shanti Amla would ‘pop’ open, a child would go to school.The hair benefits were subtly weaved into the film’s flow where Vidya Balan plays a teacher.
Media vehicles chosen: TV, print, activation
Key issues kept in mind while executing the ad: The product and emotional benefit should not overshadow each other. Advertising for a social cause tends to be morose or didactic. We wanted to keep it fun, lively and enthusiastic because pride is a positive emotion. We wanted people to feel motivated to do something and not forced out of guilt.
What is the differentiating factor about the ad? The product and emotional benefit is wrapped up in one positive emotion. A lively, high spirited ad with a social message rather than a depressing guilt trip.
Agency comment: Subhash Kamath, managing partner, BBH India says: “This was one idea which seemed to have all the stars correctly aligned, right from the start. The agency team, the client, Vidya Balan herself and Koushik, the director ..all instantly liked the script. It turned out really well in research too… so, we’re all looking forward to seeing the results in the market.”
As more and more brands enter the already cluttered market today, the challenge for any brand is not only to reinvent itself but also to gain and retain new customers.
Companies are invading the digital space as they see a lot of potential in the medium to tap their audiences. Selling the brand or product is no longer paramount – the aim is to develop and sustain a relationship over a period of time. And as youth are increasingly spending more time on social media, promoting a brand/product/service digitally serves the purpose of attracting and sustaining.
#InViratsHead, #MakesMeAlive, #colouryourfriends and #firsteverfragranceapp are just a few hashtags of the various digital campaigns Godrej has launched lately. The company re-invented itself and has been implementing innovative techniques on various forms of media to drive awareness and establish brand tonality and brand connect with urban TG.
The aer Twitter campaign #colouryourfriends and #firsteverfragranceapp garnered more than 12,500 tweets, reaching out to 6.7 million people and creating more than 47 million impressions in a span of three days.
MxMIndia spoke to Sunil Kataria, Executive VP, Marketing and Sales, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) on the insight behind their latest campaigns.
Lately, Godrej has launched a lot of campaigns digitally. What has been the thought process behind them?
Godrej as a brand believes in building a connect with the consumers at every step across platforms. Companies across sectors are leveraging social media to connect with consumers to get instant feedback. For companies it has not only been to sell a brand/product to the consumers but to develop and sustain a relationship over a period of time. The youth are increasingly being spending more time on social media and a lot of their conversations on this medium influence their shopper decisions. Promoting a brand/product/service digitally serves the purpose of attracting and sustaining interest among their consumers and it could be done in innovate and engaging ways. The Godrej campaigns for Cinthol and aer have been the most trending on Twitter lately.
How do you see the digital platform help the brand to rebrand itself in the market?
With the growth of internet and rising popularity of social media among younger audience it is imperative for brands to create a very significant presence in the digital space. Also, the increasing use of smart phones has significantly reduced consumer consumption of traditional mediums of TV and paper. The digital medium is an exciting platform for brands as they communicate with the consumer directly and the consumer can share his experience with the brand. Apart from that, key influencers/celebrities who are a part of a campaign also help to reach out to a larger pool of audience since the fan following of these influencers get acquainted with the brand through the campaign. For example, fans of Virat got acquainted with the Cinthol brand through the #InViratsHead campaign.
How much is the budget for the digital platform?
The budget is 2 percent of total ATL budget for digital media.
Apart from digital, what is the marketing mix of the brand?
Godrej aer is promoted through a 360-degree marketing media. The media vehicles used are TV, Print, Radio & Digital media. Brand has been doing innovations in all the media vehicles planned. Olfactory marketing experience generating initiatives are planned at important touch points like car accessory stores, modern trade stores, petrol pumps and lifestyle-oriented touch points like a gym etc.
With competitors too exploring the digital platform, how can one deal with it to stay ahead in the clutter?
With the growing popularity of social media and increasing use of digital medium by consumers it is imperative for brands to have an active presence on the digital platform. Consumer conversation on social media influence shoppers’ preferences and hence brands needs to be a part of these conversations to gain new potential customers and sustaining the existing ones. The key challenge for any digital campaign is to identify the right target audience and to creatively engage with them which has been the key focus area for the campaigns by Godrej #InViratsHeadwas trending for three days and # firsteverfragranceapp was trending for two days, which is a clear indication of huge consumer response that the campaign received.
And lastly, where do you see the digital platform in the next five years?
Increasing internet penetration and demand for smart phones will only increase the engagement of consumers on social media. We could probably see new social media apps being developed to cater to custom made requirements. Consumer would also find new platforms of communications similar to Facebook, Twitter etc which would further accentuate the brand engagement with consumers. Digital will definitely be the pivotal focus of most marketing campaigns and will be the new battlefield for brands to fight for consumer attention.
MxMIndia invited Anant Rangaswami, editor, Storyboard (the CNBC-TV18 show) and senior editor, Firstpost to analyse the Leo Burnett-Tata Salt Lite radio spots controversy
By Anant Rangaswami
In an embarrassing development, Leo Burnett withdrew two award-winning Tata Salt Lite radio spots from the Abby Awards on instructions from the client.
Leo Burnett’s Arvind Sharma confirmed the decision to withdraw in a letter to ShashiSinha, chairman of the Awards Governing Council
The letter reads as follows:
Dear Shashi
I know that there was some debate at the AGC about two Tata Salt Lite radio spots submitted by us. I recused myself from this debate and the AGC decided to award the spots. Today a website alluded to this debate with unnecessary insinuations. Â We do not want any unwarranted insinuations about one of our prestigious clients and brands to continue. We request AGC to treat these two spots as withdrawn from our side
Thanking you
Arvind Sharma
Chairman & CEO India Subcontinent
Tata Chemicals made the following statement in explanation.
“It is unfortunate that our agency has been under the cloud of controversy regarding their recent Abby’s awards based on work done on our brand. The entire award submission process is one initiated and entirely managed by the agency; our role as a client was limited to approval of the creative. As a client, we were not aware of all the other technical requirements and subsequent process of submission criteria etc. As soon as the inconsistencies were brought to our attention, and upon further enquiry, we concluded that it would be appropriate for the agency to return the award to the organizers. We regret this incident which only strengthens our resolve for and commitment to strict adherence to standards.”
The Tata statement is consistent with the values that brand Tata represents and upholds. After all, the overall Tata brand was ranked, in March 2013, as the world’s 39th most valuable brand and had a combined brand valuation of USD 18.23 billion (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tcs-in-5bn-brand-value-club-tata-group/1082935).
The crux of the situation, put simply, is this: Tata Chemicals was not aware that they were party to scam advertising.
Arvind Sharma protests too much when he says, “Today a website alluded to this debate with unnecessary insinuations. Â We do not want any unwarranted insinuations.”
The allusion to the debate (in MxMIndia) was necessary and the insinuations were completely warranted.
At Goafest, when the spots in question were debated, it was because the auditors found them to be not quite kosher, which resulted in their being disqualified because the client confirmation that accompanied the entries said that the campaign was created only for entry to awards. Upon rejection, Leo Burnett convinced the client to send a second letter (one which conformed to the needs of an award entry) which sparked the debate. When the “AGC decided to award the spots”, it was by no way a unanimous decision; it was a divided house with many feeling that the entries should be thrown out.
The incident is similar to the Ford Figo ad, where the client did not quite understand the way advertising awards function and the implications of scam ads. The Ford Figo saga resulted in the resignation of JWT’s creative head Bobby Pawar and others (http://www.firstpost.com/business/senior-jwt-executive-resigns-over-controversial-ford-ad-676825.html).
The Leo Burnett climb-down coming immediately in the wake of the Ford Figo ads will end up doing yeoman service to those in the anti-scam advertising camp. Clients like Tata Chemicals will now be aware of the significance and implication of advertising awards shows and of scams – and will think many times before they clear dodgy campaigns and ads.
The Tata Salt ads are by no means the only scam ads to have entered and won at the Abby’s this year – but Leo Burnett, in this instance, has been outed.
By Arrangement with Firstpost.com where this first appeared (link: http://www.firstpost.com/living/why-leo-burnett-withdrew-suspect-ads-for-tata-salt-from-awards-691368.html).
There has been a rather muted reaction to Leo Burnett’s Tata Salt scam radio adverts. In contrast with all the sound and fury over the JWT Ford Figo ads. Surely Burnett’s ‘crime’ isn’t any lesser. I can only think of one reason: The ad junta is tiring of news on scams, a few senior industry folks I spoke with only shrugged with helplessness and resignation: ‘So what’s new, man?’
Enough has been discussed on the subject of scam ads (including by myself), so there’s nothing more to add. However, I am now convinced all this talk has been pointless, that scams will always rule in the desi ad world. Not just because these ads land people new jobs and increments (and are therefore created), but because India is a country of scamsters. There’s a ghotala happening in all walks of life, so why must the ad frat be any different, they haven’t arrived from Pluto. I guess the time has come to accept that they will happen again and again. And therefore, the debate must shift from ‘How to cure this disease’ to ‘How to control it’.
The social media buzz suggests creating a separate category for scam ads, thus legalizing them. This idea is as old as the hills, I recall proposing it fifteen years ago in the ad mag I was editing at the time. This will never work because once they are called ‘Unreleased Work’, such ads will not land people any real recognition, and therefore no new jobs. Agency heads will treat it as ‘jerk-off’ stuff, and dismiss it. So then what to do?
I think the solution lies in financial punishment. For the next year, the GoaFest organizers should announce that scam ads entered slyly as official work will invite a hefty fine for the ad agency. Let’s say, a penalty of Rs 25 lakhs per scam ad. The world’s second oldest profession isn’t generally respected by the masses. And that can be corrected a bit by passing on the amount collected as fines to charity organizations. The ad world gets a positive name, and the threat of monetary loss will deter many potential scamsters.
The GoaFest team must give this suggestion a serious thought if they want their trophies to get some respectability. They need to play the role of cops, and not just festival organizers. Because frankly, I can’t think of any other way out of this rotten mess. Time for debates and angry tweets/FB updates is over. It’s time for hard action.
***
PS: On a recent visit to Delhi, I noticed that this product finds pride of place in the medical store shop windows. Not surprising, given the rising rate of crimes against women in India’s capital city. At this rate, ‘Pepper Spray’ will replace India Gate as Delhi’s glowing symbol.
Goafest 2013 saw agencies, big and small, make a beeline with their coveted entries at the Zuri White Sands in Goa. The hope was that the absence of the number one agency would lead to high possibility of others winning some metal at the festival. To everyone’s surprise, the number of entries that were submitted at the festival was the maximum ever entered so far.
While the deserving entries across categories were awarded their share of merit at the festival, it was not just the teams from agencies who were rejoicing at the wins. They were joined in spirit and body by clients who were as excited in seeing their brand make an impact in the marketplace.
While clients now acknowledge the uniqueness that the forum offers and make it a point to attend the festival, there is still not enough done from their end in recognizing the efforts put in by the workforce across agencies. Sensing an opportunity, print major Dainik Bhaskar Group showed its appreciation by unveiling the second edition of their much-appreciated work, Mosaic at Goafest.
Through Mosaic, the Dainik Bhaskar Group lends recognition to and establishes a platform for creative agencies to showcase their best print work. Grander than its previous edition, Mosaic 2012 features 121 print campaigns across 105 brands from 31 top agencies. This number is significantly higher than the first edition where works by 70 brands created by 23 leading creative agencies in India was curated by the Dainik Bhaskar group. In fact, this year is more special as it features additional inclusion of select regional print work and the personal favourites section wherein industry experts offer their insight on what makes a print ad work.
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Highlighting the experience witnessed in compiling the second edition, Sanjeev Kotnala, VP – Brand & Marketing, Dainik Bhaskar Group said, “The second edition has more campaigns and brands in it. And yes, this time we do see a decent inclusion of regional – language work too. Also, the favourites have been picked by a mix of seniors from marketing and media.”
Mr Kotnala added, “The entries featured in the book are by invitation only. We have, in consultation with our partner Afaqs, invited large agencies well-known for their creative to submit their work – agencies that have in the past won awards.”
The book features creatives handpicked by creative heads across agencies. While each agency has submitted 5 entries, an exception has been made with DDB Mudra that sent 12 campaigns. Said Mr Kotnala on this decision, “The team looking through the entries found that all the entries submitted by them should be included for their excellence. Dropping any one would have been wrong in this case.”
As was the case with the first edition, the second edition also contains a section – A different point of view – which sees seven industry heads select their favourites among the lot. Manish Vyas of VIP industries, Manisha Lath Gupta of Axis Bank, Santosh Desai of Future Brands, CVL Srinivas of Group M, Lara Balsara of Madison World, Mallikarjundas CR of Starcom Mediavest and Shripad Kulkarni of Allied Media have all presented their favourites from the list.
The book was unveiled on the sidelines of Goafest along with the Dainik Bhaskar-sponsored IAA Debates by media industry captains: Prasoon Joshi, Vikram Sakhuja, Partha Sinha, Monica Tata, Anupriya Acharya, and Srinivasan Swamy. Industry stalwarts like Sam Balsara, Shashi Sinha, Nakul Chopra, Jishnu Sen, Alok Lal, Sanjay Naik, Bobby Pawar and KV Sridhar among others were present too.
On the response that the book has managed to elicit so far, Mr Kotnala said, “The second edition has been appreciated and we had enough people at Goafest coming and asking for it. It is too early, but last year we had more than 8,500 downloads and more than 4,500 copies distributed. We expect the second edition to obviously fare better.”
In fact Mr Kotnala and team are already brainstorming on what the third edition of the book should look like. On his expectations from agencies for the third edition he said, “Agencies qualify themselves for it. And we do not have any preference or bias but hopefully we would see more work being produced in languages.”
And it’s no surprise where the third edition of the book will be launched. Asserted Mr Kotnala, “We shall, like this year, bring out Mosaic III before or during Goafest.”
MxMIndia presents glimpses of some of the creatives shortlisted by experts…
Manish Vyas
Vice President – Marketing, VIP Industries Ltd.
“A great initiative to bring together some of the best work in the industry. I am sure it will inspire many greater campaigns in the future.”
Top 5 choices
Click on the image for larger view
Manisha Lath Gupta
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Axis Bank
“This book is a great study, as there is so much to learn from this collection of print ads. Many of them inspire marketers to think differently and take more risky decisions on creative.”
Top 5 choices
Click on the image for larger view
Santosh Desai
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Future Brands Ltd.
“Its a good initiative but needs more real work to become truly meaningful.”
Top 5 choices
Click on the image for larger view
CVL Srinivas
Chief Executive Officer – South Asia, GroupM
“Hats off to Dainik Bhaskar for continuing this initiative. This compilation is adequate proof that print as a medium can be as effective as any other.”
Top 5 choices
Click on the image for larger view
Lara Balsara
Executive Director, Madison World
“Great idea to further the cause of print. Can become a collector’s item.”
Shripad Kulkarni
Chief Executive Officer, Percept Media”An excellent initiative which can probably be taken to a higher plane and level to address the serious concern of lack of support to print from ‘creatives’ in a more holistic manner.”
Top 5 choices
Click on the image for larger view
Text and images published with permission of the Dainik Bhaskar group. The e-book can be downloaded from http://www.bhaskar.com/mosaic/
Pranvir Mann, erstwhile Head of Creative at R K Swamy BBDO (Delhi) since 2004 has joined Concept Communications as National Creative Director, with a mandate to focus on the group’s businesses in the northern region.
Sharing his vision for Concept, Mr Mann said, “Concept today is poised at a very important stage in its growth. While reinforcing its core strengths in corporate and financial advertising, it also seeks to enhance its brandbuilding and creative capabilities to meet the needs of other businesses. With substantial experience in the above areas, I see it as a perfect fit and a challenging opportunity.”
In his advertising career of over 25 years, Mr Mann has helmed creative teams at Clarion Advertising, Mudra Communications and R K Swamy BBDO. A literature post graduate from Delhi University, he has shaped brand communication across categories from Consumer Durables and Personal Care Products to Automobiles, Banking and Telecom Services. His work has been applauded by National and International Award juries that include Creative Artisits Guild (CAG), A&M and AAAI among others.
Sharp work from the Goibibo guys, and quite literally too! The strategic thrust is to diss the rivals and gain brownie points in the process.
The setting is an operation theatre. A ‘patient’ is on the bed with multiple knives stuck into his back. When the surgeon arrives, our patient complains about being stabbed in the back by his regular travel agent/portal, that too on several occasions. On account of cancelled airline bookings, being offered horrible hotel rooms, etc. The cool surgeon, instead of operating on the poor fellow, digs the knives back into him, and recommends Goibibo.
This wild approach will help the brand get a good recall when people plan their travel. One, because most people will have had all sorts of bad experiences on their journeys. And will report stories of the ‘missing in action’ travel agent when things went wrong. Therefore viewers will immediately empathise with this creative. As a new brand, Goibibo needed a platform like this to take off. I also like the use of ‘being stabbed in the back’ metaphor as the central idea. It gives the ads visual drama and helps build a long-term memory hook. And it makes the ads entertaining to watch.
Good work. In terms of both, the strategy and the creative. Well, the ad agency has delivered. Now it’s up to the Goibibo team to meet their deadly promise. They let the travellers down, and Goibibo will have to be ready to face frontal knife attacks. J
Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3.5 Edgy creative backed by sound strategy
Haha. A cute ad from the Blue Star air conditioners guys… in fact, the crazy treatment tells me that advertising for this product category is getting precariously close to that of candy adverts.
The idea is this: Keeps the boss cool. At home and at office. The message is delivered through jazz music. So the male boss acts like he’s maha agitated, and so does the lady at home. Their anger resonates to the beat of the tense music. Once the Blue Star a/c is switched on, both immediately cool down, and their body language matches with the now pleasant musical strains.
A pat on the back to Blue Star for taking this dangerous route. Quite clearly, they have chosen clutter-breaking as the primary communication task, and the ad delivers on that score. The madcap work will get the brand noticed. It’s also treated well, there’s entertainment in-built within the idea, without the need for any spoken words. So that’s fine. But that still doesn’t change the fact that an a/c will set you back by thousands of rupees, and a consumer will surely want to know a lot more about the brand. Guess the Blue Star team is leaving that task to the showroom salesman.
Net net: It’s a dicey strategy and can easily backfire. However, one must give the advertiser credit for taking that chance. Especially if they have nothing unique to boast about the product itself, and I suspect they don’t.
Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3. Risky ad but it does smash the clutter.
After a long period of pressure and pursuit by companies based in New Delhi to partner up, Creativeland Asia is readying itself to set up its base in the capital. The New Delhi office will kick off operations with the creative duties for HomeShop18, which was bagged by Creativeland Asia recently.
Sajan Raj Kurup
On this strategic move, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia, says, “Finally, I have an answer to everyone who has been asking me when Creativeland will set up in Delhi. I am looking at this market with great enthusiasm and passion. We are currently in the process of structuring our operations.”
Recruitment announcements surrounding the new operations will follow soon.
On the partnership with Creativeland Asia, Sundeep Malhotra, Founder & CEO HomeShop18 says, “We like the work done by Creativeland Asia and their approach to brand building, and found synergy in our mutual thinking. We believe that we have in Creativeland Asia brand partners who would be able to help take our brand development plans forward.”
Mr Raj Kurup adds, “Online retail is an exciting category to build brands in. I have been waiting to wield the Creativeland magic in this category. Creativeland looks forward to working on HomeShop18.”
So, mota bhai has decided to emerge from his Gujarat hideout for a Bharat Darshan. Modi has sniffed a golden opportunity of becoming the nation’s PM in 2014, and is therefore on a media feeding frenzy. No medium is being spared. Conferences, seminars, TV interviews, Twitter, 3D holograms, it’s all happening. And I think he’s doing the right thing at the right time. The janata is maha fed up of UPA’s assorted corruption scandals, and the BJP does have a chance to get back into power, provided, of course, they can hitch up support from regional satraps, and that’s not going to be easy.
The 360-degree media blitz will not just get Modi quick national attention, it will help him crash Advaniji’s perpetual dream of becoming PM (as also the hopes of other BJP contenders). Once Modi positions himself as the Next Big Thing (which he’s very busy doing), it will be impossible for the BJP to nominate someone else.
Even better news for the controversial neta is that the media fully reciprocates the love and affection. This is because Modi is a colourful character, a cool orator, and you can be assured of wicked soundbites. In complete contrast with his arch rival, Rahul baba, who’s a huge bore. This attracts journalists to the man like bees to a beehive (Oops! Politically incorrect metaphor, hehe). There’s another reason for the media’s lust for Modi, and I can say this as a journalist: I think each reporter/anchor is secretly hoping that the much demanded and much awaited apology to the Muslims will happen on his/her channel/portal/newspaper. Well, that apology isn’t coming anytime soon, but it keeps the journos on their toes. And I am pretty certain the clever Gujarati leader is aware of this, and is using it to his full advantage.
Also, luck seems to be running on Modi’s side; Shri Jagdish Tytler, the face of the 1984 anti Sikh riots, is here to help mota bhai’s cause. With the case reopening now, the Congress’s 2002 anti-Modi strategy gets instantly negated. So, expect a Modi media blast right till the next general elections. Of course, whether it will convert into votes, and the PM’s job, is another story.
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PS: This is not for the attention of Narendra Modi, he already knows how to handle the press. But every stuck-up, self-obsessed Indian movie star and celeb should watch this video. This is Jennifer Lawrence at a press con, soon after winning the Oscar. Witty, charming, disarming, natural. That’s the way to go, people.
By Anil Thakraney
Subhash Kamat, Managing Partner, BBH
Research insights: Women believed that if the country progressed, their own children would have a better future. Women felt a sense of pride about their responsibility towards their children’s future because they felt that only they could do something about it.
As more and more brands enter the already cluttered market today, the challenge for any brand is not only to reinvent itself but also to gain and retain new customers.
By Anant Rangaswami
