Ever since televisions became Mainstream, it has been inconceivable to have any elections to be done without a paid media. While PR has had its share it were prime time ads and their GRP that have sawed the results
The Indian election of 2019 are very different from the point of view that its almost entirely being fought in Social and On-ground level.
BJP the largest player, has not spend a penny on traditional ads. Congress seem to be following the suit The idea seems to be hosting a rally, that becomes a staple for news channel content and achieve reach with Social Media.
This is a new language of marketing that has been not spoken in India in a very long time. The Indian adverting has always been driven with time tested vision of communication – good copy, hummable jingles and pretty faces driven with a frequency that leave a permanent mark on consumer’s psyche. Brands have created stories around their colors and sounds.
The new experiment threatens to change all that. Its a new kind of story telling, liked to physical experience. The steps are rather simple and cost effective.
Step -1 . Create an emotions space
Step -2. Highlight stories that amplify need of the chosen emotional space. This is purely a PR driven activity
Step -3. Create stories in events where one is champion of the emotion space created, and seed them with News channels
Step-4. Fight with competition with help of social stories/comments in the space opened in step 4 and get larger audience
The best part about such a fight is that it completely divorces market forces like need and desire from the process of building brand loyalty and could create a fanatic following.
Whether this strategy is a success or not will be known by May 25, 2019, but one thing is for sure, a new form of marketing is taking shape and most marketing gurus have missed it.
