SEPT 10- Congress has given one-point directive to JWT, the advertising agency it has finalised to handle its 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign: counter Narendra Modi.
In fact, even at the short listing stage, when more than a dozen agencies were vying for the Rs.500-crore contract, they had all been told to come up with an effective ad campaign to counter Modi and the claims that he makes about development of Gujarat.
JWT has been involved with handling Congress campaigns earlier too, in 2009 Lok Sabha and also Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2011.
In the coming elections, while JWT will be responsible for the creative aspect, IPAN (Hill and Knowlton) will look after the publicity. Both JWT and IPAN had worked together on the campaign which finally won the Congress contract.
In the run up to their finally winning the contract, the agencies had worked hard researching on Modi and Gujarat. A team of over 20 professionals would have long brain-storming sessions everyday where they would pore over all of Modi’s speeches to look for loopholes.
They thoroughly researched data on Gujarat to verify if Modi’s claims about development, economic progress and social parameters were authentic.
Sources claim that the JWT and IPAN teams have already started briefing Congress’ media in charge Ajay Maken on a daily basis.
He is using the information provided by them to brief the Congress spokespersons in turn. The advertising teams are also providing some smart one-liners which can be used by the spokespersons appearing on TV.
Congress-led UPA government had already launched its Bharat Nirmaan campaign in August to highlight its achievements. This was handled by Percept ad agency.
The multi-genre campaign across all platforms — print, TV, digital, radio – focuses on UPA’s flagship schemes.
INDIA TODAY
