It was February 5 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha.
In what was probably his most direct attack on the disharmony of the INDIA bloc, PM Modi said: “Congressmen have recently learnt the job of a motor mechanic. So they know what alignment is but I can clearly see that the alignment of the alliance has gone for a toss.” He continued by asking if the INDIA constituents could not trust each other, how could the nation trust them?
HOW AN IDEA WAS BORN
The effect of the prime minister’s attack did not end in the grins and thumping of desks that day. BJP sources say the idea dawned upon the top leadership to highlight the contradiction within the opposition bloc in a sleek way where the message isn’t lost. “The idea had the okay from the very top after the initial pitch,” said a senior BJP functionary who added that the party was toying with the idea of executing a series of new-gen ad campaigns in-house.
The party leadership made up its mind to go with a professional execution by advertising companies but it was decided that the message the BJP wanted to communicate would be given by its in-house team. “Much of the dialogues of the now-viral ‘dulha’ video were drafted by our in-house team and that is the case with the advertisements that will be coming in the days ahead,” said a BJP leader handling the party’s social media push for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
On Tuesday night, the first in the series of advertisements attacking the INDIA bloc dropped, followed by another on Wednesday evening. “There will be many more to come. Expect at least 10,” the source told News18.
THE VIRAL CAMPAIGN
The first ad showed the alliance members winning over the hand of a beautiful bride where the one who calls himself a groom looks like Rahul Gandhi, with his family resembling Mamata Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Arvind Kejriwal, and Uddhav Thackeray to name a few. All hell broke loose the moment the Rahul lookalike claimed he was the groom.
Amid a clash, where the bride sits confused, the invisible narrator asks, “So how do you think they are going to choose the Prime Minister from themselves?” Before 24 hours, the ad has been watched 1.5 million times on Twitter. It was posted on YouTube on Wednesday and had been watched 21,000 times in nine hours. The advertisement has been widely shared on social media, including Instagram, say BJP insiders who have been keeping track of people’s responses.
High on the first success, the BJP released the second ad on Wednesday evening, showcasing the same set of people as Ravan’s 10 heads where the central figure remains a Rahul Gandhi lookalike who goes to a shop and says: “Company ka naam fir se change ho raha hai. Toh naya label banana hai.” Once again, a fight ensues the moment the shopkeeper asks which family the new label will be built around. The shopkeeper laughs and says, “Changing a label doesn’t make Ravan Lord Ram”.
The invisible narrator goes a step further than the ‘dulha’ ad and says, “Mahathagbandhan ke Ravan ka dehan kiya jata hai, chayan nahi” (The Ravan of mega cheaters is meant to be doused and not elected). After being posted on X, the video garnered 1,00,000 views within the first hour.
BRAINS BEHIND IT?
BJP has been tight-lipped about the ‘professional help’ they have sought. “We don’t have a dearth of creative minds. We have a full creative in-house team. But yes, there have been collaborations,” is what leaders say.
However, two premium ad agencies, including an international one, are being roped in by the BJP for its Lok Sabha creatives — McCain WorldGroup and Mumbai-based Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, reports Exchange4Media. News18 reached out to Prasoon Joshi, chairman, McCain Worldgroup Asia Pacific, but he had not replied till the time of publishing. News18 also contacted Jobson from Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, who refused to comment.
Meanwhile, Madison Media has retained BJP’s media planning buying rights for the third consecutive general election since 2014 when Narendra Modi burst onto the national scene as NDA’s prime ministerial candidate and won a landslide victory.
According to Exchange4Media, BJP’s media expenditure on 2024 Lok Sabha election will surpass Rs 1,800 crore, making it the second-largest advertiser in India. In 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP’s media expenditure surged 77 per cent to around Rs 1,076 crore compared to its 2014 Lok Sabha election expenses.
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