Public Relations ADVERTISING

INDEX

Topics

Definition

History of narendra modi

Education of modi

Political career

Development of Gujrat

Awards and recognition

Public relation agency used fof NAMO

Advertising agency used in election

With the emergence of social media

Campaigns before election

Learning from modi

From narendra modi to brand modi

Just the right image

Definition

Public relations (PR) are the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public. 

History of Narendra Modi

• Born on September 17, 1950

• Small district of Gujarat, Vadnagar.

• He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben.

• Education- post graduation in political science.

• During the Indo-Pak war  in the mid sixties, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations.

• Joined Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad , a student organisation and was involved in the anti-corruption Nav Nirmāṇ ("Reconstruction") Movement.

• Nominated as representative in Bharatiya Janata Party.

Education

• KNOWLEDGE COORIDOR- stretch between Gandhinagar and Amdavad.

• 5 major universities included.

• Nirma University at Ahmedabad, DDU at Nadiad, DAIICT at Gandhinagar, Shyamji Krishna Verma University at Kutch and Ganpat University at Mehsana.

• IIT, GANDHINAGAR.

• National law university.

• Agricultural universities.

Political Career

• Elected as the student leader of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and played a prominent role in various socio-political movements in Gujarat.

• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a socio-cultural organization in social and cultural development of India.

• There he imbibed the spirit of nation-before-self and service-to-the-needy.

• Entered the mainstream politics by joining the BJP in 1987.

• Within a year, he assumed the responsibility of the General Secretary of the Gujarat unit.

• BJP in power- 2/3 majority.

• Active work in BJP.

• Became the CM of Gujarat in OCT,2001.

Developments in Gujarat.

• Blueprint for Infrastructure in Gujarat – BIG 2020, envisages a total capital outlay of Rs.3,57,468 crores .

• 11 broad sectors such as Power, Water and Irrigation, Ports, Roads, Industrial Parks and SEZs, Urban Infrastructure, Gas, Knowledge Corridors, Railways and Airports, Tourism and Telecom – Infrastructure.

• 11 airports, one international airport, an extensive rail network and a robust road network.

• Gujarat is blessed with a coastline of over 1600 km, the longest in the country, and is dotted with 41 ports.

• More than 98% villages in Gujarat are connected with concrete roads. This excellent rural road connectivity is the best in the country and translates into fast track growth.

• Announcement of special auto-port.

Awards and Recognition

• Gujarat Ratna by Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on celebration of centenary year.

• e-Ratna award by the Computer Society of India

• Best Chief Minister – In a nationwide survey conducted in 2006 by India Today magazine, Narendra Modi was declared the Best Chief Minister in the country.

• Asian Winner of the fDi Personality of the Year Award for 2009 by fDi Magazine.

The public relation agency used by Namo

• APCO Worldwide

• Sometime near August 2007, APCO Worldwide was hired by Narendra Modi to rebuild his image before the second assembly elections he was to face as Chief Minister.

Mechanics of Narendra Modi's PR agency : APCO Worldwide - Orchestrating our Future

 

Advertising agency used for elections

• Advertising agencies Soho Square, and media buying agency Madison World—the media team that helped Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweep to power in the Lok Sabha elections with the biggest election victory in 30 years.

• The party kept Modi at the centre of its campaign.

Advertising agency

• The creative backbone of the party’s campaign was Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director from South Asia.

• Yet another statement of a clear and focused strategy by the BJP which we were asked to translate into people’s language in a creative fashion.

• From Ab ki baar Modi Sarkaar one of the main slogans this time was Chalo chale Modi ke saath.

• Maharashtra including Rs.50 lakh for the telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Madison Square garden speech which was aired on seven Marathi television channels.

• The BJP spent Rs.25 crore on the advertisement campaigns in Haryana.

• The BJP, had 37 rallies in both states: 27 in Maharashtra; 10 in Haryana.

With the emergence of Social Media,

• he enhanced his reach and joined Twitter in January 2009 & Facebook in May 2009.

• Present Stats:

• Facebook Users: 100M+

• Twitter Users: 18.1M+

•

on Twitter

•

Youtube

Subscribers - 226,426

+1000 videos uploaded

www.youtube.com/user/narendramodi

Google+

2,214,433 followers|223,040,795 views

plus.google.com/u/0/+NarendraModi/posts

Campaigns Before Elections.

Abki Baar

Modi Sarkaar

Janta maaf

nahi karegi

Achhe din aane wale hain

Web Presence

• Use of Search Engine Optimization and social aggregators to fine tune the search results

• Regular and instantaneous updates on Online News Channel (Namo Gujarat – Narendra Modi’s exclusive news channel in Gujarat)

• Featuring on paid ads and articles on news sites (Firstpost.com)• Web PR (Nomination in Mashable.com – Most famous politician on web)• Use of latest technology- Delivery of 3D speeches using holographic

projection and propagation of the speech across 4 cities and digital media channels Brand building

Narendra Modi’s brand building revolves around development. He is known as the man of development.

Narendra Modi has designed and promoted various campaigns in this aspect and has propagated them on social media platform to entice the youth.

Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2013: objective of this summit was to make Gujarat a Global Business Hub

Be Gujarat’s Brand Ambassador

Gujarat Tourism

Narendra Modi's high profile Vibrant Gujarat campaign has made him a brand for rapid development and prosperity

Voter perspective and experienceo Narendra Modi’s fans are constantly engaging people on twitter

with the his campaigns and updates from the politics.o Businessmen advocate Narendra Modi at Gujarat Vibrant

Summit.o Be Gujarat’s Brand Ambassador: People share their experiences

and stories that promote Gujarat as a brand. This has created a sense of belonging and pride among the people of Gujarat.

o Be Gujarat’s Brand Ambassador: This forum also provides a

platform for people to share their ideas, encouraging people to be a part of development of Gujarat.

Learnings from Mr. Modi

Desire + stability = Resolution Resolution + Hardwork = success Transforming obstacles into opportunity. Sheer commitment in whatever he does. Welfare society. “Never looking back” Master strategist. Long Term Planning & Clear Focus Risk Taker Thinker

From Narendra Modi to brand Modi: Meet the team behind BJP's unprecedented poll campaign

MUMBAI: If BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has become the poster boy of Indian advertising for delivering an unprecedented poll campaign, there is an out of ordinary team of men behind it. ET brings to you the exclusive list of these talented men, which goes much beyond two of India's most celebrated admen Piyush Pandey and Prasoon Joshi.

BJP'S THINK TANKTwo senior members of the party— Piyush Goyal and Ajay Singh— jointly set the creative and media strategy for the party. On one hand while they brought in Soho Square to create the TV, print and radio campaign, they roped in Prasoon Joshi to write the party's anthem and rolled it into a music video. They also appointed a Delhi based advertising professional, Sushil Goswami, to create a second set of radio ads and hired three Pune-based graphic designers to create cricket ads around Twenty20 World Cup.

AB KI BAAR MODI SARKAARThe 2014 Narendra Modi slogan has caught the fancy of millions. While, the social media is working overtime to continuously churn out quirky spoofs, the original campaign has been designed by Samrat Bedi, Head of Office, Soho

Square, and Executive Creative Directors and Creative Heads, of the agency, Anuraag Khandelwal and Satish deSa. Talking about the creative mandate, Khandelwal and deSa, says, "We have been very excited with the campaign line 'Abki Baar, Modi Sarkaar' right from the day we presented it at the pitch."

While, "Abki baar" had a print and radio to it, the agency also created another set of radio ads which said, "Janata Maaf Nahi Karegi." The agency has also launched an anthem "Achche din anewale hain."MODIJI AA RAHEIN HAINBJP roped in Sushil Goswami, national creative director of Delhi-based ad agency Ghaphisads, and owner of Kaknoos to launch another set of radio ads. Goswami, who has worked on several BJP campaigns at the regional level created a set of 6 radio ads for the 2014 polls.

These advertisements were on issues like corruption, inflation, unemployment which now wants to "run away" from India as "Modiji is coming". When contacted, Goswami declined to comment on the brief and his creative input.

CRICKET AND ELECTIONSFor the first time ever a political party strategically used cricket as a platform to promote itself. And to deliver this, BJP hired 3 Pune-based graphic designers, Pranay Khadatkar, Pranjal Khadatkar and Puneet Sharma to develop a series of graphic ads around cricket.

"For a very long time Narendra Modi was planning to use the T20 platform to attract the youth of this country and the ads were delivered to perfection by Pranay, Pranjal and Puneet," says the source.

These tailor-made ads touched upon issues like lack of leadership, corruption, law and order issues and "dharnas" or protests. "Cricket and these ads formed the backbone for BJP's television advertising", said a senior BJP member.  SAUGANDH IS MITTI KIThe second creative agency that worked on the BJP advertising campaign is TAG, which is owned by McCann WorldGroup. While Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman of McCann WorldGroup wrote BJP's anthem "Saugandh is mitti ki", a strong creative and account management team from the agency launched a TV and radio campaign around the same. This is the only television commercial in which Narenda Modi made an appearance and even lent his voiceover for the radio ad.

From the creative front while Prateek Bharadwaj, Aneesh Jaisingh and Alok Ranjan led the campaign along with Sanjay Nayak and Vishal Sharma of TAG. The ad film was directed by Sabyasachi Sengupta of Ginger Water Films.

DESH KO UDATE KAROWhile sources in BJP told ET, that Channel [V] made 4 youth oriented television commercials for the party, Prem Kamath, channel head, Channel [V] and Star Pravah clarified, "We didnt make the commercials ourselves. We ran the TVCs on the channel as it was a part of a bigger commercial deal. However, we helped BJP connect with Slightly Tilted Films which is an ad production house that made these TV commercials."

Interestingly, Sakshi Khanna who owns Slightly Tilted Films is an ex hand of Channel [V] and worked with them as an executive producer.

"This is our first political campaign and it was exactly like working on a regular brand,"says Khanna.

One of the four films, that's currently trending high on social media, says "While we continuously update our status on Facebook, it is time to update the status of the country."

"Our objective was to keep the feel extremely real and believe able. You will see that consistent across the four films from casting to locations to dialogues," adds Khanna.

Just the right imageThis case study looks at the strategy and tactics behind the creation of Brand

Modi.

Executive Summary: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi's election

juggernaut in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is an example of howto prepare and

successfully implement a marketing and branding campaign. Irrespective of

your faith, ideology and voting decision, there has been no escaping Modi. His

image and in-your-face messaging have overshadowed all other brands - even

that of his own party. This case study looks at the strategy and tactics behind the

creation of Brand Modi.

Pitching a specific leader as a driver of change and to mobilise voters' support is

hardly a new political strategy. After all, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had

projected L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee its prime ministerial candidates

in the past (remember the Ab ki baari Atal Bihari slogan in 1996?). The

Congress party's projection of Indira Gandhi as the country's tallest leader with

its 'Indira lao desh bachao' tagline in the 1970s is another such example. But the

personal rhetoric had been tied, and sometimes made subservient, to the

political parties to which these leaders belonged. With his landslide win in the

2014 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi has rewritten the rules of the game

and redefined Indian politics. Brand Modi has not only captured popular

imagination but also trumped Brand BJP. How did it happen?Ads by ZINC

David Aaker, American marketing guru and author of several books on

branding, wrote in an April 2012 blog post that every person has a brand that

affects how the person is perceived and whether he or she is liked and

respected. This brand, he says, can be actively managed with discipline and

consistency over time, or it can be allowed to drift. Modi and his marketing

team showed oodles of both once he was anointed the BJP's prime ministerial

candidate on September 13 last year. In fact, they had been at it from much

before.

Modi's transformation over the past year from a regional, right-wing politician to a decisive leader with a clear development agenda, the one best suited to take India forward is nothing short of extraordinary. Senior BJP leaders Piyush Goyal and Ajay Singh handled the overall media strategy, and a task force was constituted to handle Modi's campaign in Varanasi. Advertising legends such as Ogilvy & Mather's Piyush Pandey, McCann Worldgroup's Prasoon Joshi and Sam Balsara of Madison World lent their skills at various levels. Advertising agency Soho Square, part of the WPP Group, handled television, radio and print campaigns with catchy slogans such as "Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar".

"The archetype he offers is of a strong, all-knowing father figure who is

unwavering," says Santosh Desai, who heads Future Brands, the brand

consultancy arm of Future Group. To create the father figure, Modi's team

invoked tales of childhood, in books and comics. Invariably, and

understandably, they were tales of heroism involving a precocious Bal Narendra

(Modi as a child). What else would you call a story about a child swimming

across a crocodile-infested lake to plant a flag on a memorial? The child, when

he came of age, walked away from his family to devote himself to public cause,

lending what brand consultant Harish Bijoor calls "bachelor blandness" to his

story.

From Gujarat to India

Modi's team faced three main challenges when it set out to project him as the

country's next prime minister. One, the three-time Gujarat chief minister was a

regional brand trying to go national. Two, the 63-year-old was seeking to

connect with the youth considering that this year's election had almost 150

million first-time voters. Modi, who rarely chooses to speak in English, was

trying also to connect with the urban, middle-class audience that is becoming

more politically conscious. Finally, and most importantly, he carried the taint of

the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.

The one event that, perhaps, helped Modi the most in making a mark on the

national scene was the shifting in 2008 of Tata Motors' factory for the Nano

minicar from West Bengal to Gujarat. Farmers in West Bengal, backed by

firebrand politician Mamata Banerjee, now the state's chief minister, had been

protesting land acquisition for the plant by Tata Motors. Modi provided the

company land and other incentives almost overnight. In the process, he also

established himself as a champion for industry and development.

Sridhar Samu, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Hyderabad's Indian School of Business (ISB), says it's not easy for most product brands to go from regional to national. He says the dilution of the only other national brand, the Congress, and a common underlying need for change also helped Modi. "If a brand can tap into a common underlying need and connect it to benefits, then it could go national. We see how both Haldiram's and Saravanaa Bhavan have managed this. They targeted the underlying need for tasty snacks and south Indian food," he says.

Full Coverage:Lok Sabha Elections 2014

According to Y.L.R Moorthi, Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of

Management, Bangalore, there is a difference between a regional brand going

national and a politician going national. He says Modi was known outside

Gujarat even before he decided to move beyond the state, just as Nitish Kumar

and J. Jayalalithaa, chief ministers of Bihar and Tamil Nadu, respectively, are

known. But these regional leaders didn't venture out of their home states in the

recent elections. Modi did. And he did it at a massive scale - he attended more

than 5,000 events and 470 political rallies across the length and breadth of the

country.

Striking a Chord

On February 6, 2013, more than six months before he was named as the BJP's

choice for the prime minister's post, Modi addressed students at Delhi's Shri

Ram College of Commerce. He talked about Gujarat's model of development.

He spoke passionately about the need for speed in government decision-making

and about the need to improve skills of the youth to accelerate economic

growth. That speech won him many young admirers. One of them is the second-

year student Sulabh Newatia, who says he decided to cast his vote for the BJP

after listening to Modi's speech. "I see him as a visionary who can take the

nation forward," says the 19-year-old from Kolkata.

Modi, an excellent orator, has delivered scores of similar speeches since then.

He highlighted slowing economic growth, high inflation and lack of new jobs -

issues which immediately resonate with young and urban voters - while blaming

the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for the problems.

After the elections were announced, his marketing team bombarded voters with

print, television and radio advertisements with the same themes. It reached

voters through text messages and Modi's recorded voice seeking votes for

himself. It also tapped into social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube

and Twitter - Modi has about four million Twitter followers - to magnify the

impact of the advertising and branding campaign.

The impact of this relentless campaigning has been felt across different age

groups, geographies and sections of society, says political analyst Manisha

Priyam. "I have even heard young children, far removed from such debate,

mentioning the word 'NaMo'," she says, referring to a sobriquet for Narendra

Modi. The carefully crafted moniker also appeals to the traditional Hindus - the

BJP's main vote bank - because of its religious connotation, as the Sanskrit word

Namo is used as a salutation reserved for the Hindu gods.Modi's efforts to connect with the youth and urban voters were helped in no small measure by his pro-business persona. Business leaders from industry doyen Ratan Tata to billionaire brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani have praised Modi and his administration in Gujarat. This has allowed Modi to build his brand as a progressive leader who has the ability to deliver economic results - the single biggest leitmotif of this campaign that has allowed it to cut through caste bias among other things. "The Congress is not lacking in spending power or ability to get marketing brains to campaign for it. But the biggest push for Modi has come from the overt push and advocacy of corporate leaders," says independent political observer and media veteran Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. "It is a truism that marketing cannot sell a bad product. Irrespective of the money you spend on marketing, if what you are selling fails to strike a chord in the minds of a large section of the electorate, all efforts to market Modi would be in vain."

Shaking Off the Stigma

The biggest challenge Brand Modi faced was

diverting public attention away from the 2002

communal riots in Gujarat that claimed the lives of

more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Initially,

Modi's supporters in BJP attempted to engage in

public debate and highlight the clean chit given by courts to wash off the

stigma. Then, they changed tack. They toned down the Hindutva rheotoric and

focused instead on Modi's more recent past and his development record in

Gujarat. "He knows that people want a better life and he offers Hindutva with

the right dilution," says Desai of Future Brands.

Marketing gurus cite the examples of Cadbury, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola that

battled problems relating to brand-taint. Cadbury had fought its way out of a

controversy related to worms in its chocolates while the two beverages giants

faced allegations of pesticides in their colas. "The best way for a tainted brand

to overcome a challenge is to not talk too much, but to acknowledge it

happened, and then move on," says Samu, the ISB professor. "The more one

talks about, the more the memory for that event gets activated among the target

market, and they remember it more. The BJP and Modi did not talk about it. Or

if they did, they kept it to a minimum," he adds.

IIM-Bangalore's Moorthi says the weakness of the Congress leadership also

helped boost Brand Modi. "When the brands in the domain appear worse, the

contending brand might shine by comparison. In Modi's case, he was helped by

the tightlipped nature of the Congress leadership and their indifferent

performance in the second stint," he says.

While most companies routinely apologize for problems detected in their

products, Modi stopped short of doing so. "He did give an account of reflections

on the event [the riots]. He seemed to say that he was pained about the event but

didn't say sorry," says Moorthi. Veteran adman Prahlad Kakkar concurs. "It

does not matter if he [Modi] is wrong. He will never publicly admit that,"

observes Kakkar, who has been associated with several political campaigns,

including that of Indira Gandhi. "But he will, at the same time, take corrective

measures to navigate out of it, without ever saying so."

The Ideal Model

Not so long so, the words that could have been used to describe Modi were

authoritarian, megalomaniac and communal. The way the creators of Brand

Modi dealt with the third taint was by not dealing with it. "What more was there

to say [about the post-Godhra riots)? There have been various panels instituted

to probe into the matter," says a BJP leader.

Instead, they focused on building Modi's image as self-made, strong, efficient,

inspiring, and incorruptible. "He [Modi] created an impression of being a

sincere, credible and committed leader. He convinced people that he could

improve their lot," says social scientist Ramadhar Singh, Distinguished

Professor, IIM-Bangalore. This is the leitmotif the marketing arsenal of the BJP

worked to amplify. "No media can help create that kind of consistency," adds

Kakkar, the veteran adman.

Automatically, as if by derivation, the Congress-led United Progressive

Alliance began to look more and more indecisive and corrupt. "Today, India

attributes weakness and failure to Congress," says adman and lobbyist Suhel

Seth. "Modi stands for good governance."

All stories about Modi's life in the public domain have consistently fed into this

new image. And although questions remain about Modi's ability to perform at

the national level and his Gujarat model of governance, his personal branding

and marketing strategy seems to have worked and voters across the country

appear to believe his claims. "Even if you cut out 40 per cent of what is untrue

about Modi's promise of growth...the rest is very real," says Guwahati's

Chiranjib Hazarika, 24, who is looking to start a career in banking.

"Development is his only agenda and people are following him."

Modi's message has attracted even those disinterested in politics. "I have never

been very politically conscious. But it is frustrating to see our economy slide

back from the progress it made. So, I stepped out to vote, for the first time, for

Modi," says Shankar Narayanan, 28, who works for a multinational information

technology company in Chennai. "Modi has a proven track record of

governance and growth."

Cut to 40-year-old Manoj Rana, who runs a small guest house in Shillong, and

you have the answer to the most central ingredient of Modi's branding: "We are

not interested in politics. We want change. Modi can deliver that change. People

are sensible, they are not carried away by mere talk," he says. That indeed is the

bottom line of any brand's success story. It bears out that Modi's brand is by

him, for him and from him. The BJP machinery has served as mere coaches for

the branding-led engine of Modi.

The branding of Modi and a presidentialstyle campaign was a

brilliant response to redefine politics: Siddharth Shekhar Singh,

Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Fellow

Programme in Management, Indian School of Business

BRAND MODI MUST MEET ITS PROMISE OF GOOD

GOVERNANCE

The national branding of Narendra Modi was born out of

compulsion. Opponents had successfully branded the BJP as communal and checked

its rise under the uninspiring old leadership. The BJP needed to redefine Indian

politics along dimensions of good governance and development that suited it better.

The party was the first to recognise and adapt to the fundamental shift in the

composition and aspirations of voters. It seized the opportunity to project a new face

to address voters' aspirations. Thus was born brand Modi. A humble origin,

extraordinary achievements through sheer hard work and dedication, and a corruption-

free image made Modi an apt mascot to challenge the status quo. The branding of

Modi and a presidential-style campaign was a brilliant response to redefine Indian

politics.

The branding of Modi was a well-crafted strategy of the RSS and the BJP. The

campaign attracted many newcomers. It was the first election campaign in India to use

social media and information technology heavily and first to listen to the voters and

respond in real time.

Brands require huge investment to build, and continuous nurturing to sustain value.

Not only can brand Modi sustain the BJP in power for a long time, it can also help the

RSS reposition itself. However, before that can happen, the promise of brand Modi -

good governance and economic development - must be realised. Further, many voters

are uncomfortable with the communal agenda of some of his supporters.

Modi has to show what true secularism is and why it is different from pseudo-

secularism. If he succeeds in these three areas, he would change Indian politics forever

and make the BJP the natural party to govern - the main objective for building brand

Modi.

Siddharth Shekhar Singh, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the

Fellow Programme in Management, Indian School of Business

He [Modi] is a very strident, tenacious, and in-your-face avatar of

a brand: Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner and Chief Creative

Officer, Bang In The Middle

MODI IS A BRAND WHO KNOWS HE IS IN THIS FOR

THE LONG RUN

It is not uncommon in the world of marketing for a brand to

become not only bigger than its creator but also to revitalise and rejuvenate it back.

What iMac and iPod did to Apple Inc is what Narendra Modi has done to the BJP.

Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what it stood for. Its

Hindutva identity resonated deeply with the partition generation but its effect had

weakened for the successive generations. Demographically, India is one of the

youngest nations with more than 65 per cent of people below 35 years. Modi's ability

to become bigger than the BJP lies in his ability to listen to murmurs and whispers of

this India, tapping into their simmering anger and hopelessness.

Modi created an identity that resonated with far more people and deeper than that of

the BJP. Like brands make sense at surface and deeper levels, Modi's discourse on

economic development and prosperity intersected at the surface level of

consciousness. The Gujarat model threw in words like governance, roads, electricity,

women's safety, peace, industry and education, supported by statistics. This satisfied

the questioning mind that hankers for reason.

But reason is often the alibi for non-reason. Modi's ability to become taller than his

party lies in his symbolism. He tapped into despair, hopelessness and sinking feelings,

and arrived on the scene taking on the symbolism of the outlaw and the ruler

combined. He is perceived as an icon of disruption and rebellion against the way

things are done. It is this counter-cultural streak that appeals to youth who desire

change. And his traits like being organised, proactive, and confident, and in command

of things, subtly connect with the ruler archetype.

Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle

Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for

what it stood for: Harsh V. Verma Associate Professor, Faculty of

Management Studies, University of Delhi

MODI DID TO BJP WHAT iMAC, iPOD DID TO APPLE

It is not uncommon in the world of marketing for a brand to

become not only bigger than its creator but also to revitalise and

rejuvenate it back. What iMac and iPod did to Apple Inc is what Narendra Modi has

done to the BJP. Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what

it stood for. Its Hindutva identity resonated deeply with the partition generation but its

effect had weakened for the successive generations. Demographically, India is one of

the youngest nations with more than 65 per cent of people below 35 years. Modi's

ability to become bigger than the BJP lies in his ability to listen to murmurs and

whispers of this India, tapping into their simmering anger and hopelessness.

Modi created an identity that resonated with far more people and deeper than that of

the BJP. Like brands make sense at surface and deeper levels, Modi's discourse on

economic development and prosperity intersected at the surface level of

consciousness. The Gujarat model threw in words like governance, roads, electricity,

women's safety, peace, industry and education, supported by statistics. This satisfied

the questioning mind that hankers for reason.

But reason is often the alibi for non-reason. Modi's ability to become taller than his

party lies in his symbolism. He tapped into despair, hopelessness and sinking feelings,

and arrived on the scene taking on the symbolism of the outlaw and the ruler

combined. He is perceived as an icon of disruption and rebellion against the way

things are done. It is this counter-cultural streak that appeals to youth who desire

change. And his traits like being organised, proactive, and confident, and in command

of things, subtly connect with the ruler archetype.

Harsh V. Verma, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, University

of Delhi

Bibliography

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-05-01/news/49551947_1_soho-square-modi-sarkaar-abki

http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/case-study/case-study-strategy-tactics-behind-creation-of-brand-narendra-modi/story/206321.html