Marketing - A sly tool in Inidian Politics

Marketing has been an effective tool for many organizations to promote their goods, services, ideas etc. for centuries now. In my previous post I tried to shed some light on how the world is utilising the digital platform for marketing and reaching the target audience effectively.
Marketing these days has become a mandate for a unique section of the society, viz. our politicians. With an eye on Indian General Election 2014, many political parties and renowned politicians have upped the ante to promote themselves as the next Superman or Spiderman, projecting themselves as the only saviours of this doomed nation.

The recent triumph of Shri. Arvind Kejrival and Aam Admi Party in Delhi assembly polls is a perfect example of 'striking the rod when hot', here the rod was the bruised and ill governed state of Delhi and the hammer was their marketing technique which helped them promote their ideas and thoughts amongst the masses using various marketing tools. Largely the credit of their victory goes to the marketing stint that they pulled for about a year to lure the voters of Delhi, as they hardly had any political experience to showcase. Although it’s been over a month now that Shri Kejriwal has come to power but the fulfilment of the promises that he made in his manifesto seem to be a far fetched dream for Delhi-ites for obvious reasons moreover his anarchist approach and disrespect towards the democracy has been out rightly condemned by citizens of Delhi itself.  

On the other hand we have a strong contender (most of my readers probably consider him as our next Prime Minister), Shri. Narendra Modi. One of the credible News Daily quoted that Shri. Modi has roped a global PR firm APCO in order to promote him and his work not only in India but all across the globe. Not to forget that the state of Gujrat administered by Shri Modi for over 11 years, ranks 11th  in Human Development Index in India, which is below 5-6 states governed by their arch rivals INC.

Not too far is the Indian National Congress,one of the oldest political parties of India which boasts to have governed our nation for the maximum period of time. The INC has recently hired a PR agency for a price of whooping INR 500 Crores to create a buzz for Shri Rahul Gandhi (Head of Election Campaign) on social media. Considering the amount being invested, it appears that we are all set to face yet another scam on the lines of Coalgate and 2G spectrum, how else do you think a political party can afford to pay such a huge sum as advertising expenses.

In my personal opinion there is nothing wrong in promoting oneself or one's political party or its ideology amongst the masses. In fact as a marketer it cheers me up to see a new set of customer base being built in the form of our politicians who have resorted to non conventional ways of marketing and are exploring different platforms and tools, willing to spend huge amounts of money. Although this provides a marketer with an opportunity to earn more, what concerns me as a citizen of India is whether we are going to judge or choose our next generation leaders based on their promotion.I still believe that as citizens of this nation we need to make our choices based on the developmental and constructive work done by our leaders and not merely based on the lip service they offer. Choosing a correct leader to govern the nation is equally important as choosing a job for ourselves, because it has a direct impact on our lives.

References:

• (ref: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/rahul-gandhi-pr-firm-lok-sabha-elections/1/334891.html

• (ref. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rahulgandhitakingthelead/new-pr-ninjas-hired-to-bolster-rahul-gandhi-s-image/article1-1170098.aspx )

Paradigm Shift in the World of Marketing to Digital

The saying that change is the only constant holds true in all aspects of life. It is evident from the past that he who fails to respond to change, also fails to make it big. Consider doctors for example, the diseases that they have to treat are not always the ones they learnt about, in med school. If they fail to upgrade their knowledge and skills with time, they would find themselves catching flies in their own dispensaries (provided they can afford any!)

The corporate sector is no exception to this inevitable phenomenon.The organisations that have lasted for long are the ones who changed their approach with time. Post World War II and the Industrial Revolution, our society has changed remarkably. The companies which were product or production oriented shifted their focus on marketing orientation and are now trying to understand and respond to the needs of their customers better than ever.

With organizations showing keen interest in the

marketing approach to increase their profit margins, the role of a robust marketing strategy and planning has become paramount. The marketer’s approach to lure his/her target audience has changed. The world is going digital and so is the potential customer. Gone are those days when the prime time slot 'allocated' or in other words 'earned by you' for advertising your product defined your reach to the audience. With the advent of smart phones and tablet computers, complimented by Wi-Fi and easy access to a data connection, the potential customer can be reached anywhere, any time.

The reach of digital media has crossed the confines of geographical, cultural and social boundaries. The Apparel and FMCG industries are thriving on their digital marketing campaigns to garner more customers than by any other stereotype method of print advertising. A research shows that over 93% of the marketers now prefer digital media for their business growth (ref. www.jessicadraws.com). A recent survey done by StrongView indicates that  9 out of 10 'Business Leaders' from a mix of B2B and B2C in the North American continent have planned to increase their digital marketing budgets by alarming numbers. A statistical report below depicts the percentage increase in budget by these companies in various marketing medium.

Now even politicians have harnessed the digital marketing platform to gain their political grounds, increase their popularity and build an image by roping in the advertisement and image building agencies. Barak Obama (President, The US) being the trend setter and Narendra Modi (CM, State of Guj,India) being the torch bearer of such marketing strategies are fine examples (I also consider them to be the best marketed products during their respective election campaigns).

All said and done the question that still haunts me is, for how long will this new gimmick of Digital Marketing sustain? Is it here to stay or is it just like any other passing fad? Well undoubtedly these changing trends in the marketing and promotional strategies of various organizations across the globe are a result of changing consumer behaviour. Being a marketing student I’m curious to know how far this Paradigm Shift can go. Not to forget that these newly discovered strategies firmly challenge the ‘Kotlers’ and ‘Poters‘ of the marketing world (who have ruled it for ages) on certain grounds and have still sustained for fairly good time now and continue to do so. Time has come for the world to look beyond the 4 Ps of conventional marketing and learn the 4 Cs of digital marketing so as to stay upbeat with the pace of this changing world.

'What Next?' is now an interesting question. As I quoted in the beginning, change is inevitable and we as marketers will have to keep this in our minds at all times.