Barack Obama’s election campaign is probably the best marketing campaign for a “personality brand” (some may say it’s the best marketing campaign for any brand or product ever but there will be many people arguing against that, so we’ll let that rest for a bit).
By the end of it, “Change” reverberated through the length and breadth of America and brand Obama could do no wrong. All thanks to a marketing campaign centered around the theme of optimism which no American could have possibly missed.
Indian political campaigns have never really been campaigns in the true sense of the word. While television and print commercials pass off as campaigns; the impact is quite limited primarily because the reach is very, very restrictive and communication cold (no personal interaction, no vested propaganda). To that extent; they were never engineered or architected as political campaigns. The attempt at “architect an election marketing campaign” (read markitecting) was never there.
However, that seems to be changing in the elections for 2009. A semblance of a structured election campaign seems to be coming out of the BJP ranks. And the similarities with the “Brand Obama” campaign seem to be quite stark. BJP is making a serious attempt at markitecting a campaign aimed to position LK Advani as the leader of change and progress.
Given that NDA declared Advani as their Prime Ministerial candidate well in advance has allowed them the opportunity to tackle all the issues that brand LK Advani may face in a structured manner well in advance.
It all began at the HT Leadership Summit with Mr. L K Advani sharing his views about secularism and corruption in the country. Given his well documented stand on “Ram Rajya”; the view he put forth on secularism was his first step in ensuring that he is seen as the leader of a country and not of Hinduism in the country.
The book authored by him “My country, My Life” also launched at an opportune time, an attempt of bringing the “urban eclectics” closer to LK Advani. The attempt was at projecting a leader who was secular, intellectual and a strong leader with strong views.
Next up was the issue of tackling the “82 year old man leading a young India”. To put forth the fact that he is in tune with and comfortable with the fads of the new generation, www.lkadvani.in was launched. A blog site where Mr. L K Advani attempted to speak his mind and connect with a young, talkative India while proving that he’s a leader “young at heart, if not young in age”
Many may say that these seem to be just coincidences. But the way I look at it; there were some tick marks that Obama covered in his political campaign. And they hold true for “Brand Advani” too.
Book, tick. Blog, tick. Talk to the intellects and the opinion makers, tick.
And chances are by the time we reach April 2009; there will be a lot more tick marks on that “election campaign marketing” sheet that Obama had and which is being followed by the Advani marketing think tank.
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