Political parties are using a mix of mediums to communicate with different voter segments.
         
TELEVISION

Although India's 115 million television households (75 million of them cable and satellite homes) make TV an ideal platform for any advertiser who wants to reach a mass audience, the medium has failed to click for political advertising campaigns.
      
The combined spending of the two major political parties—Congress and BJP—on TV is Rs. 60 crore or 15% of the Rs. 400 crore advertising budget (for all political parties in the fray) for the ongoing assembly elections in six states.
      
Advertising experts believe it is because TV does not give political parties enough bang for the buck. A 10 second spot can sell for anywhere between Rs. 5,000 on a regional language channel to at least Rs. 1.5 lakh on a popular channel during prime time, say media buyers, while other platforms such as radio and outdoor are as effective and cheaper.

“Voter banks are not in big cities but in rural areas where posters, meetings and mobile vans reach out to more potential voters than a TV ad which costs 10 times the amount,” says Sumira Roy, founder of Mumbai-based advertising agency Postscript. “And spending so much on a political campaign like the BJP did with the India Shining campaign last elections, can actually backfire and work against the party.”

“At a time when Indian advertising has become so creative and has set standards internationally, the quality of political campaigns on TV remains poor and reflects badly on the industry”, says a senior advertising agency executive who didn't want to be named. “Especially the BJP ads that featured politicians using the attacks in Mumbai to gain votes on TV and print was atrocious and will make them lose supporters.”
    
Adds Emmanuel Upputuru, National Creative Director, Publicis India, “Earlier, political ads on TV looked like an A/V (audio-visual), so at least now they look like an advertisement as the production has improved after advertising agencies were hired, but at the end of the day, the advertising will be just as good or bad as the product, so maybe product is bad.”

However with 400-Plus TV channels, 60-70% of which are regional language channels, the media does hold potential—if used intelligently.

        By PRIYANKA MEHRA
        priyanka.m@livemint.com
         ........................

While door-to-door campaigning and political rallies continue to be the mainstay of election campaigns, political parties in India are looking at advertising campaigns across media platforms to reach the elusive voter, especially in urban areas.
Political parries are now more focused in their marketing strategies, and communication campaigns are going beyond reinforcing the party symbol. The proportion of poll budgets allocated to advertising has gone up and professional advertising agencies are being used.
     
For advertising agencies, too, it has been a learning curve—the target group is diffused and most ads take the regional language route.

Outdoor media, with its banners, hoardings and pamphlets, is the most obvious choice in political campaigns, with print ads a close second. The digital media has gained significance because of its ability to interact with urban voters; radio ads made their debut in the ongoing assembly elections. Television, despite its potential, has failed to click with parties and voters alike, mainly due to the poor quality of the ads.

CAMPAIGN looks at how political parties are using these mediums to spread the word-and how effective each is.

RADIO


On 21 November, The Election Commission allowed political campaigns on airwaves. From the very next day, radio stations in Delhi and other states going to the polls aired political advertisements, mainly from the BJP and Congress.

Analysts say the speed with which parties integrated radio into their campaigns is indicative of the potential it has to reach out locally. “Radio is a localized medium that reaches out to 19 crore listeners (above the age of 12) and unlike print and TV, where there are time and space restrictions, radio allows parties to actually communicate to listeners in their language” says Sunil Kumar, Managing Director at Radio Business Consultancy Big River Radio (India) Pvt. Ltd.

“With the poll panel putting restrictions on the expenditure for campaigns, parties are looking at less expensive outlets. It is natural for political parties to use radio channels which are popular among youngsters,” says BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

According to a senior executive from a media buying agency, who did not want to be identified, radio accounted for Rs. 20 crore of the Rs. 400 crore political advertising budget. The Congress took six radio spots, the BJP took three. The ads ranged from 10–50 seconds and cost the parties between Rs. 250 and Rs. 1,200.

Reaching out to 23% of the population, radio may be a more effective and cheaper medium, but experts say political parties will have to learn how to use it to debate and discuss opposing viewpoints instead of using it as a platform for mud-slinging.
 
In Delhi where Congress is the ruling party, radio ads highlighted the work done so far—no promises were made. But in Rajasthan, where the Congress is in the opposition, the ads looked at the inefficiency of the government and pointed out what could have been done better. Similarly, BJP's campaign warned voters about the shortcomings of the government and rhetorically asked voters if they would make the same mistake.

“These ads were not fancy and did not need much production work as they basically had voice-overs communicating to voters. So the ads were probably developed in a span of two days and were all set to air as soon as the government gave the green light," says Prathap Suthan, Creative Director of Cheil Communications.

Confirms Ashit Kukian, Executive Vice President of Radio city 91.1FM, “The COMMERCIALS were ready. We were waiting for the Election Commission For the broadcast certificate and as soon as the formality was met, the ads were aired on our station.”

DIGITAL
      
“In 2004 the Internet accounted for less than 1% of the advertising budget of political parties. Today however, the digital media makes up at least 10% of the budget,” says Atul Hegde, Chief Executive, Ignitee India Pvt. Ltd., the agency handling digital advertising for the Congress.

With 40 million Internet users and Internet penetration in urban India at around 9% the importance of digital media in political campaigns cannot be ignored. Add to that the fact that 100 million youngsters, half of whom live in urban India are expected to cast their voters for the first time in the Lok Sabha polls next Year, and the Internet emerges as very useful tool to engage with young people.

“The focus on digital and mobile media is to engage the urban youth in India who make up a large voters base,” says Hiren Pandit, managing partner of GroupM ESP, the entertainment, sports and partnerships division of media buyer GroupM. “While they are involved in political affairs, they may not be interested or inclined to vote, so these digital initiatives aim at interacting with them and getting the message out”

The BJP and congress have tracked US President-elect Barack Obama’s successful online campaign-social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut and MySpace have communities built around the two parties and individual politicians. On Facebook, for instance, a BJP group has 275 members who engage in discussions and post information on important dates and events related to the elections, while Congress Leader Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have their own communities built on the site with 358 and 1,310 supporters respectively. “It's the success of Obama's campaign we are trying to replicate here,” says Hegde.
 
The BJP has launched a website for its prime-ministerial candidate L.K Advani. It had one, too, for V.K Malhotra, its chief ministerial candidate for Delhi. The Congress opted for a dedicated Internet campaign for the Rajasthan assembly elections.

In addition, the two parties have engaged voters through video-sharing sites such as YouTube and video ads on popular websites such as MSN and Rediffmail.

The approximate cost for an extensive online campaign can be Rs. 1 crore over a month. “40% of a typical advertising campaign goes towards contextual search and advertising networking and 60% is spent on popular websites such as Yahoo, MSN and Rediff, among others,” says Sidharth Rao, chief Executive and co-founder of Webchutney, a leading digital marketing company.

OUTDOOR

Hoarding, bus stands, mobile vans and floats have proved to be most effective forms of communication and are used extensively by political parties. In fact, the outdoor medium gets a higher budget than television. According to a media buyers, 20% of the Rs. 400 crore advertising budget was spent on outdoor, while 15% was spent on television. “Outdoor advertising is the first indication that elections are coming up because all of a sudden, streets and parks in cities and villages across the country are filled with banners and hoardings of politicians, says Sumira Roy of Postscript. “This platform connects with the rural populations on the best because it talks to them in the language they understand and is effective in delivering results.”

Adds Gullu Sen of Dentsu India, “We know the leaders of political parties such as Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh but how many of us know the other politicians standing for elections in the states? So outdoor advertising helps spread awareness and educate people on who is who”. Apart from effectiveness and recall, outdoor media is more cost-effective than advertising in the main stream media.

According to a leading outdoor advertising agency in Delhi, hoardings in a city such as Delhi cost political parties Rs. 2.5-5 lakh for a month depending on the location and can be as low as Rs. 50,000 a month in smaller towns. The cost of advertising in bus shelters for a month can be between Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 1.5 lakh for digital print banners. Compare this to approximately Rs. 1.5 lakh for a 10-second TV spot ad during prime time on a general entertainment channel or a full-page advertisement across all editions of a national newspaper that can cost up to Rs. 1.7 crore a day.


PRINT


The lion’s share has traditionally gone to newspapers, and even though platforms such as digital and radio have gained significance, loyalties have not shifted yet. According to a media buying agency, print accounts for 40–50% of the Rs. 400 crore budget in the latest assembly elections. “Newspapers account for 50% of our spends because it reaches out to the masses, yet it is a very localised form of advertising that gets the message across to the lowest local denominator,” says Ranjan Bargotra, President of Crayons Advertising Ltd., the agency handling the Congress account.

According to the latest figures of the Registrar of Newspapers in India, or RNI, India had 64,998 registered newspapers as of March 2007, with a total circulation of 190 million. A political party can pay anywhere between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 45 lakh for one full-page advertisement in a newspaper, depending on the reach it has, says a senior media buyer who did not want to be identified.

Print ads also allow parties to respond to unexpected situations. “Yes, print is a localised from of advertising but the main reason for using so much of this media is because these political campaigns are all developed (at the) last minute and print is the fastest way to do it. All it needs is some script, party symbol and mug shots of the politicians”, says Gullu Sen, Executive Vice Chairman and Creative Director of advertising agency Dentsu, India.

     Despite all this, experts believe the entire efforts may be a waste. " the Quality of print Advertisements is still very tacky and seem like a big sham to me,"says Anil Madan,founder and creative director,Aqua Communications.
         Adds Sen, " They are bad leaflets, not advertisements-all it does is familiarize voters to their faces, so when someone does go to the poll booth, they might just recall the face and make a connection."