The recent wave anti-graft campaign in India was met with resounding success. The campaign that lasted nearly a month ran through several phases. None of these were negative and all so articulate that it would make any adman look silly. Looking at it through the advertising point of view, there are elements that appear making it a highly strategy led campaign.
For those of us who may not know, Anna Hazare is a former soldier of the Indian Army and a social reformer since the past 30 decades. His efforts have him honored with India's third highest civil award and several other state honors. His methods are Gandhian and non violent in nature and won him mass appeal in the past few years. His efforts have been directed towards passing of the Jan Lokpal that brings into power strong anti corruption laws.
The campaign that lasted only a month had the following features that make you sit up, take notice and learn from them:
- Brand Value: A brand campaign starts with defining the brand value which translates into the positioning - Anti-corruption. Here the entire nation found the positioning something that was relatable to as well as something of common benefit.
- Brand purpose: Defining the objective of the brand and what the brand has to offer was to create a corrupt-free India by bringing on the Jan Lokpal bill.
- Brand Relevance: Defining the significance of the brand-timing, the campaign opened just when India was fighting the discovery of three major scams. The mood of the people was upbeat against a system that needed reform and justice. The opening of the campaign was bang on.
- Brand Face: This is the face behind the campaign that leads to the identity of the campaign. The face could be a celebrity, the common people, and the owners. For the Anna movement, the face was Anna entirely. The campaign had eminent volunteers but each one knew their place and put the focus of publicity on Anna.
- Brand Action: No brand will achieve any association unless it tells its consumer how to associate. Hence every brand should have an actionable message. E.g. "Rise", "Just do it". Each one talks of an action and by performing that action, one buys into the brand. The Lokpal Bill campaign at every step instructed the followers/fans on what they must do to showcase support.
- Brand Media: Right action is triggered through the right media mix. For the Anna movement, the entire media was being handled by former Star News anchor - Shazia Nigar. In fact the campaign used a 360 degree media mix with touch-points across verticals; including on-ground and social media. Social media saw major support grow via voting and signature campaigns.
- Brand Closure: Brand finale - when the brand campaign is about to wrap up it does so with a bang and makes room for the next campaign in the pipeline. For the Anna campaign, the finale was the 6 pm victory march at India Gate. Another moment of Brand closure was when Anna broke his fast from water offered by 2 girls representing minority communities in India indicating that this truly is a mass India movement.
All in all, a campaign that saw support grow not only from within India but all over the world and possibly the only peaceful agitation that 2011 has seen till date.
For more knowledge on Anna Hazare click here.
To know more about the Jan Lok Pal Bill click here.