(Click to view larger image)Looking at the elections from almost 5,000 kilometers away, I was quite surprised to get an email from someone called "Media Office". Upon opening it, it turns out to be a campaigning flyer for the upcoming elections.
What is different about this email campaign? RS MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar is endorsing Ananthkumar for the LS seat from Bangalore South. Note that this is an endorsement of the man and what he stands for, rather than the party. The focus is on what this person stands for in terms of where he can take Bangalore forward. The focus is on bring out change in the city as opposed to canvassing for the party to win 276 seats in far away Delhi.
This is strikingly different from the fliers of previous elections, where they'd slip a bunch of awful looking green, pink or yellow sheets printed on the lowest quality paper. The sheet would be filled with mug shots of guys who seemed as if they had just escaped from Tihar ( probably did!). The parties symbol would be garishly obvious as they try to goad you to put your mark for the lantern/leg/bicycle/cart/wheel.
This BJP reach out is interesting. I do not know if they are following this all over or if Ananth Kumar is doing this because he fighting for a Bangalore seat focused on the IT crowd. In one stroke, he has gathered the attention of folks in his constituency far far away, such as yours truly.
I may or may not vote for this man. But I now know what he stands for. I know where his priorities lie with respect to my city. I know all of this not by attending a rally in the hot summer sun among teeming thousands, but at the comfort of my home. Who has the time to read a detailed manifesto ? Who has the energy to understand what politicians are doing ? Who really cares about who is at the helm in Delhi, while the problems are local : here and now. This email flier is well targeted at the educated classes of Bangalore, precisely the kind of people who can make informed choices at the polling booth. Initially, I wondered how they got my email adress, since I have never registered with any political organisation. But then I realized that I am on RangaShankara and RadioIndigo's mailing list and they must have sold the list. Ranga Shankara is more interesting since they are located in Bangalore South constituency.
I would love to see the Congress representative for Bangalore South reach out to me and tell me what he/she stands for, just so that I know who I'm putting in the parliament. In a web 2.0 world, I would like to see parties being more forward and unafraid of technology. The BJP has shown that it has been quite savvy in reaching out using the internet via blogs ( LK Advani's blog) and ambush search engine marketing with paid search results where BJP adwords upstages Congress related search terms ( On google.co.in, search for Rahul Gandhi and look at the ad words on the right)
CEOs blog for a reason : reach out to customers and give a human face. I believe that our political leaders should do the same : reach out to the masses, not for the votes, but to let them know where they stand and more importantly as tracking/governance mechanism once they are elected to demonstrate how far they've progressed on the promises that they have an obligation to deliver on.
Maybe this is the start...
This post is not meant to be an endorsement of the BJP, but is my opinion on how the party is marketing itself. Let me know if you have come across other political e-marketing campaigns
