Brand Modi’s six Killer Applications

With my limited knowledge of branding, I have attempted to analyze  Narendra Modi’s branding strategy.   

1)     Surprise

Element of surprise in military warfare, confuses enemies and has always been Modi’s election campaign strategy.  Distribution of numerous Modi-Mask  in 2007 and   use of 3D technology in 2012(Gujarat election)  and projected himself as “chaiwala(tea boy)” in 2014 elections are part of surprise element to confuse opposition and hence distort their combat strategies.   Tea-boy surprise was master stroke. He kept this card to his chest. He never used in Gujarat state elections or before, but introduced this secret AFTER he was declared PM candidate. During election rally on Sep 13 at Rohini-Delhi, first time he presented himself. He said..  “tea-boy.. a boy who sold tea in trains in childhood, today standing in front of you”.. Crowd cheered and yelled.. Appeal went straight into the heart !!!

He saved this card for the right moment, and he used it effectively when moment came.

 A poor  boy selling tea in trains.. is an  emotional stirring visual.. it has un-deniable appeal to Indian masses. All tea vendors across country suddenly found their counter part in politics. In any town of India, tea stall is place of social gathering and political discussion. Namo Tea became instant hit. His popularity bound to grow.  Modi’s political campaign took new heights. He used this theme again and again. Chai pe charcha campaign and Namo Tea stall, are initiatives to capitalize  tea-boy appeal. Congress had no clue about how to deal with this tea-boy appeal. Congress was totally baffled by this surprise element.  

 

2)     Attack the core leadership

Modi never indulged in any argument with Gujarat congress leaders, not even during Gujarat elections. He never argues or attends accusation of congress leaders as  Digvijay singh, Manish Tewari etc. From 2002, most of his attacks are concentrated on Gandhi Family only and he is doing it ruthlessly, effectively. He knew that attacking Gandhi family will shake entire congress and make him popular in at national stage. During 2007, Sonia Gandhi’s remarks “Maut ka Sudagar” directly pitted him against Gandhi family as personal rival a challenger to dynasty,  in eyes of common Indian.

 

3)     Dictate your enemy’s move

The good strategy is to dictate your enemy’s move. Modi declared himself as unmarried person in election affidavit till 2014. In 2014 election, suddenly he declared himself as married. It made Congress and others to attack his personal life. But they did not knew, that it’s Modi’s trap they are falling into. Due to his clean character, more his personal life attacked, more sympathy he got from common people.  Declaring himself as married, was calculated move. Similarly he made Puppy statement. That statement was bit confusing that it can be interpreted in various ways.  Intension was to create inflammatory reaction from Media and others. Finally he clarified the statement in elaborate way, proving his innocence and victimization of himself, by media.

 

 

 

4)      Heroism

His personality and verbal eloquence has made him STAR in common men. During his rally speeches, he crated Star persona by his attractive attire and flawless dialogue delivery. But to be Hero, something else is required, which is villains. If there is no Villain, there will not be Hero. Somehow Modi projected himself as sole fighter, attacked by all Media channels and political parties.  From Gujarat experiment, he knew that more media and all other political party cursed him, more sympathy wave he garner from common man. So during 2014, people saw him single handedly dealing with Sonia, Rahul, Mamata, Nitin, Lalu, few TV channels etc..

For Common man it’s one man army against all media and political parties, and that perception made him Hero.

 

5)     Understand the Audience

Modi was first to grasp, power of youth and women. He made special effort to create vote bank of youth and women. He understood that youth have temptation for technology. He is using terms as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsUp, YouTube regularly in his speeches to make people believe that he understands those technologies. Use of 3D hologram technology and Chai pe charcha campaign gave impression of his technological adaptation. Rural young man or woman, with cheap cell phones, does dream of smart phones and when she sees Modi’s technology affiliation , she finds her leader in him. Other political party leaders go by percent of internet connectivity  in rural India and discard the impact of social media. But they fail to grasp the aspiration of rural youth who KNOWS about the internet and yearns for connectivity. Modi saw that and tapped on it.

 

6)     Holding Brand Value

The one of the major accusation against Modi is that he never apologize for 2002 riots. But that’s his brand value. The moment, he will apologize about riots, he will dilute  his Brand value. His stubbornness  to resist Media pressure has made him most popular national leader . He talks about inclusive growth and development. He also mentioned the pain of 2002 riots but he will not utter the exact words of apology. From 2002, battle between Modi and Media was, for this apology and Modi knew that this battle is making him interesting person who can’t be ignored.

 

Finally, branding alone does not help. His solid work at Gujarat is backbone of his popularity. Without concrete track record, branding is like resume of person, who has not born yet.