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JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, NOIDA

BRAND ANNA

ASHA KAKOTI

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Abstract

The tale of two fasts -The Anna phenomenon might have attracted thousands and

captured the imagination of an entire nation, but in sharp and dismaying contrast isthe iconic struggle of Irom Sharmila in Manipur who has been silently protesting

against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 by refusing food and water

since 2nd November 2000. She weighs just 37 kgs and most of her body organs are

wasted. The Indian state of Manipur has kept her alive on a cocktail of vitamins and

nutrients and she is force fed twice a day through her nose. Save Sharmila

Campaign was able to attract about 200 people at a candlelight march at Rajghat on

25thJune 2011 in sharp contrast to lakhs of people who lend their voices to the Anna

Hazares fast of 13 days.

So what it is in an ex Army man Anna Hazare that could evoke such a response frompeople crushing the barriers of age, regions, caste and religion and which brought

the government of the largest democracy in the world on its knees.

This paper explores the path treading on which Anna Hazare evolved into Brand

Anna and the various tools used to reach to the Indian population particularly the

GeNxt. This paper studies how Team Anna Carefully structured out a campaign to

involve the Indian youth on such a high scale and transform Anna Hazare into a best

selling product.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

A traditional definition of a brand was: the name, associated with one or more itemsin the product line, that is used to identify the source of character of the item(s)(Kotler 2000, p. 396).

The American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of a brand is a name, term,sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods andservices of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those ofcompetitors (p. 404).

Aaker and Joachmisthaler (2000) discuss the traditional branding model where abrand management team was responsible for creating and coordinating the brandsmanagement program.

According to the brand orientation model, the starting point for a process of brand

building is to first create a clear understanding of the internal brand identity. Thebrand then becomes a strategic platform that provides the framework for thesatisfaction of customers wants and needs (Urde 1999, p. 129)

ABOUT ANNA HAZARE

Born as Kisan Hazare on 15 thJune 1937 in Bhingar in Bombay Province, Anna

Hazare served in the Indian Army for 12 years. He took voluntary retirement from the

army in 1978. He was honourably discharged from the Indian Army with five medals

to his credit: Sainya Seva Medal, Nine Years Long Service Medal, Sangram Medal,

25th Independent Anniversary Medal, and Pashimi Star award.

Hazare was responsible for making revolutionary changes in his native village

Ralegan Siddhi which paved the way for social and economic upliftment of the entire

village. The first step was to form an organization with the youths of the village by the

name Tarun Mandal. Through this group he combated the menace of alcoholism

and closed own all liquor dens and banned alcohol in the village.

Another initiative by Anna Hazare was the Food Grain Bank which assured the poor

farmers of food even in drought or poor harvest. In this system, rich farmers, or those

with surplus grain production, could donate a quintal to the bank. In times of need,

farmers could borrow the grain, but they had to return the same amount of grain they

borrowed, plus an additional quintal as an interest. This ensured that nobody in the

village ever went hungry or had to borrow money to buy grain. This also prevented

distress sales of grain at lower prices at harvest time

Indian villages are plagued with problems of water supply shortage, so Hazare came

up with a plan which was a permanent solution to this problem and also which

facilitated irrigation in the area. In his native village, Hazare persuaded villagers to

construct a watershed embankment to stop water at the foothills and allow it topercolate and increase the ground water level and improve irrigation in the area.

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Residents of the village used shramdan (voluntary labour) to build canals, small-

scale check-dams, and percolation tanks in the nearby hills for watershed

development. Grass, shrubs and about 3 Lakh trees were planted along the hillside

and the village. This model has been such a success that the Government of India

plans to set up a training centre in Ralegan Siddhi to understand and implementHazare's watershed development model in other villages in the country

It was Anna Hazare's moral leadership that motivated and inspired the people of

Ralegan Siddhi to shun untouchability and discrimination against the Dalits.

Marriages of Dalits are held as part of community marriage program together with

those of other castes.

In 1991, Hazare launched the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan(BVJA) (People's

Movement against Corruption), a popular movement to fight against corruption in

Ralegaon Siddhi. In the same year he protested against the collusion between 40forest officials and timber merchants. This protest resulted in the transfer and

suspension of these officials

In the early 2000s Hazare led a movement in Maharashtra state which forced the

state government to pass a stronger Maharashtra Right to Information Act. This Act

was later considered as the base document for the Right to Information Act 2005

(RTI), enacted by the Union Government. It also ensured that the President of India

assented to this new Act.

And in 2011 Anna Hazare launched the Satyagraha movement for the Jan LokpalBill which elevated him to the status of the Father of the Nation: Mahatma Gandhi

and the chant of Anna was all overIndia.

David versus Goliath II

A simple, old but energetic man taking on the Indian government and the politicalcircles was an acute reminder of the David versus Goliath epic. But this war requiredmore than a slingshot. Team Anna had to understand the importance of market

dynamics, perception of the people and the importance of social media whendesigning the promotion strategy of the entire movement. By unwaveringly focusingon his crusade against corruption, Anna Hazare had to achieve what multinationalcompanies or brands spend billions and a lifetime to attain: carving out space in theconsumer's mind.

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THE PRODUCT

The entire movement was a carefully thought out and structured plan which involved

clearly defining the product, promotion tools, the price and the place of promotion.

The product in this case was the Jan Lokpal Bill.

India has a tarnished image in terms of corruption. Indians at every level are

exposed to corruption in daily life. Under the table money has become an

indispensable part of every Indians life. Thus, every Indian felt the need of some law

or some regulation to curb this ever increasing practise. The Jan Lokpal Bill was a

product designed to address this felt need. When Anna Hazare came up with this

product, it got the empathy of the common man or the middle class which is full of

angst against corruption. The middle class in India is mushrooming at the moment

and according to McKinseys report by 2015 the middle class will be the highest

number of people in India. Thus what India will have is a diamond and not a pyramid.

There was clarity in the product. It promised only one thing: freedom from corruption.

The product addressed the ethical dimensions and people perceived long term

benefits from the Jan Lokpal Bill. This helped to gain the support of Indians of all

diversities and not just the educated Indians. What helped support the cause even

more was the image of Anna Hazare- a clean track record and fresh; an exception to

the herd of politicians in India.

THE TEAM

For this mammoth task a team: Team Anna was formed which comprised of

stalwarts like Shanti Bhushan(Law Minister OF India 1977-79 who introduced the

Lokpal bill in 1977), Prashant Bhushan(Indian Social Activist, lawyer and son of

Shanti Bhushan), Arvind Kejriwal(Indian social activist, winner Ramon Magasaysay

Award, member India Against Corruption) and Kiran Bedi( Indian social activist and a

retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer).

THE MOVEMENT AND THE PROMOTIONS

Anna Hazare sat on fast demanding the Jan Lokpal Bill two times: once in April at

Jantar Mantar and the second time at the Ram Lila Maidan in August. These two

fasts were distinct in many ways. The second fast attracted far more supporters than

the previous fast.

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Firstly the awareness was already there for the masses. An anticipation that an

individual is trying to do something which will benefit them was the message that

Team Anna was circulating before the fast actually took place. Anna Hazare and

Team Anna travelled to several nook and corners of India to garner support of key

individuals who could bring in hoards of supporters from their regions. For exampleAnna Hazare visited Assam and met the youth leader Akhil Gogoi. Students from

various colleges in the national capital were motivated to lend their voice to the

protest. Newspapers report that Delhi University had many empty classes during the

first days of the August fast. The focus was not on political parties but students,

youth activists who could energize the entire protest. The name of second freedom

strugglewas doing the rounds at that time.

The second freedom struggle required a replica of Mahatma Gandhi with whompeople could easily identify and trust. Team Anna carefully designed a strategy to

depict Anna Hazare if not as Mahatma Gandhi himself but certainly a closer avatar.In the April fast a poster of Bharat Mata (Mother India) formed the backdrop of thestage, inviting criticism from certain sections of people. Team Anna in the Augustfast however put a giant portrait of Mahatma Gandhi as the background in order tobring in a secular touch and portray Anna as an avatar of modern day Gandhi.

In the April fast supporters like Swami Agnivesh, Baba Ramdev and other AnnaTeam members Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejrival and Kiran Bediwere seen sharing the dais at Jantar Mantar along with Hazare. But at the secondfast a conscious effort was visible to ensure that only Hazare occupied the podiumand got the complete focus of the entire TV crew. The other supporters had to

contend themselves with a lower podium to address the press or the gatherings.

The media: both print and television played a huge role in elevating Annas fast.

Television news channels dedicated most of their coverage to Anna Hazare.

According to News Content Track, a service of TAM Media Research, reports on the

Jan Lokpal Bill bagged 77% coverage on the top 10 TV news shows in the first half

of August. Live telecast of the lone campaigner against the backdrop of Mahatma

Gandhi was the foundation stone for building Brand Anna.

ROLE OF WEB 2.0

You have to speak the language your customer understands otherwise its all Greekto them

Anyone who needs to promote a product especially to the GeNxt cannot underminethe power of social media. GeNxt are avid users if not addicts of facebook. TeamAnna extensively used facebook and twitter as a medium to reach the GeNxt ofIndia. A dedicated page was created on facebook where Team Anna members like

Arvind Kejriwal posted recent developments, updates on Annas health and anydiscussion with the government. To gather crowds for candlelight marches, or

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protesting outside the Prime Ministers residence or Kapil Sibals residence anotification was sent out on facebook. This was combined with bulk SMS campaignssent out to ensure a mass gathering.

Simple but effective:

Another important feature was the missed call campaigns. Team Anna came up withthis strategy that who wanted to join the protest but were unable to be physicallypresent could just give a missed cal to a given phone number and that number wasto be noted down as a supporter of Anna Hazares campaign. It only took about 10seconds of a person and did not cost him or her anything in monetary terms.

Initiated by campaign organisers, the India Against Corruption team, Facebookprofile badges and petitions (most notably on online campaign site Avaaz (where

over 6.17 lakh registered support) played an important role.

On typing Anna Hazare, YouTube shows up around 2,000 video results, a lot ofwhich are amateur videos shot by participants. A simple search on Facebook revealsover 20 pages that all have around 25,000-30,000 users on-board. Anna HazaresFacebook profile page has over 1.3 lakh Likes.

The combination of all: SMS campaigns, Social Media websites, missed callcampaigns, online petitions brought in the large number of youths which was absentin the April fast and it proved to be the slingshot that Team Anna required to slay theGoliath.

BRAND ANNA

The mass supporters crying out I am Anna became a rage around the country. Itbecame the slogan to reckon with. T-shirts with Annas image, Gandhi caps similarto what Anna wore, tricolours were hot sellers of the day. The popularity of thecampaign drove prices of a Rs.50 tricolour to Rs.500. In a price sensitive countrylike India, this inflated price did not present any obstacles to the tricolour becoming

the best selling product. Even rakhis were sold on Raksha Bandhan that had AnnaHazares image on it. T-shirts were sold at the Ramlila Maidan at Rs.150. thepopularity was such that they were sold in markets too and were fast disappearingfrom the shelves. Gandhi caps became a fashion statement and thus Brand Annaarrived in a huge way.

CONCLUSION

The successful implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill is yet to be seen and many

doubt whether the masses who joined the protest really understand the bill. But there

is no doubt whatsoever that Hazares campaign has given large sections of

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otherwise unconnected Indians a common national purpose. It is an example of how

moral persuasion, calibrated into a degree of moral pressure, can impact ruling

predispositions. Anna has captured the imagination of the Indian middle class,

particularly the youth, because the movement has become an outlet to vent their

frustration and demand change.