(http://futuraservices.co.uk/index.

html)

Menu

What Every Brand Strategist,

BROWSE BY
Marketing Director & Entrepreneur
SUBJECT
can learn from the worlds biggest
election
Branding
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/branding/)
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/brandingClient Case Studies
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/clientmarketing-narendra-modi/)
Branding (http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/branding)
Wednesday, May 28th, 2014
Posted by rahulkat
This week, the worlds largest democracy, India, swore in their new prime minister,
Narendra Modi, after an election campaign so masterfully executed that its likely
to become material for branding and marketing case studies in MBA schools around
the world.
Modis transformation from a regional chief minister to a national leader, with the
mass appeal that is usually attributed to a Bollywood superstar is nothing short of
extraordinary and has created a hugely powerful person centric brand that dwarfs
the appeal of his own political party and his political rivals.
This masterfully created Modi super brand has been the result of a carefully thought
out, psychologically compelling and impeccably executed branding strategy and
marketing campaign that every entrepreneur, brand strategist and marketing
director can draw insightful and powerful lessons from.

case-studies/)
Marketing
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/marketing/)
Social Media
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/socialmedia/)

BROWSE BY
INDUSTRY
General Business
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/generalbusiness/)
Restaurants
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/restaurant/)
Web Design
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/category/webdesign/)

Join us on facebook to
view our latest work
Futura. Corporate Branding,
Website Development & Business
Consultancy.
Like
122 people like Futura. Corporate Branding, Website
Development & Business Consultancy.

(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Modi.jpg)
Whether your goal is to revitalize an existing brand or launch a new one, this
decisive election campaign offers universal insights for amplifying differentiation,
connecting emotionally with customers and becoming irreplaceable; the Modi
campaign trail leaves clues for creating and marketing a brand that people grow to
trust and ultimately fall in love with.

UNDERSTANDING BRAND MODIS USP

Modi has been chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat since 2001 and has been
widely credited for making his state an economic powerhouse, attracting
investment from overseas Indians as well as Indias corporate whos who.
He has channelled massive investment into infrastructure projects and his removal
of bureaucracy and red tape has allowed private enterprise to flourish. The states
economy has grown at an impressive rate, elevating Gujarats national and
international image as a hot bed of economic growth and prosperity.

Modi has marketed his strengths as a dynamic and visionary politician who has the
grit to get things done. As a result, he has been re-elected three times as chief
minister, giving his party the gravitas to launch him as a prime ministerial candidate.
Unfortunately for Modi, for all his regional popularity, he and his party, the BJP
were widely perceived as right wing Hindu extremists; a show stopper with huge
sections of the Indian vote bank. Modi realised that he and the BJP needed to
redefine their USP along a theme that suited them better and lent itself to mass
consumption.

IDENTIFYING A NEED: DEFINING BRAND

PURPOSE
If a brand can tap into a common underlying need that cuts across regional and
demographic differences, then it has the ability to become hugely successful with
mass appeal.
Modis emergence from being a regional politician to a prime ministerial candidate
was founded in his ability to listen to murmurs and whispers across India, tapping
into peoples simmering anger, disillusionment and frustration at years of sluggish
economic growth, unemployment, high inflation, rising food prices, bureaucracy and
corruption, largely created by the ineffective policies of his political rivals, the
Congress party.
In the early stages of his campaign Modi highlighted and articulated this need
eloquently, bringing it to the fore of public consciousness and losing no opportunity
to slam his political opponents for the countrys stagnation.

BRAND STRATEGY: ARTICULATING THE BIG

IDEA
The most powerful brand strategies (http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/brandstrategy-consultancy-london.html) tap into a central unifying idea around which all
behaviour, actions and communications are aligned. This big idea or vision stems
from an inherent understanding of the customers (or in this case vote banks) needs
and perceptions.
Modi understood all too clearly that Indians were yearning for their version of the
American dream. His simple yet powerful message for the country was this. Vote
for me and I will do for you what I have done for my state of Gujarat. I will bring you
development, growth, progress and prosperity.
Modi keenly understood that a successful brand needs ONE big idea. He stripped
out all the themes that his party have previously stood for and focussed his
campaign on one key message. Development & prosperity for all Indians.

ADDING EMOTIONAL APPEAL TO THE BRAND

Every brand needs emotional appeal (http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/websitecopywriter-london.html) to create a one-of-a-kind engaging experience that puts
miles between them and their competitors.
Modis ability to become a super brand lies in his intelligent use of emotional
symbolism, taking on the brand persona not of a politician, but of a dynamic
visionary who passionately believes in the great potential of his country and who
has the determination to take the nation forward to a golden era.
He positioned himself as an icon of rebellion against the sluggish passiveness of the
Congress government and it is this streak that appealed to the vote bank who ached
for change, led by a strong leader.
Modis team then focussed on moulding his image to invoke the righteous ruler
archetype that is so firmly entrenched in the Indian psyche, largely due to Hindu
Mythology and to a lesser extent, Bollywood.
His dressing style, expressions, gestures, oratory style and body language were
finely nuanced to make every election rally an emotionally compelling and
passionately convincing brand experience.

MARKET SEGMENTATION & CROSS CULTURAL

APPEAL

A brand will only become successful when the articulation of its big idea has the
ability to be tailored to diverse people and situations. Consistent brand messages
tailored to a specific demographic yield the most success.
Modi and his team took the time to study their market intelligently and work out
how their brand strategy could mean something to everyone.
His much applauded performance as Gujarat chief minister was strategically
articulated to appeal to businessman and the urban middle classes.
His visionary style and technology savviness resonated with Indias disillusioned
youth particularly as he made it a point to include university campuses in his
campaign trail.
He connected with the masses by reminding them that he was the son of a tea seller,
building rapport by demonstrating that he was One of us and had toiled hard to
heroically rise to the top as Chief Minister of Indias most prosperous state.
At every step of his campaign trail he picked up on issues of discontent that were
relevant to his market segments, showed no mercy in assigning blame and then
connected the solution back to his brands big idea.

AMPLIFYING THE BRAND MESSAGE:

MARKETING THROUGH MULTIPLE TOUCH
POINTS
The branding measures described above would not have achieved their desired
outcome, were it not for the masterful marketing
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/digital-marketing-agency-london.html) campaign
that utilised every conceivable medium to amplify Modis message across India.
Donations from wealthy Indians allowed Modi to flex his marketing muscles with a
500 million spend to spread his big idea across the country; there has been no
escaping brand Modi in India for the last 12 months.
No consumer touchpoint or medium was left untouched, ensuring that Modi could
reach out to every conceivable market segment and strata of society. His team
bombarded voters with emotionally compelling print, television, SMS and radio
advertisements with the same core messages.
Modi himself addressed over 450 election rallies across the country ensuring that
his content strategy was adapted to address local issues, that his vision had a local
flavour.
Modi has been praised by marketers for his excellent leverage of social media.
Election rallies were broadcast on Youtube and Facebook. Modis messages,
achievements and quotes were disseminated through Facebook multiple times a
day. (At the time of writing, Modi has 15 million fans on Facebook). Opinions and
criticism on social media were skilfully managed by a 12,000 strong social media
team and praise was widely shared.
Modis party set up centres from where volunteers could tweet minute-by-minute
updates on election rallies and influence opinions by commenting on any negative
online press coverage that Modi received.
Modis marketing team did not make the blunder of thinking that technology can
only reach out to a well helled audience, they leveraged it keenly for grass roots
marketing. Screens were installed in towns and villages without internet access
where promotional videos and were aired. Vehicles equipped with the required
paraphernalia, including his pre-recorded video messages and recordings of his
election rallies were sent into remote villages to ramp up the campaign footprint.
Even the Indian pastime of meeting friends at local tea stalls was leveraged. People
flocked to tea stalls where they could see Modi over a webcast and sip tea from
paper cups with his picture and slogans on them.

BRAND RESPONSE KEEPING THE MESSAGE

RELEVANT & FRESH
The same big idea repeated again and again can easily become ineffective unless
the brand response is effectively managed and adapted.

Modis marketing team were relentless in never allowing the brand message to
stagnate. Their responses and the way they kept shaping the campaign were cutting
edge. Modi himself not let go of any opportunity to retaliate or to respond to his
critics and always link his responses back to his achievements and his big idea. Each
response and emerging theme became the subject of a new campaign that stayed
relevant to Modis core message.
On the day that election results were declared and Modi was announced as a victor
with a sweeping majority, he clearly understood that this was not the end of his
brands journey, but the beginning.
His first tweet and message to the world was India has won. Affirming your target
markets value because they have chosen to consume your brand is one of the most
intelligent ways to bolster brand equity.
His brands big idea will be kept alive, will continue to evolve and be marketed in
imaginative ways for as long as it can serve its purpose.
The above article has been written by Rahul Katrak, founder of FUTURA
(http://www.futuraservices.co.uk/) a Digital Strategy, branding and marketing
agency in London.
Rahul specializes in spearheading business growth identifying appropriate value
propositions, developing persuasive key messages, and creating mindshare with his
clients target audiences by running integrated branding and marketing campaign
for businesses across various industry sectors. You can connect with him on LinkedIn
(http://uk.linkedin.com/in/businesswebsitedesignlondon) or on Twitter
(https://twitter.com/Ebusiness_guru).

If you found t his art icle useful and insight ful, please share it wit h ot hers
in your net work.

(ht t ps:/ / plus.google.com/ share?

url=ht t p:/ / www.fut uraservices.co.uk/ blog/ branding-market ingnarendra-modi/ )

(ht t p:/ / www.facebook.com/ sharer.php?

u=ht t p:/ / www.fut uraservices.co.uk/ blog/ branding-market ing-narendramodi/ )

18

(ht t p:/ / t wit t er.com/ share?

url=ht t p:/ / www.fut uraservices.co.uk/ blog/ branding-market ingnarendra-modi/ & t ex t =

What +Every+Brand+St rat egist % 2C+Market ing+Direct or+% 26% 23038% 3B+Ent repreneur+can+learn+from+t he+world% 26% 238217% 3Bs+bigg
0

HOW CAN WE GROW YOUR BUSINESS?

Find out how we can work together on a successful digital business strategy for your company. Call
Us today on 0207 993 4477 or send us an email at info@futuraservices.co.uk
(mailto:info@futuraservices.co.uk?subject=Enquiry From Futura Website)

TAKE YOUR BUSINESS FURTHER!

0207 993 4477

info@futuraservices.co.uk (mailto:info@futuraservices.co.uk?Subject=Enquiry From Futura Website)

Request a quote (http://futuraservices.co.uk/ContactUs.html)

STAY CONNECTED

(https://twitter.com/Ebusiness_guru)

(http://uk.linkedin.com/in/businesswebsitedesignlondon)

(https://www.facebook.com/BusinessDrivenWebsiteDesign

(https://plus.google.com/116129299179432931251/)
Connect with us for the latest
happenings at Futura!

Copyright 2013 Futura. All Rights Reserved

Privacy Policy (http://futuraservices.co.uk/privacy.html) | Website Disclaimer (http://futuraservices.co.uk/disclaimer.html) | Sitemap
(http://futuraservices.co.uk/sitemap.html)