PM's Brand Equity

It all started with a quiet meeting between marketing guru Siddhartha 'Shunu' Sen, along with his partner, adman-theatreperson Suhel Seth, and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the latter's residence. Sen, a former marketing director of Hindustan Lever, owns, along with Seth and Martin Sorrell of wpp Plc, Equus Advertising and Quadra Marketing Services. Sen, who was introduced to Vajpayee by foreign minister Jaswant Singh, was told to develop a series of campaigns to project the image of the septuagenarian leader first and then the party, somewhat on the lines of the party's previous campaign "Able Leader, Stable Party".

While party insiders say Rs 67 lakh has already been paid as advance, the media cell is campaigning for inviting other agencies to project the party's image, and restricting Sen and his team to creating an "able leader" image for Vajpayee. Besides, says a senior media cell member, "a party that propagates swadeshi would be sending wrong signals to its voters if it selects a former marketing head of India's biggest consumer goods mnc to handle its pre-election communication."

"All along my life, I am known for handling brands and not human beings. But then, if given, this could be an interesting assignment in terms of its importance and reach," Sen told Outlook. Adds Suhel Seth, whose agency did some of the best creatives like those for Cielo and Apollo Tyres: "This is at a very preliminary stage. But then, Indian voters need to be better informed and helped in making the best choice while casting votes... as a creative shop, we are extremely aggressive and would like to make the best of the deal."

Insiders say Vajpayee was updated on the role played by global image management and marketing agencies in promoting politicians (like the Tim Bell campaign for Tony Blair, Bates campaign for Ronald Reagan and the Saatchi & Saatchi campaign for Lady Thatcher). Vajpayee and his associates were believed to be impressed by some of the initial campaign ideas the Sen-Seth duo had bounced off 7, Race Course Road. One of them talked of how one Gandhi engineered the Quit India movement 50 years ago and how the nation needs to launch the same movement against another Gandhi who is just exploiting the Gandhi name.

The decision to get Sen was taken after Vajpayee was briefed by Singh and Arun Jaitley about Sen's renown as the country's most effective marketing person and how he was best suited to create an image for Vajpayee to pit against Sonia Gandhi. "The idea behind getting Sen was primarily to send some strong messages to the rural belt," they said. "His intrinsic knowledge about marketing in India is mind-boggling. No one in India understands the middle-class better than Sen."

Senior party members recounted to Vajpayee how Sen helped Hindustan Lever checkmate Karsanbhai Patel's wonder detergent Nirma that stole the thunder from its highest selling brand, Rin, by campaigning that the blue bars actually dissolve if kept in a wet place. Nirma tactfully used a hand picking up dissolved portions of Rin. Sen used the very hand to show that yellow washing powders like Nirma caused sores because of a high soda ash content.

Even as the rival camp in the bjp remains unmoved-says a member, "we would continue to stress the need for working with a number of agencies rather than depending on an individual genius"-the coming months will see the electorate enjoying one of the classiest media battles for political leadership masterminded by some of the best marketing brains in the country.