SETU J June 1, 2014 No.48 Synergy*Excellence*Transformation*Unlearning The Mesmerizing Persona : Narendra Bhai Modi Marketing Lessons To Learn SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014, No 48
Background Of Modi The last decade of Gujarat and the rise of Narendra Modi first as the Chief Minister and then as a national leader being the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has catapulted the Gujarat model and Narendra Modi into the national and international limelight. SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014,No. 48
Modinomics: The Gujarat story Modi has been credited with driving Gujarat's economic growth since he took the helm as chief minister of the North West Indian state in 2001.Gujarat is now among the richest states in the country. It contains only 4.9% of the population (2011) but contributes to 7.9% of the total domestic output of all states. SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014,No. 48
2002 Gujarat riots On 27 February 2002, a train with several hundred passengers including large numbers of Hindu pilgrims was burned near Godhra, killing around 60 people. Despite allegations of using anti-muslim rhetoric during the campaign, Modi's emphasis shifted during his second term from Hindutva to the economic development of Gujarat. SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014,No. 48
Second term (2002 2007) In July 2007, Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of Gujarat, making him the longest-serving holder of that post. The BJP won 122 of the 182 seats in the state assembly in the 2007 election, and Modi continued as chief minister. SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014,No. 48
Third term (2007 2012) The third term of Modi regime is mostly known as the era of development for Gujarat. For the decade 2001 2010, Gujarat recorded an agricultural growth rate of 10.97%, the highest among all Indian states. Gujarat's real GDP has climbed 10.3% year-overyear between fiscal year (FY) 2003 and FY12, that's 2.4 percentage points above India's real GDP growth in the same period. SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014,No. 48
General Election (2014) The decisive mandate given to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India s 2014 general elections reflects the high hopes voters have in the Prime Minister designate, Narendra Modi.
The victory of BJP (or Narendra Modi) is the result of not only the strategy and commitment, but there are various management and marketing principles to be learned from this campaign. Right from the beginning of the election BJP set itself stretch targets which focused the efforts of all the stakeholders to one central objective: Mission 272+. They did everything to achieve this target and the charisma of Modi (NAMO) helped them in this. However experts believe that there is much more to learn from this historical victory. There are several management lessons Mr. Modi has taught us during this election campaign. The key management lessons are : 1. Clear goals: Rarely in Indian elections have we seen any candidate clearly state what he wants and what he hopes to achieve if he gets what he wants. While others pussyfoot around the idea and act coy, Modi has always been clear he wanted to be PM. This is the main reason why many voters are clear about giving him a chance. SIBM, Pune SETU June 1, 2014,No. 48
2. Positioning: Mr. Modi would begin most of his sentences saying mere sawa sau karor bharat vaasion (My 125 crore Indian people) i.e. his target audience to whom he brilliantly positioned his products employment, education, sufficiency of the physiological needs, business, infrastructure and communication growth, inducing ample technology development and at the end of the day making each Indian proud to enough yield a thriving and prosperous India. 3. Message: His speeches are always crystal clear and well times. The Modi campaign had some very simple messages, a good example is Acche din aane wale hain he targeted the issue of poverty, economic growth, inflation and unemployment. 4. The story: Modi narrated the story of his humble childhood, a tiny tea stall and serving tea in the trains, striving all throughout the 30 years to serve the country, the agile and creative young boy who aspired to only (and only) work for the people of the country went viral from television acts to the social media; people lapped up Narendra Modi s story.
5. Planning: Presenting the successful Gujarat model gloriously has always been on Modi s agenda. But the integration of the Gujarat model with India s future was a feather to his cap. Not only that, he and his team (IT, Marketing, Sales, Content and Research crew) thoroughly studied the Indian audience and realized what they buy. Not loose hopes but facts and ground realities. Those who have witnessed his rallies in person know the amount of visual effects, oratorship and the audience engaging presence that hit the bulls eye. 6. Social media marketing: Modi realized Social Media was a powerful medium to connect directly with the country s youth population. He garnered over 15 million likes in Facebook (still counting) and 4.2 million followers in Twitter (and still counting). 7. People: Modi attended over 400 rallies, met 234 million voters out of 814 million, voters, broadcasted a 3D hologram presentation of his public meetings at 150 locations simultaneously and initiated the chai pe charcha forum. This connected him directly to the common man, something which other political parties could only aspire but never accomplish.
8. Ignore the pessimists: As soon as he declared his willingness to serve the country as it s prime minister, the pessimists began talking about how he was drawing castles in the air BJP should not think of scoring over the long-lived first family of Indian politics, he must step back because of the Godhra riot stigma he still carries and India is a country, not a state like Gujarat and many many more, which he ignored and moved ahead with his excellent management skills and a team of smart marketers. 9. Controlling: He knows what he speaks, pauses and smiles before every word. Whereas the other political figures spoke about electric bills, free water etc. Modi spoke only about the good days ahead with Modi sarkaar. 10. Team work: He did have arguments and roadblocks within the party but instead of venting them in public, when asked about the same he commented, if not for them I would had been somewhere loitering around today. They shaped my political persona, how can I delegate them anything? His team was not BJP but Brand Modi, the people of the country and BJP.
11. Delegation: He performed certain smart delegations like Amit Shah (Strategy incharge for Uttar Pradesh), K.Kailashnath (his secretary), Piyush Goyal (National treasurer of BJP), Hiren Joshi (the man behind the social media campaigns), Bipin Chauhan (the stylist behind the crisp half-sleeved Modi kurtas). Also BJP, President Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley remained his strong supporter throughout the campaign. 12. Oratorship: Narendra Modi is an artist of words. His command over the language (note, he does not carry any dialect), straight forward appeals, pauses, clear agenda and goals, ample knowledge about the subject, voice modulation, clever use of words and delivering the punch lines in true artistic manner, won him lot of crucial public support. 13. Personality: He spoke what we have so long wanted to hear, because he has been one among us, has been through worst conditions and seen it all. He won the hearts of over 800 million Indian voters. Such impactful has he been that even his beard and the kurtas he wears are both in vogue. India has voted for a change and let s hope that this election would definitely bring acche din in our life.
IMMEDIATE CONCERNS AND EXPECTATIONS Restoring investor confidence as key to India s economic recovery. Rejigging government expenditure towards higher capital expenditure in the government budget and revising tax slabs. privatization plans for public sector undertakings, recapitalization of state run banks, a goods and services tax (GST), amendments to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and other archaic laws and a favorable agriculture policy.
Continued If Indian policies are given in the right direction it can greatly boost investors confidence and can bring in huge foreign investment for us. Another critical area is related with fuel and power generation which is the backbone of industries. Corruption and black money are two issues which should also get strongly addressed by the current government.
There are evidently very high expectations from the new government and it needs to be given time as we cannot expect miracles to happen immediately. While the revival of economy is always viewed as a long term process, there are indeed low hanging fruits for the new government.
References: http://www.whitelightconsulting.co.in/15-management-lessons-from-modis-victory/ http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/politics/election-14-marketing-principles-that-led-modi-to-victory_1087443.html http://therodinhoods.com/profiles/blogs/5-lessons-new-age-marketers-can-learn-from-modi-1 http://www.desibrandstrategy.com/3-marketing-lessons-from-shri-narendra-modis-crushing-victory-in-the-2014-general-elections-inindia/ http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/india-inc-expectations-from-new-pm-narendra-modi/1/206284.html http://www.mxmindia.com/2014/05/me-expectations-from-modi-co/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/narendra_modi http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/allaboutnarendramodi/narendra-modi-takes-oath-as-pm-what-ht-readers-want-fromnew-prime-minister/article1-1223119.aspx http://www.narendramodi.in/ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/gujarat-chief-minister-narendra-modi http://www.livemint.com/politics/jidgeodmtuivuktlujhstn/the-narendra-modi-model-of-development.html If you have liked reading this issue or otherwise please do write to the SETU team: sibmsetu@sibmpune.edu.in SETU is a monthly electronic publication of SIBM, Pune previously published as SIBM POLICY NOTES. SETU is published by Director, SIBM, Pune distributed by SIBM, Pune free of cost to corporate patrons with a view to share knowledge and perspectives only. Due care has been taken to ensure that the information published herein is correct and to mention sources of information. The editorial team and publishers take no responsibility for any damage resulting from inadvertent omission or inaccuracy in the publication. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of SIBM, Pune. Website: www.sibm.edu Past issues are archived on the website. Email:sibmsetu@sibmpune.edu.in Credits for this issue: Prof. Mahima Mishra and Dr Tarun Kushwaha SETU Team: Ms. Shilpa Ravalallu, Mrs. Saee Gokhale, Mr. Nilesh Kadam.