What a PM learned from the PM!

To put it simply for you, these our some learnings i have had as a Product Manager (PM) from the Prime Minister (PM) of India.

This tsunamo had started with a small ripple in the ocean of indian politics by Ratan Tata suggesting NaM for the big post, following which there were many other big businessmen and women who echoed the same sentiment.

This wave first hit the gujaratis who boldly heralded a debate on why NaMo deserves to be the PM of India and this was the begining of the viral marketing and image building exercise in which the people of India unknowingly played the most important role by simply ‘sharing’ it.

Lesson 1 – Endorsements and word of mouth are the most effective tools of marketing.

Just imagine the difference it would have made if NaMo himself had claimed the top seat of the PM like some of the politicians did; without a doubt it would have been a disaster.

But people endorse a product only when they have trust and the product has fared well on thier expectations. Similarly people wouldnt even speak a word on the product unless they were satisfied with it.

What if he never projected the good work that was being done in gujarat under his leadership? What if this sense of satisfaction wasnt created by the consistent marketing by Gujarat Government amongst the resident gujaratis and the travellers to Gujarat.

Lesson 2 – Marketing must be a regular practice and the promotion should never stop.

Thanks to the successful undercover viral campaign the confidence and a hope was created in the minds of the citizens that NaMo can be a solution to all the problems the country is facing right now.

As soon as he was nominated as the cotender for the top seat of PM, he started the series of huge, well planned and well spread rallies. Very few rallies were planned in the regions where his party had a strong presence. The focus was on the biggest states, places where his hold was weak and places where the competitors were loosing faith of the customers (Telangana/ AP). The best part of the rallies were the customized take home messages for the audience e.g. Congress Mukt Bharat, Good Governance, Minimum Government Maximum Governance, Nation First, Ek bharat Shresth Bharat, Sabka saath Sabka Vikas and many more.

Lesson 3 – Priortise and execute the high impact plans over all others to maximise returns

Lesson 4 – Nothing is better than personally meeting the customers and demonstrating the product

Lesson 5 – Always end your call with a statement that summarizes the call and is memorable

Once he started using this language everyone in his party was using the same language. Let it be a media presence or a press conference; even the ones who seemingly werent comfortable using such language were seen repeating his words.

Lesson 6 – The message should be clear and consistent among the employees so that the same message reaches the customer and there is no confusion or information overload in the minds of the customer.

Closely analysing this the competitor got active, roped in an international agency and rolled out their campaign against him. In the desperation of being the first ones to start the campaign and gain customer attention, they missed on insights. Meanwhile, team NaMo was waiting for this move and they started yet another viral campaign not to spoil the image of the competitor but to create another funny and unacceptable image of the competitor so that the customers dont take them seriously.

Lesson 7 – Launching a campaign without having insights about the customer is like opening an umbrella and praying for rain.

Lesson 8 – Choose people working for an agency and not just the agency.

Lesson 9 – Reactive marketing is required to keep the competitor at bay.

Once again when he had a advantage of ruining the campaign of the competitor without going head on; he decided to work with a guy on whom he had immense faith in based on his previous experiences. So, rather going with a big agency he chose to work with a big guy (Piyush Pandey) instead. A agency (Soho Square) which was probably never heard of was given this assignment of creating a hope for a better tomorrow in the minds of the people. He did not stop there, he also hand picked ad gurus (prasoon joshi) to make ‘something special’ for him. And boy..! the guys cracked that one big idea to be ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’ to instill hope and faith for a promising future in ‘Achche din aanewale hai!’

Lesson 10 – One big idea! if you have that.. you have cracked the campaign right!

But this was no conventional campaign like it was for the competitors. This was an all out approach and a very dynamic campaign. Every single touch point of the customers was grabbed let it be mails, print, outdoor, TV, social media, SMS etc. The campaign was launched barely a week before the elections were to begin and it was made viral successfully. The dynamism of the campaign can be seen by the reaction time it took to counter the allegations made by the competitors e.g. Chai pe Charcha! The technology was abused with the 3D rallies, online campaign and social media presence which the competitor completely missed on.

Lesson 11 – There is no final marketing plan, the plan has to dynamic and responsive to the market changes

Lesson 12 – If you are not abusing the technology, you are missing the bus.

The best of this was still to come with the sudden surge in media presence and series of interviews by the Man himself. This was perfectly timed before the biggest phase of election was to begin so as to re-emphasize on the sole message of the campaign.

Lesson 13 – Always keep your best for the last.

While all these things were being executed by the hard working team, he was busy developing an emotional connect with the customers directly by meeting them and empathizing with them. Also by playing an underdog (Chaiwallah, son of a farmer, poor background, low caste) he was making sure that he did not loose the attention for a second. Speaking of himself in third person was a small step in complimenting the brand image of Modi. Displaying ownership by talking fluently and frequently using the words like my country, my people, my culture.

Lesson 14 – The emotional bond is stronger than the hydrogen bond

The voting happened and the results were not suprisingly in his favor and as expected the campaign didnt end with the victory. A special Thanksgiving campaign was unleashed in an innovative and suprising way called the victory wall and the vijay geet. The customer engagement was at its best with asking the people to volunteer for the country! These can be termed as the post purchase satisfaction campaign with the campaign focusing on ensuring that you have not done any mistake by electing him.

Lesson 15 – You never leave the customer alone, even if it has been a successful purchase.

And most importantly the single lesson the competitors taught us..

Lesson 16 – No matter how big your marketing spend is.. if the product isnt good (Rahul) it wont sell!

Looking forward to more interesting and engaging initiatives and many more learnings!

‘Live as if you are going to die tomorrow, Learn as if you are going to live forever!’