“Purpose is what gives life a meaning.”
Charles H Perkhurst
Something happened. Things were going fine but something happened. I am no mind reader but then it does not require a mind-reader to tell what must be going on in the mind of the UPA government at present. Scams in the past have known to decide the fate of governments. The 2G spectrum scam not only sank A.Raja and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi but also did not spare Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from being questioned about his and his party’s integrity. Add to this the unprecedented support that Anna Hazare received for his anti-corruption campaign against the government and you will know why the UPA government has developed permanent worry lines across its forehead. Now with Baba Ramdev joining the bandwagon against corruption, the government can only wonder what went wrong. Maybe the government and the political party need to learn some good brand and image building techniques. Maybe it’s time for the government to go the brand way. Surprising? Hardly.
Sometime back major brands of the world were faced with a similar problem. For instance, on one hand they would pledge support and champion the cause of “going green” and on the other they would be dumping industrial wastes into natural resources. They thought that it was smart and profitable as no one would notice. Enter Social Media! It takes only a nanosecond for Social Media to expose any piece of information across the globe. And that is what it exactly did. Within seconds, years of built up equity and image came crashing down. Since then, brands have learnt to be honest, transparent and stand for certain values and purpose. All major brands are moving away from value addition to products to adding value to people’s lives, because human values are the most superlative things to bond like-minded people. Successful brands today propagate these values.
Now it’s the turn of political parties to do the same. Often at the highest of levels and in situations when nothing seems to work, people are told to go back to the drawing board. Political parties should learn from the marketing evolution and do the same. Firstly, they should find a purpose which is relevant to the country. A purpose for their existence. Unless you know which port you are sailing to, the wind and the current do not matter. Then, they should choose a set of values in accordance to their purpose, to live by. Those values should be aspirational to the people of the country. They must act and govern and propagate these values, fulfilling that purpose. The power of Social Media should be underestimated at your own peril. People will stand up and voice their opinions as they are doing now. As I write this the support for Baba Ramdev is increasing exponentially.
Therefore, it is a humble request to political parties to learn as the marketers did and to mend their ways. Understand how humanity behaves and how a government finds place in the lives of its people. Either they can behave like an ostrich and choosing to believe all is well, or they can be honest and add values to their lives. Political parties look within, ask yourself the purpose of your existence, ask whether your purpose will find a place in the lives of the people. Find out ways to achieve that by propagating such values. Build up your convictions. Find a purpose to “your” existence before you go to the people and pledge to serve “their” purpose. Else you will find yourself in a position as our government — “nowhere and elsewhere”.
(The author is National Creative Director, Leo Burnett)
