Time for brand custodians to take a playbook from Indian politics

Authored by : Kalyan Ram Challapali , Founder- Wolfzhowl Strategic Instigations

Co-authored by: Akanksha Singh

Be it ‘chai pe charcha’, ‘conversations in train’, or ‘Tapri par baatein’, Indians love to analyse and talk about politics, and as a strategist, I cannot help but admire the strategy at play in Indian politics today. Seven years ago, I had observed that legacy dissonance was being deployed by BJP to question the belief in the minds of Indians that the Congress/Gandhi family is the ‘default’ government for India. An Indian voter, whenever they would not be satisfied by the current government, would go back to default settings by electing a Gandhi-led government. Please read this to know more about it.

It’s a common wisdom today that Indian politics has been undergoing a transition of late and what I see now is a logical ascend to implementation of cognitive bias being deployed to institutionalize BJP to become the new congress for the next 50 years. 

I would call BJP winning the 2019 elections success of the dissonance strategy that had been in play since 2014. The strategic dissonance strategy has been used for a long and has resulted in the evolution of Indian politics from Nehru’s version of congress followed by Indira Gandhi’s version of Congress to the recent advent of Modi’s version of BJP. Since independence, the Congress/Gandhi name has been synonymous and owned the Indian mind share. We can say the same for BJP/Modi name, who have been establishing themselves as visionary India needs. Thus, the logical next step for BJP seems to be creating a cognitive bias towards themselves.

Cognitive bias is present in our minds and it drives our behaviour without us being aware of it. It is kind of a shortcut our mind likes to take when reaching for certain decisions. Hence, it can affect the way we perceive information. Knowledge of cognitive bias psychology can yield very interesting strategies whether used in politics or by brands.

Well, we can conclude that humans are not entirely rational beings, in fact, they can be influenced by creating cognitive bias and they might not even realize it.

There is no denying that cognitive bias can influence the decisions of people and thus, it is one of the favourite behaviour change tools used in Politics. While social media communication, use of memes, Mann ki Baat etc, are effective strategies, but one that grabs my attention as the most effective strategy to create this bias is ‘Infrastructure politics’.

Thus, we can infer from history that using infrastructure as a means to create bias is an effective tool. It also helps create recall and a positive association for the party involved. Rajiv Gandhi IT Park is a prime example of Congress heralding the age of computers in India. Indira Gandhi Airport is an example of Congress-led India making its mark globally as in those times all international flights used to either land in Delhi or Bombay. Borrowing a leaf from Congress’s strategy book, BJP has also initiated its step towards making its mark. The most recent renaming of the Motera stadium, Ahmedabad to Narendra Modi cricket stadium can be considered BJP’s attempt to let the cricket-playing nations around the world and the cricket-loving nation i.e., India know that the BJP government is committed to the overall development of the nation including sports.

Some observations on how is BJP using infrastructure to deploy cognitive bias are as follows:

1)   The tallest statue of the world or the identifier of BJPs growing dominance:

The 182 m tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is not only the world’s tallest statue, but also a tribute to a national activist, Independent India’s first home minister, and most importantly a political leader who did not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi Family. The BJP leaders including Prime minister Modi have been critical of the fact that Congress has not honoured the leaders outside of the Nehru-Gandhi clan as much as they should have.

 BJP’s decision to honour the Iron man of India seems to achieve the following objectives:

·    It helped in disassociating BJP from RSS perceptually. In honouring a National icon, who though being a Congress-led leader, is known for his efforts for unifying India and bringing attention to issues, the government was ignoring, helps BJP establish that they are a progressive party with the intent of uniting India and guiding her towards development.

·    It also helped them establish a connection to the history of the freedom struggle of India and lay down the foundation upon which BJP will be building their legacy.

·    It enabled BJP to establish nostalgia and connection with the businessman and Patidar community within and outside the country. Since, Patels are spread across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and other parts of the world, it gave them a reason to be proud of being an Indian.

 2)     Saffronizing the nation, one building at a time:

 In the attempt of building a legacy, the BJP government has been on a re-naming spree or some people term it as ‘saffronizing’ of the towns. The decision of renaming places and choosing which leaders to honour has been very strategic by BJP. They have chosen leaders from diverse backgrounds to establish that they are not capitalist but care about culture, science, economy, society, and the overall development of India. Numerous initiatives have been taken in this direction, some of them are as follows:

·      Deen Dayal Upadhyay: He was a philosopher of integral humanism and the BJP adheres to his philosophy. To honour this leader, the historic Mughalsarai junction railway station in UP has been named Deen Dayal Upadhyay station while the upcoming airport at Agra is also to be named after him. Numerous other initiatives as naming an ONGC building in Delhi after the leader has also been taken. In honouring him BJP intends to establish themselves as a party that cares about literature, art, and culture and wants to revive the forgotten pride and cultural heritage which might have been subsided at the hands of Britishers, thereby, connecting with the masses by appealing to their patriotism.

·      Atal Bihari Vajpayee: This BJP leader had served 1 term for 13 days and 2 full terms as prime minister of India. As a tribute to the leader, there are about 18 places in India that include buildings, projects and educational institutes that have been renamed after him, e.g., the Iconic Hazratganj crossing in Lucknow has been renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee chowk, Dehradun and Deogarh airports as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Airport and so on. The list can be accessed here

·      Manohar Parrikar: Modi government renamed the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses to honour the legacy of late Defence Minister Parrikar. IDSA has served as a think tank for different aspects of national and international security and by branding it with Parrikar's name BJP government has put a saffron stamp on it.

·      Sushma Swaraj: Sushma Swaraj has been one of the most loved politicians and successful foreign ministers. As a tribute to her Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra has been renamed as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan and the Foreign Service Institute that trains budding diplomats too has been named after her. A flyover at Anjali crossroad in Ahmedabad will also be named as Sushma Swaraj Bridge.

·      Arun Jaitley: The National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) has been renamed as Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management (AJNIFM). The cricket stadium comprising the famous Ferozeshah Kotla Ground has been named after former Union minister Arun Jaitley along with a sport’s complex in Jammu's Hiranagar. A built flyover at Income Tax circle in Ahmedabad will be named as Arun Jaitley flyover.

·      Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: He served as the 11th president of India and has been known to share the ideology of BJP. Aurangzeb Road in Delhi has been renamed APJ Abdul Kalam Road. Outer Wheeler situated in Bhadrak; Odisha has been renamed Abdul Kalam Island. Dr. Kalam has been a champion of science and technology development in India. Indecision to honour him, BJP intends to promote science and technology which is also seen in various decisions the government undertook, e.g., Digitization of India, Cashless economy creation, Aadhar card for citizens, Smart cities, Bullet trains, Mangal mission, and so on.

‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, Shakespeare said so once. I guess, knowing infrastructure politics would have surely changed his mind

It is the name of a place, person or thing that defines a brand and creates a recall value. While our prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi has become a phenomenon and Brand Modi is being studied as marketing case studies, I feel these initiatives of renaming places seem to be undertaken to fulfil the following objectives:

·      Establish BJP as a party of progressive and efficient leaders: BJP has honoured a diverse set of leaders to establish that the party comprises efficient political leaders and unlike congress, they do not intend to make it a family affair. The choice made in choosing the leaders to be appreciated and promoted also intends to highlight their said motto i.e., progress and development of India.

·      Create brands other than prime minister Modi: Currently, it is Mr. Modi who enjoys popularity among the masses. The brand Modi is being established as the epitome of progress and development, while the branding of other leaders is preparing the citizens to trust BJP after Mr. Modi steps down as leader post the 2024 elections. BJP has started laying the foundation for their future in India where citizens can rely on and find security and comfort in the leadership of the past icons and future leaders like Amit Shah, Yogi Aditya Nath, etc. even if Mr. Modi is not there.

·      Build a legacy for the future to come: Honouring the esteemed leaders associated with the freedom struggle and the other veteran and popular leaders of the party would lead to the creation of a legacy of elder leaders who earned the respect of citizens. This legacy can be promoted in the future to gain appreciation from the upcoming generations.

3)     Piggybacking on the opiate religion that unites India i.e., cricket

Cricket is rightly known as the religion of India. Why so? It gives people reason to celebrate and feel proud, and most important of all, in a diverse country like India, it gives us the reason to be called Indians rather than Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, or any other religion. The recent renaming of the world’s biggest stadium i.e., Motera stadium to Narendra Modi cricket stadium is an interesting step accomplished by BJP under strategy bias. While the opposition called it out to be a disrespect to Sardar Patel and a narcissist move, BJP countered it by saying that the stadium was a dream project of Mr. Modi when he was the president of Gujarat cricket association. Since he laid the foundation, he deserves the honour. Whatever the result of this battle of words might be, one thing to be appreciated is the strategic win for the BJP Government.

I foresee this move to benefit BJP in the following ways:

·      Free media coverage for brand Modi: Every time a cricket match will be scheduled in this stadium, the mention of the name ‘Narendra Modi’ will happen. The commentary starts before the match where the pitch and weather are described, continues during the toss, and of course during the matches. I have observed that there are about 6 to 7 mentions of the stadium in a 3-hour match. The stadium has a seating capacity of 1,10,000 viewers. Thus, with the cumulative reach of there is no denying that whenever a match is played in this stadium, the name Narendra Modi will be mentioned and will receive free media coverage with a reach of millions. While advertisement rates during a cricket match cost Rs 15-16 lakh for 10 sec, BJP has made sure that they can get it for free.

             Narendra Modi stadium will be hosting the IPL final playoffs on 30th May while operating at 50% . It is a logical decision from the revenue perspective and the publicity of the stadium and Mr. Narendra Modi will be the icing on the cake for the BJP government. I would not be surprised if Gujarat lions are included in the IPL tournament from next year and Narendra Modi stadium becoming a part of the IPL season permanently.

·      Recognition among the youth: In a country that bleeds blue for the love of cricket, as far as youth is concerned Mr. Narendra Modi will go down in history for providing Indians with the world’s largest stadium with state of art facilities.  

         During the inauguration of the Narendra Modi stadium as well, President, Mr. Ramnath Kovind talked about the facilities at this stadium which would help the youth who want to build a career in sports and are unable to do so due to the unavailability of facilities. The renaming of the stadium will also instil positive sentiments continuously, in the youth aspiring to make a career in sports

 ·      Forever PR content: The stadium will also contribute to forever PR content. The players from all over the world would get to experience the facilities here and their reactions can be a recorded as PR content, e.g., the videos like what do foreigners think about Hrithik Roshan, Foreigners trying India snacks, etc. The tour videos or vlogs can become another permanent PR content, e.g., videos like a tour of Mumbai Airport.

Thus, Narendra Modi cricket stadium would be perfect PR for Mr Modi and the BJP government. What with upcoming legislative assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir in 2021, this PR will lead to a high recall for BJP. It would not only be a celebration of cricket but also serve as an instant recall for the brand Modi for years to come. Election campaigns are stopped close to elections, but if a cricket match is scheduled in this stadium during elections, people might be hearing the name Modi even while votes are being cast. Even though this might be considered as a vain move and there would be numerous protests from the opposition, in the long run, they will subside and what will be left is the infrastructure embedded massive prestige in Indians. We can rightly say that the strategy by BJP has leveraged the deadly cocktail of two of the most talked-about topics in India i.e., cricket and politics.

You may ask why do I think it’s important? It is because it can be an efficient tool to create strategy bias. There are several biases that can influence the decision of a person and one such bias is termed as ‘Mere Exposure Effect’, which is the basic principle of Advertising. It states that humans tend to like things more when they are familiar with them. Thus, repeated PR and recalls of brand Modi would most definitely create a bias and subconsciously we citizens might finally accept that for India, the default settings is = ‘BJP led Government’

Franklin D. Roosevelt had rightly said, ‘In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way'. I feel that this quote by him is a hypothesis that has been proven time and again.

I feel strategists can learn a lot from politics and implement these strategies to create powerful brands. Some questions that come to my mind are how can a brand achieve the default status, especially in a world of decreasing consumer loyalty and increasing brand flirting? Can we apply infrastructure politics for brands to create cognitive biases? What is the permanent infrastructure for brands?

Let me try to answer them. Today the permanent infrastructure owned by brands is the key to their unique delivery. It helps a brand differentiate itself and its own spaces uniquely and it comprises not only the brand assets as logos, jingles etc. but multiple other infrastructure components.

How can this help create cognitive bias in the minds of consumers wherein they will come back to our brand and keep coming back to our brand?

GFK foundational research revealed that 58% of higher markets share is owned by brands that generate strong experience and 90% of the customer decisions are deeply rooted in emotions. Permanent infrastructure owned by brands will also aid in providing experience and continuous engagement with the consumers, for, e.g., Apple music festival was a concert series held by Apple in UK and US, where the tickets to these concerts were given to apple product and app users through localized draws. This is a perfect example of providing experience and driving engagement. Loyalty reward system and Social media assets are other ways brands can provide experience and continuously engage with customers.

What do brands achieve through all these efforts? Good experience and continuous engagement are what helps the brand achieve the TOMA amongst a maximum number of consumers which leads to the brand shaping the category. E.g. in India, a laundry detergent, a toilet cleaner, a sanitary pad is synonymous with the brand names Surf, Harpic, and Whisper, respectively. Thus, once a brand starts shaping the category, or becomes analogous to the category name, it is then that it achieves the default status.

Hence, with constant innovation and constant promotion being the current game, all the above examples prove that infrastructure assets can be used in creating cognitive bias amongst the flirty customers ultimately leading to the achievement of default status by the brands.

Another important learning that brands can borrow from cognitive bias strategy in politics is the importance of timing. The timing for execution of campaigns so that it reaches the maximum audience and also renders positive impact is very crucial just like any time a match is played in Narendra Modi stadium, it will lead to positive sentiments among masses.

Thus, brands not only have to strategize to create a bias towards themselves but also pay heed to the timing of execution of these strategies so that it has the maximum impact. Thus, if used right, cognitive bias can be an excellent tool to build power brands that benefits both i.e., brands and consumers.

I am not a political analyst, neither do I intend to be one, but as a strategist and a planner, I am attracted to decoding the whys of what’s happening around us. As awed, I am by these concepts, as a marketer I also feel the weight of ethics that should be incorporated while using these concepts in strategies. While politics teaches us a lot about human behaviour and human psychology, it also opens us to the world of, sometimes questionable decision- making. I write this article with an intention to imbibe the learnings of the consumer psyche and be conscious of the fact that great brands are a result of ethical and humanity empathetic decision making.

Once again, for the love of finding patterns, connecting the dots, and discovering larger strategic plays in motion...for interesting times ahead.

 hoowl.... @wolfzhowl