1. Political Advertising in India - Social Media and the First-time voter
If you've always wondered why and what's the point of political
advertising when the candidates get enough coveragearound their
sheninagans on a regular basis, then read on.
The primary purpose of political advertising is to swing the perception of
people who have ‘CONFUSION’ written all over their faces in capital
letters, and ultimately, to win votes. Because for a larger percentage of
the politicians, its all about obtaining and retaining power, fuelled by
money and greed.
Past demeanours do not count, and most policical parties have cracked
the 7 deadly sins of Indian voters. To elaborate, here goes:
1. The Indian public has extremely short-term memory
2. Over time we learn to tolerate anything
3. Nothing comes above religion and caste
4. Political ignorance, even amongst the educated
5. Petty appeasement through freebies
6. Indians love to hate each other
7. Need to hero worship and follow dynasties
Courtesy: Ishaan Mohan Bagga, Editor, Indian Exponent.
http://indianexponent.com/24298/7-weaknesses-of-indian-voter.html

2. The economics of 2014 elections
Having mentioned money,Reuters reports that‘Indian politicians are
expected to spend around US $5billion (INR 30,000 crores) on campaigning
for elections next month (April 2014) - a sum second only to the most
expensive U.S. presidential campaign of all time - in a splurge that could
give India's floundering economy a temporary boost.
India's campaign spend, which can include cash stuffed in envelopes as
well as multi-million-dollar ad campaigns, has been estimated at INR 300
billion (US $4.9 billion) by the Centre for Media Studies, which tracks
spending.
That is triple the expenditure the Centre said was spent on electioneering
in the last national poll in 2009.’
Media is the largest benefeciary in the arsenal; and all related advertising,
turns into a medium to deliver promises, attack and counter-
attackopponents, and function as the political game changer. Swirling on a
delicate ideological spindle – ‘A lie told often enough becomes the truth’ –
Vladimir Lenin. Also successfully used by Hitler’s Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels, who also served as Chancellor for a day, following
Hitler’s death.
So couple greed with the 7 deadly sins of Indian voters, stirr in tonnes of
cash and engage some of India’s leading advertising-PR-social media
conglomerates to churn out propaganda and you have a volcanic blitz of
media madness; where even educated, otherwise analytical minds can’t
distinguish between hell or high water.
The year 2014 is a very interesting year for India as the majority of the
audience that will be voting this year will be very young.At a news
conference in New Delhi, the Election Commission said that the process of

3. voting in the 16th
LokSabha will see the largest ever population of eligible
voters, led by over 814 million voters, 100 million more than in 2009. This
time round, more than 23 million voters are aged between 18 and 19. For
the first time in a general election in India, voters will be allowed to cast a
ballot for “None of the Above.”
To the extent that the ultimate decision might also be in the hands of
India's youth because of the existing majority,the marketer has set up
shop in the marketplace, i.e., Political Advertisers have looked into
reaching out to the audience where they currently 'hang out'.
With advertising and communicationbeing churned out faster than
widgets, there is no thinking time for the creators; hence they all narrate
versions of the same story, with a different overtones, over different
platforms.
The story goes something like this -
Cause
Here’s the starting point: what does the party stand for? Why does this
party exist? What does the PM candidate stand for? There are many
causes on offer: secular, development, safety, jobs, prices, pride, honesty
and governance.
The first-time voter is young, idealistic and seeks a motivating argument to
come and vote. The best argument to this group is economic: the promise
of jobs and a brighter future.
Constituency
Similar to brand marketing campaigns, the candidate who presents the
best chance in the constituency is a combination of optimising many

4. variables and micro-targeting, i.e., "Think national but choose local" being
one of the most commonly used engagement strategies right now.
Comparison
By creating syndromes of fear, uncertainty and doubt amongst the people,
political advertising portrays competitors in an unfavourable manner,
thereby benefitting the attacking candidate and not marring his image;
eventually leading to winning more votes.
Celebrities
Everyone from TV presenters, to actors, to former diplomats and
government servants, will start offering their endorsements for the benefit
of the voter. Such endorsements will multiply gradually in this election.
Parties will rope in influential social commentators and feed them with
talking points to build preference, especially among undecided voters.
This election is therefore truly at the mercy of first-time voters and social
media targeting, which will decide its outcome; since reliable stats reveal
that over than half of the total youth audiences are on social websites.
According to a research by Autumn worldwide, 'out of a million
conversations on social media on elections in September 2013, first-time
voters (overall 150 million) led 40% of chats. They discussed the rupee,
prices, women's safety, governance and jobs. Their idea of accountability
in politics will define India over the next 20 years. So 2014 is the start…
What’s important here is not which party wins the elections this time, but
the power of crowdsourcing and influencing opinion on the Indian social
scene. This of course calls for a social and cultural mindset change, which

5. is slowly experiencing what theologians call an ‘escatological breaking in’,
or a foretaste of things to come before they actually occur.
Talk about bringing colour to Indian politics. While the political camps pore
over rivals’ speeches looking for historical inaccuracies and discrepancies
in political manifestos, a parallel analysis is unfolding across homes, public
and individual spaces alike.
Politics and the youth in India have never seemed to have had a liking for
each other so far, the relationship between the two being pre-dominantly
passive. But of late, with candidates like Meera Sanyal being active on
social networks and using their personal pages to promote their 'brand'
and reach out to the users by actually informing them about what they
intend to do or what they are currently doing at the moment which helps
them create a following amongst the dominant and previously dormant
majority.
This adoption of new media by Indian politicians, even though late
provides a personal connect between the aspiring leaders and the junta

6. making the game a little more complicated than it previously was keeping
the users aware about the actual story instead of depending on paid
media for biased information.
There is another side to the story as well. Where there’s any form of
advertising there are advertising agencies and this time they come with all
guns blazing on the digital front too!
The best example for this would be Narendra Modi who has managed to
carve up a decent spot for himself in the cyberspace by making complete
use of social networks along with the help of his agency by keeping the
audience informed about his actions as well as sharing his opinions over
different issues. Mr. Modi’s social pages also boast of web applications
which look towards gathering volunteers for various causes as well as send
festive audio greetings to his fans on the web.

7. A bit too much you said? You be the judge, but you cannot undermine the
fact that these are the reason why the 2014 elections are so exciting.
The future of the country is yet to be determined but advertising
expenditure is enabling emulation of the likes of Lenin and Goebbels…
Long live the Indian (r)evolutionand Heil to its leaders.
Hello, anybody (with a conscience) home?