Beyond Bharat Nirman: Congress to splurge Rs 500 cr on 2014 ad blitz

You’d think the Rs 100 crore Bharat Nirman campaign by the UPA government would be enough to highlight its achievements, but the Congress has another advertising blitz ahead of the 2014 polls and given it has Rs 500 crore to splurge, the biggest names in the advertising world and queuing up to make presentations to Rahul Gandhi. The brief to the advertising agencies is simple: play up the welfare schemes, don’t talk about the allegations of corruption. According to an Economic Times report, eleven advertisement agencies have made presentations at the Congress’ office over the last two weeks, and the new campaign could see the light of day as early as the next two months, once it has been approved by party vice president Rahul Gandhi. [caption id=“attachment_948363” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul Gandhi is expected to clear the advertising campaign. AP[/caption] The campaign is expected to be carried out over three phases, with the last two phases to be carried out before crucial state and national elections. “The general impression within the party is that Congress has been unable to put its point of view across to the people effectively…This is why the party has given the brief to agencies that the campaign should address misinformation and play up the achievements of the government,” an unnamed leader was quoted as saying. The advertisement campaign is in addition to the party’s push to be seen more on social media and the party’s senior leaders including Ahmed Patel, Janardhan Dwivedi and Jairam Ramesh have been offering suggestions to the advertising companies. So how is it different from the Bharat Nirman advertisement campaign? Apparently it will highlight initiatives like the Right to Food and Direct cash subsidy transfer scheme, which may not see the light of day across India by the time the elections are upon the party. The Bharat Nirman advertisement campaign is expected to cost the exchequer Rs 100 crore which has featured advertisements highlighting various government policies related to IITs, roads, metro railways, Right to Information Act and other policy intiatives.