Jayshree M Sundar - Dont Forget 2004: Advertising Secrets of an impossible election victory

Advertising secrets of an
impossible election victory

JAYSHREE M SUNDAR

Published by

Renu Kaul Verma

Vitasta Publishing Pvt Ltd

2/15, Ansari Road, Daryaganj

New Delhi-110 002

ISBN 978-93-90961-28-3

Jayshree M Sundar

First Edition 2022

MRP 495

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwisewithout the prior permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed in this book are the authors own. The publisher is in no way responsible for these.

Edited by Manjula Lal

Design concept by Pooja Trehan Theeng

Cover and layout by Somesh Kumar Mishra

Printed by Vikas Computer and Printers, New Delhi

For Baba

You nudged me to go for advertising as a profession.

Its been an enthralling journeyfrom practising it to teaching it.

Always in my heart.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee is said to have remarked that the 2004 Lok Sabha election verdict was one which the winner had not expected, nor the loser anticipated. It was undoubtedly a huge surprise, for the Congress was not expected to emerge as the single largest party, let alone be the anchor of a ruling coalition that would be in power for the next ten years.

The Congress had every disadvantage imaginable. It had been out of power for almost a decade. Its finances were stretched thin. It did not have a prime ministerial face. It was up against a Prime Minister who was generally well-liked and well-regarded. It faced a party that had been in campaign mode for almost a year prior to the polls. The media had decided that Mr Vajpayee would return to office.

Yet the Congress won. Many explanations have been offered for the verdict. Hubris and over-confidence on the part of the BJP certainly played a role. Political decisions that Mr Vajpayee apparently wanted to take but finally did not may have cost him. But to my mind the Congress political strategy of seeing the national election as an aggregation of state-level elections and having the right alliances with regional parties proved to be the decisive factor. The campaign style of its leaders, especially of its president, that stressed public outreach and not just rallies added to the effectiveness of the political strategy.

Jayshree Sundar tells the story of the Congress marketing campaign for the 2004 elections as seen from her perspective. This was a campaign that underpinned the political strategy. She was from the advertising world which, for some five months, became part and parcel of the Congress publicity war room. Salman Khurshid and I interacted with her and her team on a daily basis. The consumer research and insights that were presented by them formed the basis of a powerful creative strategy. Her narrative is a valuable contribution to understanding how one of the most stunning upsets in recent Indian political history was engineered.

Jairam Ramesh, MP

Former Union Minister

July 2014

I have just finished a marathon class at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong.

Stepping outdoors, I take in the cool breeze and walk to the little canteen to order a hot cup of tea. I check my phone. Theres a missed call from my husband.

I call back. Hes just getting off a flight. How was your morning session? he asks.

Tiring, I just took the Congress case study. It was a marathon classfour hours.

Oh, thats strange, he said. You know why? I had a top BJP minister on the seat next to me on the flight. We got talking and I told him you had worked on the 2004 elections. And guess what he said?

My tea has arrived. I take a sip. What?

The minister said, We have collected each and every piece of that campaign and have studied it threadbare.

Ah ha.

I switch off the phone and sit under a tree. I reflect on what just happened in the class. All eyes focused, body language totally engaged, the standing ovation at the end of the session.

Every time I have taken this session in my classes all over India, I get the same reaction. My students alone know this story first-hand from me.

So far.

I feel this experience should reach a much larger audience. After all it had political and historical importance in Indias journey, changing a billion peoples lives.

I have laid it out for readers as it unfolded. Its the story of how an advertising agency works, the inside machinery, the assetswhich are the people essentially, their minds, responsiveness and temerity. And, of course, the client.

And this narrative is unbelievable. Almost.

At the outset, I must say this is an account of a small team of people that helped create history. This is not about any personal political alignment.

Its my diary of events that transpired between January and May 2004.

Its the story of an agency that was tasked to halt a bullet train...

Its the story of an agency that was desperate to turn around its fate as well...

You will see as you turn the pages...

ITS A BITINGLY cold morning in Delhi. As usual, I am not taking this weather well. The nice guys from the admin department are getting a small heater fixed in my office room. I am pre-occupied. A meeting is about to begin with my Vice President Ali Imran and Executive Creative Director Rupam Borah. This is the office of Leo Burnett Delhi which is in a verdant lane ending in a cul de sac. I also happen to be heading it.

We gather around the sitting area of my office room and get some hot coffee to hopefully stimulate a good discussion. The year has begun. We need plans. We need new business. We need revenues. Its almost a year since I joined the agency. My brief is to turnaround the Delhi operations after the largest client has shifted base to Mumbai. Obviously, this has left a gaping hole in the balance sheet.

We have managed to win a few small accounts and our finance books show us as financially independent. Just about. However, I want to play in the Big League. And to motivate myself, I often have silent conversations in my mind. We have created a centre of excellence. Its just waiting for the right client to find us. But where? How?

Things are now in place, I convince myself.

A good team, though very young. A good attitude. A hugewillingness to do whatever it would take to succeed, and a hunger to do excellent work. Both creatively and strategically. I have this one year to prove myself and put my office on the map