The Fourth Estate_April 2019

Foreword nurtured in NCL at companies like Lowe
Lintas and Triton Communications, in the
By Janhavi Mishra fields of Client servicing and Public relations,
(President, NorComm) As the mad rush to meet deadlines begins,
everyone has been imbued with an impetus
This month was a whirlwind of new to do justice to the projects that have been
experiences, new responsibilities and new assigned to us, be it from NCL or from our
projects for the Market Research batch. It client organizations. Even though a lot of us
saw us transition from the familiar bays at have grins that hint at nerves, we know that
Nielsen, to the whole different halls at the the tools we’ve been armed with these past
client organizations that are the market several months will carry us through.
leaders in industries such as oral care,
packaged food, carbonated soft drinks and In our most crucial project yet, it’s going to
the like. be a wonderful exercise in exploring what
makes consumers tick and how
The Brand Management and Marketing organizations can strategize a way to compel
Communications batch has now settled them to become loyalists. Here’s hoping both
into the organizations they are interning at, the batches succeed with flying colours in
and are contributing to projects in more their endeavours!
meaningful ways. The students are
enhancing the skill set that they have

Janhavi Mishra| PGP MR 2018-19 Page 1
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The NorEdge council

The NorEdge council proactively solves day to day academic, technical and managerial
issues of the students with a view to enhance others. Apart from their daily activities, they
are also in charge of the all alumni related matters such as updating databases and
enhancing communication within the Northpoint community.

B.E Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
( Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Mumbai)
• District level athlete & shot-put player
• None can rival her love of Bollywood and Marathi music

B.M.M (Advertising)
(Vaze Kelkar College, University of Mumbai)
• Graduate in Bharatnatyam
• An amateur photographer who loves to click and to get

clicked

PGP MR and BM&MC 2018-19

Page 2
Issue V

The Ballot is In Your Court country should be caring about this month
i.e. the Lok Sabha elections. With the 2014
By Zoe Vandrewala elections seeing the highest ever voter-
turnout in India (66.4%), this time’s
April has brought with it a fervor of elections are expected to see greater voter
excitement. Be it the enthusiasm with which turnout. As per a report by Hindustan
people wake up at 6.30am to catch the Times, the total number of voters in 2019
newest episode of Game of Thrones or the has gone up by 84.3 million since the 2014
buzz around Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. If polls. But does that really mean that most
you aren’t into either of these, there’s people are going to vote?
always the good old IPL fever, waiting to Although it’s wonderful to see the uptick in
engulf you. With events of such large scale, the number of registered voters, the
all taking place in a single month, it’s disappointing reality is that a lot of people
needless to say that marketers have been will still not vote. With a variety of excuses,
busy and advertising agencies have been ranging from “I’m not really into politics” to
over-flooded with work. “I don’t know much about the parties” to
“It’s not going to matter, anyway”,
But while we enjoy the Game of Thrones numerous people have refrained from
puns and the celebrity filled endorsements casting their vote even now. With this
during IPL, there’s something else that the scenario in the country, it’s refreshing to

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see various brands take up the vote to see a change. Voting, therefore, is not
responsibility to change the attitudes of the only a right we have, but is also a duty for us
people and to create campaigns to urge as citizens of the country.
them to vote.

While each brand has taken a different The MTV ad
approach to the problem, the basic
underlying message remains the same i.e. vote to see a change. Voting, therefore, is not
to go out and vote for a better future. MTV only a right we have, but is also a duty for us
created a series of heartwarming ads as citizens of the country.
depicting refugees from Syria, Somalia, Iraq
etc. in refugee camps around the world. As United Colors of Benetton also came up with
they spoke of their hardships, their a powerful video showcasing the power of
struggle for equality and their lack of basic our votes. It brings a chill down your spine as
resources, a simple message pops up: you hear the words “I will build a masjid”, “I
“they don’t have a choice, but you do. Vote.
#VoteBecauseYouCan”. In a span of time as
short as 40 seconds, the ad successfully
portrays its message; not everybody has
the privilege to live in a democracy and to

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will build a temple”, “I will divide you into socho”; the brand is imploring the youth to
vote today lest they regret it for the next 5
sections” and so on. At a time when years. BookMyShow also urged people to
#choosewisely by releasing a poster with
politicians think that they have all the the statement “There’s No Real-life ‘best
Villain’ Award”.
power: the power to make you think and

act the way they want you to and the power

to do whatever they want to by giving you

false promises in the beginning; this ad

brings to light the fact that we can voice our

opinion and silence the wrong. With its

hashtags, #ShowThemPower &

#UnitedByVote, UCB makes a brave attempt

to awaken the citizens and create a sense of

responsibility within them.

Several other brands have tried to create The BookMyShow ad
this same sense of responsibility within the
people through their banners and ads. Meanwhile, brands such as Parryware and
Santoor used their general communication Subway have decided to take the rewards
of looking young and added a new element
to it. With the tagline, “young dikho, young

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route. Parryware asked people to share food instead. When the customers got
their ‘votefie’ (a selfie featuring their inked angry and fought back, the employees
finger) in order to win a chance to get some simply told them that since they had not
exciting gift vouchers, while Subway is voted, they had lost their right to choose.
offering an 18% discount to all voters for 3 They then urged the customers to go out
consecutive days depending on the polling there and cast their vote, since they still had
dates of their respective zones. time to make a difference.

Speaking of food giants, KFC and KFC & McDonald’s campaigns
McDonalds are not far behind. KFC
launched its digital campaign with the
words “finger inkin good” as play of words
on their famous tagline. McDonalds, on the
other hand, had an activation in Hyderabad
during the polling dates wherein the
customers who had not voted were not
given the food they had ordered. The
employees either refused to take the
customer’s order and asked them to order
something else or gave them the wrong

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While most of these ads have tried to The Comedy Central ad
tackle the problem in a serious manner,
keeping the brands and their products uproar to create more profits for themselves
along with their positioning and ideals in or have actually tried to influence the people,
mind; Comedy Central approaches the especially the youth, to understand the value
problem in a different manner altogether. of each vote and to imbibe a sense of
Keeping in mind its positioning, the responsibility within them. It is said that the
channel came up with a funny take on this first-time voters could play a major role in
issue, with the caption, “It’s not funny deciding the fate of these elections, which is
anymore. #ChooserNotLoser”. The why most ads have been targeting the youth
hilarious ad depicts a hospital scene to get its message across. Approximately
wherein the patient’s right knee needs to 2/3rd of India’s population is below the age
be operated upon, but the doctors and of 35, with half of the population being
nurses decide to operate the left knee
instead. It ends with the important
message “It ain’t funny when someone else
chooses for you. This election, VOTE”.

There have been numerous other brands
that have either used the elections and its

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below the age of 25. This makes the whole the message. However, only time will tell
generation of first-time voters a large chunk whether the constant marketing and
of the country’s overall population, thereby incessant requesting from all kinds of
playing a critical role in the final outcome of celebrities and influencers has borne any
this election. fruit, this election season, and I sure hope it
has!
Open up YouTube and you’ll be able to find
numerous videos of students and other You can view the ads discussed by clicking on
young professionals being asked about the links below:
their opinions on the election. While some
seem to know exactly what they want from 1. The MTV ad campaign:
the party in power and what they are https://urlzs.com/ueAq
looking for in a candidate, the others seem
to be completely disinterested. When the 2. The United Colors of Benetton ad:
youth fails to show any interest in such https://urlzs.com/V8Nf
matters, even after being the major
influencer of its future outcomes, there is 3. The Santoor ad:
no way the country can progress. It is with https://urlzs.com/h2LK
this idea in mind that numerous companies
have taken it upon themselves to spread 4. The McDonalds activation:
https://urlzs.com/P683

5. The Comedy Central ad:
https://urlzs.com/mbK5

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Can you sell what you create? from the Google and Wikipedia. In fact, the

topics that each of us future Market

By Moinak Das Researchers have got is a real-world

business scenario that needs out-of-the-box

“For the things we have to learn before we thinking to reach a solution.

can do them, we learn by doing them”

– Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics The business problem that I am working on

is regarding a leading Dutch multinational

And that’s what Northpoint Centre of company which creates paints and

Learning does to you; ‘teaches you more performance coatings for both industry and

through teaching you less!’ consumers worldwide. Headquartered in

Amsterdam, the company is currently

As we enter the last leg of our curriculum looking at ways to solve performance issues

at NCL, we are juggling a couple of in the Indian subcontinent.

internships to go and a dissertation project

to be finished. What’s wonderful about this When I looked at my topic for the very first

is the fact that the dissertation topics time, I was completely clueless about how

assigned to each one are not boring and to go about it. Paints category was

clumsy pieces of work that go off to rot something I had never imagined to work on.

after an organised heist and copy-pasting But, as I always love to tell people,

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Bachelors in Commerce
(Mumbai University)

• Loves animals more than humans
• A talented football and handball player

Northpoint doesn’t bother the tiniest bit in Now, what I love most about market
shaking you off from your comfort zone, research is the ‘hypothesis setting’ exercise
because that’s not where the magic that comes, by default, along with it. Any
happens. professional researcher would know the
importance of this. A ‘hypothesis’ is a
As days passed and my anxiety started proposed assumption on the basis of limited
settling down, I started doing the evidence drawn from secondary studies. It
groundwork and I was beginning to get ideally serves as a starting point for your
some clarity. further research. And that’s where I had my
first head-on with challenges. That’s where I

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stumbled already! questioning every theory you are fed with.
You should be skeptical of every proven
Well, everything that’s written above is a concept and your distrust must show in the
distraction. Every tiny bit of it! That dissatisfaction that comes out when
seemingly difficult business problem, someone tries to settle you down with those
formalities such as the ‘hypothesis setting’ protocols. What must remain is your
and the initial nervousness that comes rationale and a never-ending effort to keep
along with all of this. Everything is a on stretching your grey cells!
distraction. When you look ahead at the
next two months, trying to make sense of Working on my dissertation, I read through
that seemingly difficult business problem you many ideas that any marketer would blindly
stop looking at the bigger picture. That’s agree to. But I was now questioning a lot of
what I hate about the Indian education them instead of simply believing. I was now
system and love about Northpoint Centre beginning to get skeptical about those ideas.
of Learning. Keeping aside all these One such idea was ‘the effect of emotions in
distractions, what I feel is that, every traditional advertising’.
project should make you think! Every
project that you work on, should give you a For starters, ‘functionality’ in any brand
chance to explore, innovate and evolve as positioning or advertising (to be specific)
an individual. You should be would typically mean rational arguments

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along with a horde of relevant benefits, disparity between function and emotion. By
specifications and capabilities of the assuming these two concepts are separate
concerned products or services. ‘Emotion’, and serve exclusively different purposes,
on the other hand, is more or less haven’t we actually lost sight of one of the
associated with implicit stimulation and most fundamental objectives of traditional
coercion through communication. advertising: raising the purchase intent of
our audience?

Nike’s ad featuring Colin Kaepernick When Professor Kevin Lane Keller of Tuck
School of Business at Dartmouth College
Many of us would initially believe that suggested the idea of Brand Laddering, he
emotions play a critical role in increasing barely knew that some brands would, one
stickiness in a consumer’s mind. But it isn’t day, distance them from reaping the
too difficult to realise that we have indeed benefits of advertising by taking his theory
forced ourselves into creating this artificial to heart. Keller explained that over a period
of time, a brand should transition from
communicating only functional benefits of
their brand to blending their
communication with emotional connect.
And why not? Psychology has proven a lot

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Bachelors in Accounting & Finance
(SIES College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai)

• Trained Bharatnatyam dancer
• Bollywood fanatic
• Can be found window shopping every single weekend

many times that it is the emotion that But in this transitioning from Functions to
people rely on more to make important Emotions, haven’t we lost utterly touch of the
decisions in their life. In fact, a lot of former? Haven’t we made our advertising
independent analyses have shown that the devoid of attributional relevance completely?
adverts most shared on social media, year
after year, have heavily relied on emotional In the last few years, brands have
content (read: drama) with a lot of feel- aggressively pushed emotional content into
good factor about happiness and their advertisements, so much so that
impulsiveness in them. functional benefits and attributes have

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drained out completely. The result is an more sales?
emotionally-awed-audience who would
perhaps have gotten goosebumps towards David Ogilvy once famously quoted, “I do
the end of the advert but will still be not regard advertising as entertainment or
clueless about what to do with that piece of an art form but as a medium of
entertainment. Yes! A mere piece of information. When I write an
entertainment. With a big emphasis on advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me
storytelling, advertisements are definitely that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it
wonderful to watch and perhaps nice to so interesting that you buy the product.”
share on your Social Media too. But are And I can’t disagree with what the British
these Emotions converting into sales? Isn’t advertising tycoon had said back then. It is
that what your advertising agency is hired utterly useless to be creative and original if
for? To get you more traction; to get you you cannot sell what you create.

Surf Excel’s ad depicting the peaceful In an effort to emotionally appeal to our
co-existence of religions consumers, we have indefinitely driven a
taper between Function and Emotion in our
minds. And that is a doomed situation
unless we find a middle ground soon
enough. No doubt, an emotionally

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appealing advertisement is going to be way spontaneous brand recall through your
more successful than one that, no matter emotionally-cluttered content isn’t just
how relevant, fails to stimulate an enough for your brand’s long-term
emotional trigger. But we can’t even deny association goals.
the fact that Emotion, more often than not,
results in engaging people with the
communication vehicle, and not the real
product or service.

Adding to these woes, we have a new Consumers are increasingly becoming less
concept, called, ‘Consumer Promiscuity’ to brand loyal, choosing to experiment
play the role of a spoilsport. It talks about a
behavioural shift amongst people which
modern day marketers term as ‘Brand
Polygamy’. Try, use, dispose. Try something
new, use, dispose. Lather, rinse,
repeat. With so much experimenting in
their minds, a modern consumer would
rarely want to stick to the brand for a very
long time. So, just trying to get a

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Well, finding a middle ground isn’t too that it was a misconception that storytelling
difficult. Agreed that we may have lost is creative enough to persuade anyone into
track, but we haven’t yet lost it completely. doing anything. He said during his initial
We just need to get back to the basics. We days, he learnt that people would actually
need to find what is truly influential in buy something because it would solve their
driving a consumer’s intention to purchase pressing problem. This ‘pressing problem’ in
while looking at an advertisement? Jeff the vocabulary of video making and
Hammerbacher, rightly quoted, “The best storytelling is often termed as ‘conflict’.
minds of this generation are thinking how Stories are simply conflict and the
to make people click on ads.” The American resolution of that conflict. Modern day
Data Scientist was probably not talking from advertising agencies must find their own
the context of our reasoning, but what he conflict and they need a story to resolve
spoke was intuitively the most correct thing that conflict. And then, if they add a pinch of
from a marketing perspective. emotional drama to that conflict-resolution
story, the brand would hopefully just nail it.
A casual interaction with someone from the
industry quickly revealed something that While conducting an online search, I read
should have been evident the whole time. about the iconic marketing efforts of
Jaldeep, who has worked on short films and Apple’s iPod. Everyone knows that Steve
corporate videos for the past 4 years, said Jobs was a great marketer. And they were

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The latest iPod adverisements most perfect blend of functional relevance
and emotional appeal to date. Without
his marketing efforts that almost drove the giving away geeky specs of the gigabytes of
organisation sitting on the back of storage at the offer, the whole product
aspirations. One of the first adverts of the launch and the subsequent adverts
iPod is a testimonial to this. Despite saying communicated about how much fun owning
nothing about how the product functions, an iPod would be. The functional benefits
the advert effortlessly translates the brand tied to the consumer’s mind were
experience to its audience. It is perhaps the straightforward – portable music – and the
emotional appeal was a sense of exclusivity
that the brand had to offer.

So next time when you share an
advertisement over your social media
handle, do not tell people that you are
sending them a wonderful ad. In fact, don’t
call an advertisement wonderful at all, unless
it’s able to make you pull your wallet out or
at least, make you click on it, as Jeff
Hammerbacher likes to believe.

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Now Trending and priorities with millennials and younger
generations than we might have previously
By Janhavi Mishra imagined. Euromonitor believes that the
solution to appease this category of
This year has heralded the genesis of individuals is to make access to products
several trends that have fascinated and services universal, even if they were
marketers everywhere. In their exhaustive created specifically for the elderly. No one
report, Euromonitor has described the top wants to be reminded of their own
10 global consumer trends in 2019. If you mortality and these “young at heart”
haven’t had a chance to flip through it yet, individuals have become enough of a force
here’s a snapshot: to impact the market.

Age Agnostic Back to Basics for Status

Consumers in this category, usually baby There is an increasing disdain for all things
boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), do “mainstream”, with consumes going out of
not conform to demographic expectations, their way to express their individuality
instead choosing to indulge in the same through their possessions. The market has
activities as their younger counterparts. found an increased favour with products
There is more of an overlap in the values characterised by minimalism and high

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quality that displays to the world a quiet badge of “organic” or “cruelty-free”.
declaration of their status- a far throw from
the previous fads of wearing branded Conscious Consumer
merchandise from head to toe.
The booming practice of capitalism has given
In a bid to be more authentic- and making rise to a new crop of consumers that strive
sure to look good while doing it- to make positive buying decisions to negate
consumers have fostered a flourishing the harmful impact consumerism is having
interest in products such as craft spirits, on the world. In an age where everyone is
hyperlocal foods and those that bear the always online, social media has been

B.A. Economics
(Hansraj College, Delhi University)

• State level basketball player
• Don’t be fooled by her form or her voice, she sure can

roar to get her work done!
• Powerhouse of the batch

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paramount in fueling phenomena such as authentic, life-like interactions online.
animal welfare, veganism and a
burgeoning love for all things “organic”. For
the conscious consumer, any product that
now has the tag “cruelty-free” seems nigh
impossible to resist, giving traction to the
sales of meat substitutes and milk
alternatives.

Digitally Together

Technology has come a long way, from Apple Watch featuring an activity tracker app
sending telegrams and waiting around for a
response for weeks, to paying video games Fascinating new innovations, such as
in tandem with your friends that live several wearable fitness devices are technological
hundred kilometers away. Virtual platforms marvels in their own right, equipped with
have become steadily more and more features such as an electrocardiograph
ingrained in our lives, sometimes almost as sensor allowing chronic illness
much as in-person ones. From dating to management and other complex diagnoses
education, we have grown to expect more to virtual care.

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Further fusing the virtual and real planes of Everyone’s an Expert, the one-size-fits-all
our existence is augmented reality (AR). approach to marketing no longer fits.
already popular through games like
Pokémon, once the technology has been Finding my JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)
refined to perfection, we could be looking at
a completely different future for activities Social media platforms have instilled in
such as training, shopping and meetings. everyone an overwhelming urge to have a
virtual presence in a bid to obtain more
Everyone’s an Expert “likes” and “follows”. It is not uncommon to
see uncomfortable personal posts on
Social media platforms have completely Facebook, a constant stream of video
changed the phenomenon of ‘word of depicted the individual’s life on Snapchat
mouth’, with consumers creating their own and ever-growing photographic record of
database of information through reviews, everything they do on Instagram. But this
trials and forums; and checking the same constant need for validation has given rise
against their peers and Influencers. to the fear of missing out. Consumer’s
Companies have caught on to this, and have trying to find their JOMO attempt to clear
increasingly been using “social media the stressful clutter that social media can
influencers” to find purchase for their brand accumulate, in order to set aside some time
in the consumers’ brains. Now that for themselves alone.

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In response to this need, the Oberoi hotel I Want a Plastic Free World
chain in India has designed a so-called Single-use plastics, including polyethene
Digital Detox package that allows the guest bags, drinking straws and cutlery, at its
to completely disconnect from the constant genesis was a wonderful way to ease our
notification pings for an entire day. lives while on the move. However, the rate
of consumption and improper disposal has
I Can Look After Myself had a disastrous effect on the environment,
proving fatal to the flora and fauna. An
There is a rising tendency to rely on one-self increasing awareness of the detrimental
or the internet whenever any problem effects of plastics, has borne a desire for a
arises. How many of us have felt a little
under the weather and googled the Non plastic cups
symptoms to understand just what was
wrong with us? Consumers are increasingly
turning to apps and other such services in a
bid to not engage with endless marketing
communications. Anything that could
simplify their lives and reduce the effort
and time required is a hit among this
generation.

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for sustainable packaging, citing it to be an
influencing factor in their purchasing
decision as well.

I Want it Now!

Non plastic bags The need for instant gratification has
become a huge component of the society’s
plastic-free world within a large faction of psyche in recent years. With everything at
consumers. the tips of our fingers, it is no wonder that
the need for saving time has skyrocketed,
Euromonitor International has found that especially among those aged 30–44 years,
63% of packaging across several industries living the fast life. This is especially apparent
consists of plastic. People have also in places with a high rate of development
become more inclined to pay a little extra and urbanisation—in 2017, more than half of
Indian respondents agreed to the fact tha
they would spend a little extra to cut down
the time it takes to do something. A great
example of innovation in these fast times is
Amazon’s launch of its Amazon Go stores.

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Currently set up in in Seattle and Chicago, Loner Living
the stores are redefining how one shops.
Upon entering, the shoppers are asked to Another trend that has become apparent is
scan the company app at a terminal, after the rising disinclination towards marriage
which they are tracked with cameras and and cohabitation. It is being defined by a
sensors. Every item they pick is then faction of single individuals, typically
charged to their virtual shopping cart, thus middle-aged and well-off, who are either
allowing them to stroll out without the divorced or have never been married. It is
hassle of waiting in a long line. quite interesting to see this mirrored
among the younger generations as well,
with the growth of single-person
households set to overthrow the growth of
other types of households.

The cashless Amazon Go stores The focus of these individuals is their
career, their personal development or their
travel plans instead. They also tend to
prioritise financial security over all else.
Owning things that can be passed down
through generations is not nearly as

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important as the products or services that Aside from urbane areas in capital cities like
are simple, functional, and disposable. London, Tokyo and New York, households
There seems to be no brand loyalty among are expanding in terms of rooms or square-
this lot, preferring to switch as and when feet. Not having to share this space with
they fancy. Instead of extending their another, these Loner Living individuals are
bloodline, these consumers are more likely inclined to revamp it to suit other needs such
to adopt pets and shower them with their as exercising and entertaining guests.
money and affection instead.
It is becoming increasingly popular for
individuals to turn their home into an
entertainment hub, rather than going
outside for fun, a phenomenon known as
cocooning. With the technological marvels
that have found their spot in each of our
lives, such as wearables, VR technology, etc.
being home alone is the perfect, completely
personalized way to wind down.

Consumers ae increasingly opting for Read the full report at
taking in pets instead of raising a family https://bit.ly/2WvozXw

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Political Advertising parties to adhere to their audience. What
was the old method used versus which new
By Natasha Bhatia methods are in play; the rest of this article
will talk about just that.
Election season is as exciting in India as
football season is the United States. You Supporters urging the public to vote
can feel the tension in the air, the Political parties have been campaigning
anticipation levels hit the roof and people since the start but the way to go about it
can be seen praying and hoping that may has evolved drastically in today’s day and
the best man win. Exercising voting rights age. How do you think they carried out
plays a vital role to each citizen of our campaigns back when there was no way to
country. It is something that has been broadcast their speech all over the internet
incorporated into our lives since we were
young; encouraging us to raise our voice for
the right and against the wrong. Especially
in India, citizens take politics seriously and
also ensure others join the bandwagon.
Prior to the advent of digital platforms and
the lack of promotional techniques, a few
standard methods were used by political

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or simply tweeting a controversial message to the citizens. The rallies were
statement? Decades ago, they had to swimming with supporters and highly
implement the face-to-face method, smiling motivated individuals. Before newspapers
at crowds, shaking hands and, most absurd made their widespread prominence felt,
of all, kissing babies. This was the ideal way political parties would print up campaign
to humanise a candidate running for office. posters which was the only mean of visual
Campaigning would be done by going door representation of the political parties. These
to door and convincing the person why that posters would have the candidate’s face
party was a right choice for them. The plastered across it and then put up on the
volunteers would be given a list of houses walls of the city.
and addresses which they could target for
this purpose. The campaign volunteers A politician addressing his audience
would explain the candidate’s position on
current issues and would urge the people to
show up and vote! The political parties would
hand out flyers to the people passing by,
holding rallies across the country, Rallies
held great importance as a large number of
people would gather around just to hear the
leader of the party speak, to deliver his

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[email protected] Volume III

These techniques are not outdated, just Voters would prefer to approach the local
evolving. Political parties have grown aware media outlets, primarily to gather
of different factors that could make or information about the candidates and
break their potential victory. India is a issues these candidates have taken under
developing country that still seems to have their wing.
a great Rural – Urban divide. Instead of
implementing the same approach across all We can see that despite the minimalist
sectors of society, it can be seen that techniques implemented earlier and lack of
parties have adapted their strategies to the means to reach out to a wider audience at
most accessible means of communication once, the political parties still ensured that
to connect with the voters. As rural India they came forth victorious. With changing
develops at a slower pace, majority of the times and increasing vehicles of
rallies are still held in those regions. Wall communication, politics has intertwined
paintings and posters are still utilised as itself with advertising. The textbook
visual influencers in villages as India is definition of political advertising says that it
home to the largest population of illiterate is an attempt to influence or comment
adults, a sizable percentage that can easily upon a matter which is currently the subject
turn the tide in the favour of a candidate if of extensive political debate. Focusing on
the party can appeal to them successfully. the evolutionary ways that have been
Localised advertising is key, even today. adopted by the candidates to reach out to

Page 28 Natasha Bhatia | PGPBM&MC 2018-19
Issue V [email protected]

the masses, below are some of the most rural household today has a television set at
popular ones seen. home, which in turn helps target them as
well. Even today, a large chunk of the ad
Historically, we’ve seen that political budgets are set aside for televised
advertising used the tried and tested advertisements. The current ad strategies
methods of buying prime time spots on are shifting with the shift in technology but
television or on radio, thus in turn, reaching political advertisers continue to focus
out to the broader bunch. In fact, Modi primarily on generating a strong presence
started a TV channel called NaMo TV, a across all local media channels.
channel entirely dedicated to coverage on
him. It is a method wherein the candidate The digital side of political advertising is
can project to the world's largest democracy riddled with data analytics, geo-targeting
that he or she has what it takes to lead it into and other data-driven tools. Digital
a bright future, as video message to the platforms began taking shape and
world, upfront and not misconstrued by the advertising political parties online became a
public. The ideal part about political reformed way to reach out to people.
advertising on television is the fact that the Digital ad technology is drastically changing
parties could thus target every household the perception of people towards politics
that owned a TV set, which made their radius and participating candidates. This allows
for potential supporters, wider. Almost every the parties to reach out to voters that are

Natasha Bhatia | PGP BM&MC 2018-19 Page 29
[email protected] Volume III

Digital ads allow political parties to engage with voters instantly

more attentive with powerful messages making a connection with the voters. Taking
being delivered. In today’s environment, real life political scenarios as an example,
social media, among other factors, Narendra Modi won the hearts of millions by
outweighs the remaining sources of integrating marketing, technology, PR and
information available to the public, advertising in his campaigns, thus generating
predominantly in urban areas. Voters maximum impact. The greatest step that the
spend an inordinate amount of time on BJP party took was to hire agencies to tackle
their mobile devices, thus candidates who the branding and advertising of their
use the internet as a medium of reaching candidate, Modi. Ogilvy & Mather
out to people will have better chances at successfully carried out the ‘Ab ki baar Modi

Page 30 Natasha Bhatia | PGPBM&MC 2018-19
Issue V [email protected]

M.Sc in Econmics & Strategy
(Imperial College, London)

• Professional theatre artist
• Certified in sketching & oil painting
• Certified bartender

sarkaar’ campaign in 2014. Leading finalized Percept as its ad agency and
agencies such as McCann, Madison World, assigned SilverPush to take care of the digital
O&M and Soho Square helped lead the media platforms. Apart from that, assistance
Modi-led BJP to the biggest election victory will also be provided by Design Box and
in 30 years. Unfortunately, Congress was Nixon.
late to the party and didn’t seem keep up
with the times. Influenced and wiser this The triumph of either BJP or the Congress
time around, during the 2019 elections, the will be supported by the strength of its
Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi, communication to the people, the

Natasha Bhatia | PGP BM&MC 2018-19 Page 31
[email protected] Volume III

Political campaigning has taken to digital means with a fervour

advertising message it sends out, the the upcoming elections.
marketing and the PR tactics used, among
other factors. The faster these parties
evolve with the current times, the better
their chances are at coming up victorious in

Page 32 Natasha Bhatia | PGPBM&MC 2018-19
Issue V [email protected]

Editor’s Note of influence that encourages people to go
out and vote. We hope it was an interesting
Natasha Bhatia (Editor, NorComm) read for you!

The last few months of being a A riveting article about the emotional and
Northpointer draw closer as all the functional aspect of advertising or brand
students have been working hard at their positioning was written by one of the
respective internships. But this newsletter students; it was an eye opening read about
is what we love working on so we hope you what brands need to do to stand out from
enjoyed the April issue of The Fourth the crowd. Hope you liked it!
Estate!

This issue has carried an article about And a final article we had was an all
political advertising and its evolution, extensive article about the consumer trends
especially in India. We hope you enjoyed that we can see in today's world with a
reading the way political parties are now complete breakdown of these trends for
getting with the times, utilizing news you; we hope you found this as captivating
means of communication. as we did!

While the topic of elections is trending, we For any suggestions or queries, you may
had one more article that talks about reach us at:
brands using their campaigns as a vehicle [email protected]

Natasha Bhatia | PGP BM&MC 2018-19 Page 33
[email protected] Volume III

Tune in for more

Northpoint Centre of Learning
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Northpoint Centre of Learning

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Page 34
Issue V

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