Some are saying half the election battle was won when Ram Mandir was inaugurated in Ayodhya, some are also saying that a significant chunk of investments earmarked for election campaigns have already been spent. But that’s the grapevine and it doesn’t stop India’s advertising agencies to dream big and be a part of the winning journey of Modi Government 3.0.
“Agencies want to be a part of the winning party’s campaign. They just want to be associated with the ruling party, no matter in what capacity and no matter how big or small the account is,” said the founder of an independent creative agency working with government clients over the years. They did not wish to be named.
Media planners said around Rs 30,000 crore was spent on advertising in 2019 before general elections and the figure will grow by at least 30-40 percent this time.
Some agency executives disagreed. “Add another zero to that figure,” said another founder of a full service agency.
They also said 70 percent of the entire election campaign budget is being spent by the ruling party and that is what agencies are after.
“Billings from even a small campaign would be a windfall gain for agencies not just in terms of revenue but also footage and sheer brag value,” they said.
“We’ve worked with the BJP in their winning campaigns; is what every agency person would like to say even if they’ve designed a small festoon. It’s a winning pitch for all their future business deals,” the added.
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Over a dozen ad agencies are pitching to BJP officials for various parts of the account and campaign. The agencies include heavyweights like Ogilvy and McCann Worldgroup and many others like Efficacy Worldwide, Cosmos Maya,Crayons, Moving Pixels, Vishista VFX, Thought Blurb Communications.
One ad agency head told us, while everyone wants a piece of the BJP mammoth ad pie, Congress couldn’t find takers for its ad business, with many agencies not wanting to touch the campaigners with a barge pole.
Clearly there are two main reasons why Congress is not finding as many creative directors, marketing gurus and advertising geniuses to get on board.
“At the risk of sounding both pre-mature and bold, I would say no one wants to be on the wrong side,” said a creative director of an ad agency based out of Mumbai.
The other big reason is budget constraints. While there is no reason to believe that the Congress is not going all out to create buzz, the wallet size is no match to that of the incumbent.