UPA to come out with ad campaign akin to India Shining

All talks of a mid term poll appear to have died down, but the UPA wants to take no chances. And so you will now be carpet bombed with newspaper ads, radio jingles and TV commercials painting a rosy picture of Bharat - à la India Shining. It’s estimated to cost double the amount of the NDA's doomed media campaign. CNBC-TV18’s Smitha Nair reports that the tax payer will be footing the bill to make the government look good.

“Jab gaon gain badhta hain, Bharat nirman hota hain.” If this audio visual heralding the arrival of a shiny and prosperous India, aimed at making you 'feel good' gives you a sense of déjà vu, it’s no surprise. Just turn the clock back to 2004. It’s the UPA's encore of the NDA's India Shining that was widely panned culminating in their disastrous defeat.

Ironically, for a party that waved around the CAG report rapping the NDA for diverting Rs 64 crore of the tax payers money, the Congress is treading the same path. The possibility of the Left pulling the plug is still not a clear and present danger, but the Congress is taking no chances. Percept the agency responsible for managing cricket superstars like Sourav Ganguly has been entrusted with the UPA's image up-liftment. The Congress is possibly hoping to stage a spectacular comeback like the Prince of Kolkata.

Anil Chandwani, CEO, Percept said, “It’s incorrect to compare our campaign to any other. We are talking of work in progress."

And no prices for guessing that the moolah for the spit and polish will come from the taxes you pay. So have no lessons been learnt we asked?

The man behind the creatives of NDA's India shining insists the campaign itself had nothing to do with the disastrous electoral results, that it was purely meant to celebrate the India growth story and managed to create a feel good.

Pratap Soothan, Creative Director, Cheil Comm said, “Anyone who saw the campaign felt proud to be Indian. It was feel good."

Maybe. But what it did ensure is that the NDA sits on the opposition benches. The bottom line may lie in an advertising rule of thumb, that your pitch is only as good as your product.