#ThinkDigital ? The Digital Politics
India is a country of elections. Every year, in fact, every quarter there are some elections going on whether at the state level or the national level. 2019 is at the forefront of Nation’s biggest ever election and election spending. According to a media buying firm, approx. 180,000 Cr (or $25 Billion +) is expected to be spent in the next 6-8 weeks. Social Media, Digital, TV, and Print Advertisement will be the key drivers for this 100% increased spending from previous elections.Since the 2014 election, Digital promotions have started to play a key role in influencing the voters. And this it’s not just the Social Media promotions, its the content that will be the key to win hearts of the voters. There are two political social media campaigns that I reviewed lately – 1. Nation With Namo 2. Soch Se Soch Ki Ladaai. In both of these campaigns, the motive is to touch the hearts of the voters with the pinch of emotions. It’s not the usual direct campaign that asks you to vote for a party, these campaigns just leave you with some food for thought.
On Social Media, for the next 2 months, you would be clogged up with authentic news, fake news, good news, bad news and everything about good parties or bad parties, good candidates and bad candidates. News channels will be developing stories that focus on finding issues and highlighting solutions. However, over the last few years, we have seen a saturation in general content consumption by the Audience. A big reason for this is the rise of OTT platforms that can help personalize the content and promotion on the go. Along with that Influencers (paid and unpaid) will be playing a huge role in driving the focus to their favorite candidate.
For political parties, it is also very important to understand that one size will not at all fit to all here and they will need to utilize all open mediums for personalized promotion and again I highlight here it’s not just promotion it is the personalized promotion that will help them make the way to the audience’s heart. Here are some innovative ideas that you will experience as part of political promotion:
1. Personalized placements on the OTT content.
2. Engagement on WhatsApp with Dedicated numbers.
3. Promotion using Caller Ring Back Tunes.
4. Innovative Tech placements (Holograms..though it is not new now).
5. Location-based IVR and OBD Services.
6. Native Influencers
On the other note, Social Media and Digital platforms are trying their level best to fight with the fake pieces of news and putting checks like identity confirmation, address verification, etc are some good steps. However, just this is not going to be enough. There is a requirement of crowd-sourced solutions to stop fake content from getting viral. The audience needs to play an equally important role in reporting and blocking such content.
Advertising is changing as digital ecosystem influences the thinking of a consumer and its lifestyle. In my column, “#ThinkDigital” I explore the intersection of the latest digital-tech, advertising and everything around. Every fortnight I will be sharing insights on the latest digital trends, innovative campaigns, and conversations from the Innovation and data-driven digital leaders across the planet.
