Monday, July 20, 2015

Why Make in India succeeds when some other sarkari campaigns fizzle out; 5 Reasons

Amitabh Kant with Make in India Lion
DURING the last 14 months, NDA government at the Centre has launched a number of high-voltage campaigns -- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), Pradhan Mantri Jandhan Yojana (accident and life insurance of Rs 2 lakh on a Rs 12 premium), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (save and educate the girl child), Digital India and Skill India. Now, just close your eyes and try to recollect the symbol of each of those campaigns. And then try the same for another campaign of the Modi government -- Make in India. By now, you must have figured out the lion, to be precise a walking lion. You must have also failed to…
recollect the symbols of most other campaigns. Yes, Make in India as a brand has turned successful. But how? BoI here gives 5 key reasons:

1. One of the ingredients of success of a brand depends on its symbol. It gives you the first impression. The lion with machines in it is outstanding in design and tells a story beyond the conventional manufacturing. Manufacturing itself is boring, but a walking lion with all its power is not. Critics may argue the symbol lacks human element, but the fact is, the lion symbol stands out from the crowd. The idea of having separate lions for sectors such as railways, defence, food processing, engineering, aviation etc. has worked well to give the campaign more flavour. And mind it, it’s not traditional “Made in India”, but “Make it India” which sounds more like wrong English but gives freshness to the same old slogan of manufacturing in India.

2. Secondly, from the launch stage itself, the campaign was undertaken on a grand style. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the campaign in September 25, 2014, just four months after he took over as the PM (as against Digital India and Skill India which took over a year to conceive), all the bigwigs of Indian industries were invited for the show. The very look and feel of the campaign brochures, its website and social media interventions (its Twitter has almost half a million followers) – all are typical non-sarkari (read as non-DAVP). After all, repairing a failed brand is the most difficult thing for any advertisement guru. Make in India was launched and maintained in such as way that it could never fail.

3. Its global campaigns have given more publicity in India. For example, in the run-up to the industrial fair at Hannover in April this year, it gave an impression as if Make in India virtually took over the German city, all thanks to the power of the campaign. The “Lion” was made visible everywhere, from the airport to trams in the city. Remember, the "Lion" actually roared and walked down the aisles (of course in the hologram format) to enthrall the crowd gathered at the Hannover Messe.

4. Another reason why the Make in India has worked (as against say Clean India Mission which started with a bang but ultimately fizzled out) is because Make in India has been sustained with innovative modules. The Twitter feed of Make in India, for example, is almost like a news update on manufacturing in India. Why can’t Swachh Bharat have similar dedicated social media interventions? Also, the Make in India campaign smartly appropriates the others’ achievements. For example, if public sector undertaking BHEL sets up a factory, it’s Make in India! And when Boeing signs a pact with the Tata Group on manufacturing partnership, it’s again Make in India.

5. Finally, it’s not that Make in India has not been mired in controversies. The Opposition Congress has been saying that Make in India is nothing but repackaging of the UPA’s manufacturing policy. And then Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said focus should have been on ‘Make for India’--- meaning, producing for the domestic market and not export-oriented Make in India. Another controversy was the report that claimed that Make in India logo might be a copy of the lion logo used in a campaign meant for Cantonal Bank of Zurich in Switzerland. But the way the controversies were countered helped the campaign grow stronger. For example when the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor talked about the logo row, DIPP secretary and 1980 batch IAS Amitabh Kant tweeted, “@ShashiTharoor this is blatant falsehood. Stop perpetuating it. This so called controversy conclusively demolished yday. U re 24 hrs late.”
Kant, who was a key driver in some of the most successful government campaigns such as !ncredible India, has been anchoring the Make in India from the beginning – from the day when the logo options also included a "tiger" and an "elephant". 

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