Ad blitz spawned many spin-offs

8216;8216;I chose 8216;India Shining8217; because there8217;s a glow on everyone8217;s face and a sense of pride and well-being,8217;8217; said Prathap Suthan, national creative head of Grey Worldwide who came up with the catchphrase in five days.

Recently, as many as five campaigns have borrowed from Grey Worldwide8217;s creativity. Brands such as State Bank of India have blatantly used the line 8216;8216;India is shining! So is State Bank group!!8217;8217; In fact, Sanjay Suri, creative head of Concept, unabashedly admits that there8217;s nothing new in the SBI campaign. 8216;8216;It8217;s not unique, but there8217;s no question of copying another ad either,8217;8217; said Suri, adding, 8216;8216;We8217;ve just picked on 8216;India Shining8217; because it8217;s topical, and works.8217;8217;

Mumbai8217;s da Cunha Communications, known for the droll Amul hoardings, took off on the campaign with an 8216;8216;India Dining8217;8217; tagline, though Rahul da Cunha, the agency8217;s director, is unimpressed with the original. 8216;8216;It doesn8217;t tell me anything,8217;8217; he said, 8216;8216;the TVC8217;s boring too and we8217;ve seen all the montage shots of happy people before. We8217;re going through bad times and we need a message that goes deep into our hearts. But these images just don8217;t move you.8217;8217;

Bad times? Suthan thinks not. 8216;8216;The campaign followed the Ministry8217;s brief, which declared that 8216;all macro-economic indicators are in place8217; and hoped to build more confidence and gain investors.8217;8217; Released last October, the campaign was pulled off after four days due to the Assembly elections and re-released in the first week of December. 8216;8216;The phrase has become a part of the lexicon, so much so that even front-page stories in newspapers in the past month have used it, whether it8217;s to describe the Indian cricket team or the economy,8217;8217; said Nirvik Singh, chairman South Asia, Grey Global Group.

Which is why the Maharashtra Government was not far behind with the 8216;8216;Maharashtra Leads8217;8217; campaign, also modelled on the common man and his needs. But Mohammed Khan, chairman of ad agency Enterprise Nexus, feels that 8216;8216;Maharashtra Leads8217;8217; is not off the beaten track. 8216;8216;Though I thought the 8216;India Shining8217; campaign didn8217;t look like the normal government campaigns and touched a chord,8217;8217; he added.

Even Public Service Units have seized the punchline. A tender issued by the Shipping Corporation of India reads: 8216;8216;And now India8217;s shine finds its reflection on water!8217;8217;

There were also subtler spin-offs such as 8216;8216;Let8217;s put India first8217;8217; for ITC, devised by J Walter Thompson, and ONGC8217;s 8216;8216;Making tomorrow brighter8217;8217;, designed by Grey Worldwide.

Even competitors agree that the strategy comes shining through. 8216;8216;It8217;s a fantastic campaign for BJP and it doesn8217;t matter what image or text they8217;ve used, the ad8217;s picked up,8217;8217; opined R Balakrishnan, national creative head, Lowe.

8216;8216;I haven8217;t seen much of it in the Hindi or Marathi papers,8217;8217; says adman Kiran Khalap of Chlorophyll, who also drew up a campaign for the Congress in 8217;93, when he was a part of Clarion Bates. Khalap feels that the succint phrase sums up the political party8217;s agenda with less propaganda and more focus on consumer needs. Adman Prasoon Joshi of McCann Erickson agrees that the feel-good factor has spread in the metros. 8216;8216;There8217;s no harm in sharing the government8217;s progress with the people this way,8217;8217; he says.

Meanwhile, a new 8216;8216;I make India shine8217;8217; press ad was released last week, followed by a television campaign. 8216;8216;This deals with how an individual makes a difference to his country,8217;8217; explains Suthan, who confirms that more campaigns will be beamed post-Lok Sabha elections.