Spin Ballot

This week, from Mantralaya and Sahyadri guest house at Malabar Hill, Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde8217;s benign smile was pasted into a media ad splash where Maharashtra Leads day after day. Estimated cost: Rs 25 crore8212;not counting controversy over which agency bagged which part of the deal.

Feeling good or feeling bad? Political think-tanks8212;not just overworked PR bureaucrats8212;have waded deep into ad glib.

The BJP8212;as a client8212;has a specific pitch to plan a half-hour CD film and radio jingles: How to convince voters8212;as consumers8212;that the Maharashtra government is a sorry failure.

For the last Lok Sabha polls, Goldmine Advertising handled BJP8217;s state-level advertising. But Shinde8217;s men invited the team before the BJP could, and approved a print media pitch.

8216;8216;We8217;ve been briefed by secretaries and principal secretaries on the government8217;s achievements,8217;8217; says Goldmine Advertising president E. Ravindran, adding that the BJP invitation has not yet arrived. 8216;8216;Such campaigns can definitely influence a voter.8217;8217;

BJP spokesman Prakash Jawdekar has his lines ready. 8216;8216;You cannot sell a bad product with good advertising.8217;8217;

But Campaign Lok Sabha is systematic and professional. Rivals Nationalist Congress Party NCP and Congress have put their best minds on the job. Their orders came straight from NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shinde who mulled through a lengthy presentation at the CM8217;s bungalow two weeks ago.

8216;8216;The need is to reach a large number of voters. Effectively and quickly,8217;8217; says C.S. Parmeshwaran, who heads Paramin Advertisers, a favourite of NCP ministers.

The panel8217;s picked ideas from eight of Mumbai8217;s advertising who8217;s who for Campaign Lok Sabha: Lintas, O038;M, Goldmine Advertisers, Ad Factors, Euro RSG.

Division of labour among the eight is to creatively make not so creative points: The Congress and NCP want 8216;8216;fresh ideas8217;8217; for a critique of the BJP-led NDA government. And a bright future for the young. 8216;8216;Our target is the young voter,8217;8217; says Suresh Shetty, a younger member in Shinde8217;s ministry.

8216;8216;Modern and low-budget campaign,8217;8217; promises BJP state president Gopinath Munde who must lead the blitz against Congress8217; reported Rs 50 crore ad budget.

Munde sits through agency presentations every week, offering 8216;8216;inputs8217;8217; after each round. 8216;8216;We are not as rich as Congress,8217;8217; he smiles. 8216;8216;But our network of partymen spend their own money for the party8217;s sake.8217;8217;

Presentations are being invited for the making or marketing of audio tapes and Marathi films on CD to be projected on large makeshift screens from village to village. 8216;8216;We8217;ll use every possible marketing tool,8217;8217; Jawdekar says, declining to reveal agency names.

Congress and NCP are sharpening identical tools8212;billboards and rural films. 8216;8216;We8217;ll ridicule the Feel Good factor,8217;8217; promises a panel member. The think-tank led by Shivraj Patil Sonia8217;s second in command on the floor of the Lok Sabha includes NCP spokesperson Praful Patel, state finance minister Jayant Patil, energy minister Dilip Walse-Patil.

8216;8216;Our campaign won8217;t target any individual or party,8217;8217; says Walse-Patil. Compared to the Congress kitty, NCP8217;s Jayant Patil says his party8217;s got 8216;8216;limited resources to be used effectively.8217;8217;

In the melley, the ad industry is trying to decide whether to feel good or not.

Dialogues and inquiries from parties have started, says Lowe India president and COO Pranesh Misra. 8216;8216;It8217;s competitive. Parties are looking at a wider cross section of agencies this time,8217;8217; he says.

Lok Sabha campaigns will play the role of a product or service with a 8216;8216;significant impact on shaping voter impressions,8217;8217; says Misra, predicting specialised industry interventions at taluka-level campaigns also.

8216;8216;Artistes will be roped in,8217;8217; says ad film producer Vinay Apte, who hopes to bag BJP8217;s electronic campaign for his production house Addict. 8216;8216;Ideas will be invited and the best chosen,8217;8217; is all he says.

The party will make up its mind over a presentation.