By Samiksha Agarwal
NaMo’s new campaign ‘Chai pe Charcha’ unfolds at a very crucial time, just a few months before the General elections. The BJP targets to reach out to around two crores of people through the campaign. One of the biggest hangouts will take place through 1000 tea stalls across 300 cities. Between sips of tea a live QnA session will be conducted through a unique combination of satellite, DTH, internet and mobile.
However entrepreneurs and marketeers have a lot to learn from this ‘political step’-
- Understanding your target audience– BJP knows its audience well. Moving out of the conventional rallies and dharnas BJP has come up with a brand new idea of interacting with the public. The party has always struggled when it comes to low income groups and uneducated masses and the campaign might turn out to be the best solution. It will allow the party to reach the masses directly and listen to their grievances on a one to one basis.
- Choosing the right platform– Tea stalls have always been the preferred platforms for discussion related to politics, weather, cricket and everything else. You often see people debating at tea stalls about the current state of economy and the performance of current government. People influence others and get influenced here. Opinions get formed about political leaders and generic issues are discussed at length. This makes tea-stall the perfect platform for such a campaign.
- Reaching your audience-Reach out and influence your audience, do not wait for them to reach you. Where every party prefers monologues BJP has broke out of the conventional system and is conducting live QnA session which will not only grab the attention of the general populace but also makes them interested in listening to what their leader wants to say.
- Technology– The party has successfully used technology to reach its audience and create awareness. DTH, video conferencing BJP has tried it all. Not only this, it has effectively used all the communication channels. The ‘Chai pe Charcha’ campaign takes the advantage of on ground kiosks to gather people in the offline world, connects them to party leaders and people from other towns using cutting edge technology and broadcasts the discussion to millions using new age media. The TV and print media would then talk about the discussions and further increase the reach and visibility. This kind of integrated campaign is what most companies need.
- Branding-The campaign reinforces the image of Narendra Modi as a man who sold tea in his initial days and rose to power from a humble background. The Campaign publicises Modi’s “chai-wala” origin and this is what most Indians can relate to. An intelligent move, the BJP has associated with ‘tea’ which every Indian loves and lives. Discussion over a cup of tea is something very ‘hindustani’.
There would be a lot of charcha over this ‘Chai pe Charcha’
Charcha is good. Charcha is trending. We just hope this ‘footpath parliament’ works well for BJP and our prime ministerial candidate NaMo.
