MxMIndia

Tag: NDA

  • Exit Polls: A ‘No Confidence’ Motion

    Exit Polls: A ‘No Confidence’ Motion

    AI generated image showing an abstract representation of the discrepancies between the Exit Poll results and the actual results declared on June 4.

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe marathon elections are finally past us. But not without a result not many saw coming when the elections season started three months ago. The results on June 4 came as a surprise to many, particularly because a plethora of exit polls funded by mainline news channels of the country had predicted a resounding victory for the Narendra Modi-led NDA, with almost all of them giving the alliance 350+ seats, and some even predicting ‘400 paar’.

    As we know now, even ‘300 par’ didn’t materialise. Since then, there has been intense debate about exit polls, and whether their inaccurate predictions are simply a case of incompetence on the part of multiple agencies, or a result of malafide intent to influence the stock market. I have been asked this question more than a few times over the last 10 days, in my capacity as the head of a media research firm.

    While I’m no stockmarket expert, the scam allegations seem a bit far-fetched. It would take multiple agencies to comply with the perpetrators of the scam, put their reputation on the line, and hope that they make some illegal money off it. The history of scams suggest they are ‘designed’ in a way that they are under the radar, far from the public eye. Exit polls were anything but that. In any case, I don’t see how we will know any more on this topic anytime soon.

    The incompetence argument is a lot more persuasive one. Despite large sample sizes (while not all polls reveal their methodology and sample design, some do), and the claim to have covered all 543 constituencies, and represented different demographic segments adequately, how do so many polls get it wrong? In my opinion, the incompetence doesn’t lie in their ability to conduct field surveys, but in their lack of confidence to look at the findings dispassionately. All quantitative research that comes with the responsibility of predicting an outcome will operate on ranges, rather than exact numbers. And it’s now evident that the exit polls were leaned towards the higher ends of their ranges, and probably stretched them further. One poll made sure its upper end was 401, and another went for the round figure: 400!

    Over the course of this year’s election coverage, we have seen many pollsters become election experts, going beyond analysing their data, and entering domains of political analysis that’s best left to journalists with their ears to the ground. Bafflingly, many editors of mainline news channels have encouraged this, by giving pollsters a platform on their shows every night, even during the period when the Election Commission embargo on exit poll results was in play.

    It may be hard to resist fame, but if it comes at the cost of objectivity, a pollster must examine if it’s worth it. As it is, our news channels operate like echo chambers, and it is hard to not get influenced by their narratives if they are platforming you as an important talking head.

    So, the pollsters have gone wrong in their minds, probably working backwards from a pre-decided outcome they talked themselves into believing. It’s impossible to say what conclusions a more objective analysis on their data would have led them to conclude.

    In any case, exit polls seem to quite a wasteful indulgence for news channels. But it’s a vicious loop, because no channel wants to miss out on an evening’s hype. Just like no pollster wants to be the only one who got it wrong!

  • It was high time someone took up the mantle of protecting the advertising industry, writes Prabhakar Mundkur

    Ogilvy takes up the Plagiarism Mantle

     

    By Prabhakar Mundkur

     

    I believe the etymology of the word plagiarism comes from the Latin ‘plagiarius’ which means ‘kidnapper, seducer, plunderer’.  And for any creative and ideas person who has been the subject of plagiarism, the meaning runs true.  It actually does feel like your idea was kidnapped. The immense hurt and insult it metes out to the originator of an idea is unparalleled. Plagiarism has a long history and perhaps the first time the word was used was in the context of literature in 80 AD and with reference to the Roman poet Martial. Not surprising. Poetry, literature, music, the other arts and the whole history of man’s ideation is plagued by plagiarism. Roman architects I believe would present elaborate plans for aqueducts and bridges but decline to give the angle of the keystone involved for the arches because they were afraid of plagiarism.

     

    It was high time someone took up the mantle of protecting the advertising industry, and I can’t help feeling that Ogilvy as the industry leader has taken up this important cause. Unfortunately, I think the court has taken a weak stand already by allowing Vivo to continue with the advertising and by asking Vivo to deposit a crore with the court – that is just 2% of the reported spend on the campaign. If we are convinced that there was a striking similarity between the storyboard presented by Ogilvy and the final version produced by Dentsu, we need not go any further. Guilt is already established. The defence of simultaneous creative outputs being similar is a weak one in this case, while it is known to happen both in art and science, purely on probabilistic terms.  While it is remotely possible that Dentsu arrived at the same idea with amazingly striking similarities, one can’t forget that there is a referee who is in this case the client, who was examining both pieces of creative and obviously in great detail.  So that makes at least the client culpable!

     

    After all, what would the fair and ethical client do?  He would tell Dentsu that they already have a similar idea from a pitch Ogilvy made and ask them to work on an alternative idea.  There is one more reason why this sounds like a client led plagiarism.  If Vivo rejected Ogilvy’s idea of the script which was developed over a period of many months, how is it they approved a script from Dentsu which had striking similarities?  If the idea had no merit, the Dentsu script should have been rejected as well.

     

    Is it the first time this kind of plagiarism is happening from unethical clients?  Not at all.

     

    Just last year, I pitched for a very reputable Indian bank.  We were told that the selection process would take about a month.  Then a week later, my creative director opens his Facebook page and he finds the ad he had presented at the pitch staring at him in the face.  Personally, I believe that plagiarism has gone on for too long, and that agencies have been too weak in wanting to do anything about it.  So, kudos to Ogilvy for standing up!   Remember, it is only someone who is proud of their work who will stand up.

     

    Other cases of Plagiarism

    A few years ago in Malaysia Dentsu Otama was accused of plagiarizing the artwork of British designer Tom Anders unfortunately for the World Wildlife Fund which is such a well known brand.

     

     

    Tom claimed copyright infringement. His work was published on 27th April 2014, and the WWF ad appeared on 22nd July 2015.

     

    Do clients admit to Plagiarism?

    Oh yes they do. If they are honest and have a moral compass. Mcdonalds for example pulled their ad out of the media when they are supposed to have copied photographer Kristina Bakrevski that captures pictures of her friend David Sikorski staring lovingly at a burrito.

    In fact, Mcdonalds accepted the mistake with grace when they told Adweek, “This shouldn’t have happened, and, with our agency partner, we’re working to find out how it did. We’re reaching out to David Sikorski and Kristina Bakrevski. We apologise to them, their fans and ours.

     

    What is the way forward for agencies?

    Typically because of the nature of the industry, plagiarism happens during pitches. Pitches are for free and the ideas then remain with the client.  Often clients share their own information with great caution by asking the ad agency to sign a NDA so that their information is held in great confidentiality.

    For some reason the ad industry takes a servile position by not asking the client to sign a similar NDA for the work that they are likely to present to the client. After all most confidentiality and NDA Agreements start with the following statement “For all purposes of this agreement, the term “Confidential Information” shall collectively refer to all non-public information or material information or material disclosed or provided by one party to the other, either orally or in writing….”.

     

    It is high time the ad industry plugged loopholes to protect their intellectual property.

     

    And what will happen to the Ogilvy-Vivo case and what will the courts decide?

     

    Will Vivo have the same grace as Mcdonalds to admit that the two pieces of work which Ogilvy and Dentsu provided to them were strikingly similar and only they had the knowledge of the similarities?

     

    Not if they don’t have a moral compass.

     

    Prabhakar Mundkur is a veteran adperson and now a prolific commentator. His views here are personal

     

  • One of the many factors why the NDA emerged victorious was its ad and PR campaign. A quick chat with brand consultant Harish Bijoor

    The Rise & Shine of Brand Modi

     

    Even as the final results were coming in, it was clear that one of the many factors why Narendra Modi and the NDA emerged victorious in the General Elections 2014 was the advertising and public relations campaign. Shobhana Nair spoke to Harish Bijoor, well-known brand expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc to discuss the rise and rise of Brand Modi

     

    Harish Bijoor

    On what has worked for Brand Modi in the last year?

    Hard work. Very hard work. Add to it the fact that Brand Modi started off the block much before elections were announced. Brand Modi established itself first when it saw Narendra Modi as a hat-trick CM of Gujarat. This image was further boosted with development as a cue. And then came the announcement of Modi as a PM candidate of the BJP. This was decisive and focussed branding. And then kicked in the campaign.

     

    The solus attention on Modi has helped the BJP immensely in this victory. If you remove Modi from the BJP, you will find a huge crevice in terms of the resultant imagery. To that extent, this is a pure Modi win. In many ways, this paves the way for an epochal shift in the way campaigns will be run in this country. The individual will become more important than the party. Parties that hide behind the cloak of group-think will need to think individual personas, American style, in the future.

     

    Do you think it was smart marketing that gave Mr Modi the comprehensive victory?

    Absolutely. Narendra Modi is the ultimate political marketer. He had able support, and he was decisive in the way he managed his campaign. His campaign was a 360-degree campaign that had everyone else watching with awe. The best of product marketing gyaan was brought into this campaign. And it worked. Modi is a product. And this product promised what the people wanted. And in him people saw a strong  and decisive leader, someone who was an anti-thesis of sorts to the persona India was used to in the past decade with Manmohan Singh at the helm of affairs.

     

    Would you say the BJP’s ad agencies produce great advertising, or at least advertising that worked?

    They did. I love the “Abki Baar Modi Sarkaar line”, as did I love the jingles that captured the need of the people in bundling hope: “Acchhe din aane waale hain…” And media organizations loved the amount of money that was spent in airing all of this for sure.

     

    And do you think the Congress loss was caused by bad advertising?

    Not really. In the beginning, it is all about strategy. I do believe the gaps lie in the strategy rather than in the advertising executions. I do believe enough of emphasis on voter insight was not given. The campaign was top-down and ignored the bottom-up possibilities.

     

    How does Brand Modi not suffer from the same fate as various Opposition/non-Congress governments have in the past?

    Brand Modi is beyond it all for now. His assessment will start happening one year from now. And that will be the biggest challenge to tackle. Every single promise needs to be fulfilled. With care, tracking and passion.