Finally, after a rather long break, I’ve put work aside and decided to get back to blogging. My inspiration? Well, inspiration came from interacting, on various levels, with the major political parties and trying to understand what really works- both with the Parties and with the people to reach the masses.
Indian Elections came on the heels of the phenomenal success of the Obama win in the U.S.A. The tech ‘savvy’ and forward looking India wondered what political teams in India would learn from the really well put together Obama campaign. Plus, being the largest democracy in the world, the world would be watching very closely.
Online campaigns turned out to be backbone of the Obama campaign. Not to be left behind and come out looking like noobs in the tech-tools department, the political leaders listened to their advisors and said ‘Yes, I’ll do it’.
Let us take a step back and look at this for ROI (Return on investments- love you N3WB!3S :) ) from the Political Party’s point of view. Percentage of people with computer access in India is so small that does it even make sense to go beyond a basic profile on the Web. Does it make sense to pump money in to a campaign that will not even reach a significant number?
At the same time, would it not be too dangerous to not have a web presence and come out looking like clueless, un-tech-savvy (non-progressive) leaders especially for the candidates from the very tech savvy constituencies like Bangalore (Karnataka).
Well, they were not ready with even a basic profile on any social-network or website. So it was start from zero. The campaign teams looked at what worked for the Obama campaign and went through the check list.
We saw sites sprout overnite – some that were good and some that were not so good. Now everyone had a web presence- including on Facebook, Orkut, even on Twitter and youtube channels
One catch though, no one seemed to have a clue as to what needed to be done next. Just having a web presence wasn’t enough to run a campaign. Running any kind of Web campaign needs a dedicated effort and a team that keeps the content fresh and utilizes techniques to draw people in. And leaders who understand that they need to contribute and interact frequently on the web!
Even Youtube videos got pathetic views. Was it that the Indian youth just wasn’t interested? Or was it just reaching the youth in places, settings they were most comfortable with?
So why the half-hearted, clueless attempts? Has a lot to do with the ROI and the efforts and the fact that these efforts start a bit too late to really put together a strategy. Or was it a combination of not too many people having access to computers and a lack of understanding on how to leverage the web or any online campaigns?
Hmmm… so traditional web would not work for Indian political leaders as it did it did for Obama. Now what? Well… how about the darling of the Indians, their mobile phones? That got them thinking.
Well, the traditional, megaphone (aka loudspeaker) on a rickshaw, auto, truck etc (believe me I’ve seen those things on some really weird things) was stale… There was need for something new. Something fresh… an attention grabber.
Why not use a simple SMS (Short message System Aka text message) to blast everyone? Oops but then there is the DND (Do not Disturb) list and the fact that a text message really does not have the desired impact. Plus, the cost adds up quickly.
Some way to use a low cost vehical- something multimedia that would engage the people, seemed to be the way to go. (TV ads cost too much and do not have the desired effect) This meant they had to experiment with new, unfamiliar mediums the youth- 18-45 yrs old were using like ibibo, Frenzo, RockeTalk etc
Next time: The real on-line campaigning efforts in India: Reaching out to the youth
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