Project Report | Marketing Management |

Lessons from Bihar Elections:

Marketing Successes and
Failures
SUBMITTED BY:

ROHIT DURGAPAL 1502162

VARUN KUMAR GUPTA 1502229

Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 2
LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................... 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................... 7
Questions for the survey:.......................................................................................... 7
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS................................................................................9
FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................11
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 12

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INTRODUCTION
Bihar assembly elections 2015 were seen as a "mother of all elections", in
which for the first time, foes-turned-friends had joined hands together to
wipe off the BJP. Spread across five phases, Bihar polls were decisively
fought on the development plank on the basis of the work done in terms
of good governance, by the JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar.
Legislative Assembly election was held over five-phases in Bihar through
OctoberNovember 2015.This election saw highest voter turnout in Bihar
assembly polls since 2000, with a 56.8% voter turnout in this election. The
RJD emerged as a single largest party with 80 seats, followed by JD (U)
with 71 seats and BJP with 53 seats. In terms of vote share, BJP came first
with 24.4%, followed by RJD with 18.4% and JD (U) with 16.8% and
Congress got 6.7%.

Bihar has once again proved that voters in election and Consumers in
market will decide the fate of the party, product or the company. They are
the Kingmakers. We should respect them and learn from them. If you are
not able to understand them, it is our problem, don't shift the blame to
other factors. Accept the fault and learn and move ahead.

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Neither Brand ambassador nor gimmicks of marketing by top

management will please Voters and Customers. One must perform and
deliver as per the promises made and expectation of Voters and
Consumers to remain in business.
Effort here is to find out the strategy and the tactics that have helped
them to reverse their status -from 'no-where' to 'prominent players and to
look whether any of these can be borrowed and replicated by other rural
marketers?
Outcome of any election in India depends upon managing several
complex factors e.g. caste, religion, alliances and performance etc. But
off-late marketing-strategy too has started playing a key role. In 2014 BJP
changed the discourse running a successful election campaign in India.
Their marketing campaign was basic but by using modern marketing
strategies it changed the whole landscape- the way elections were fought
in India in the past.
These elections also saw the fortunes swinging either way as opponents
have not only copied few of the BJP strategies but also improvised in few
others apart from trying few new things.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
In this marketing assignment, as a marketer, we have attempted to find
and understand key insights relevant from the recently conducted Bihar
elections. We looked at different avenues where the political parties tried
to orient themselves to capture their voters. Below we have listed some of
the tactics adopted by the parties and their marketing implications,

Fighting for Mind-space of Consumers: This started from Modis first

rally on 25 July in Muzaffarpur. Mr. Modi started off with Jungle Raj (rule of
classlessness) remark to remind voters about Lalu's misrule and then had
a sharp personal attack on Nitish Kumar. It seems, Modi said, his DNA is of
poor quality.
As soon as Modi left, Nitish Kumar held a press conference, attacking Modi
for the DNA remark, made the Bihari DNA an issue, and made sure that
everything else Modi said was lost in the DNA din. There may be little
resonance of the DNA issue amongst voters, but it served its purpose at
the mind-space level. As DNA made the headlines for days to come, it
helped take attention away from Jungle Raj.
Marketing is all about hogging the consumers mind-space by highlighting
the positives of your brand while downplaying the weaknesses at the
same time.
This strategy was on throughout. "Each rally of Modi will be countered
with either Nitish or Lalu Prasad holding a meeting in the same area within
24 hours. Modi won't be allowed to get away with what he says," a top
strategist of the Grand Alliance told media at that point of time. Headlines
of the newspapers need to be balanced so as to avoid any sway of the
voter on either side.
Go close to the customers: Lack of sufficient media-vehicles in rural
domain forces every marketer to meet the customers face -to-face in rural
areas. This is normally achieved either by conducting mega rallies or
arranging small group meetings at village level. This has been the age-old
practice in India and will continue to be the most dominant approach atleast for next decade.

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Unlike BJP, who was betting on mega rallies of voters, Grand Alliance
relied more on small gatherings (nukkad meetings).This strategy was
successfully adopted by AAP, a rival party of BJP during Delhi assembly
elections early this year.
Whereas a big rally creates a large ripple effect, the belief is that small
gatherings take the brand closer to the customers and smaller issues and
concerns can be countered head-on.
Efficient & focused Use of resources: Outmatched by the BJP
resources, Grand Alliance (GA) decided to not spend a single rupee
print or television advertising. Grand Alliance has not given any ads
newspapers or TV. By contrast, the BJP was giving full-page ads
newspapers.

in
in
in
in

This has been a strategic decision as the GA was unable to gather enough
money to give as much print and TV ads as the BJP. Giving fewer and
smaller ads than the BJP would have made it look weaker. It instead
diverted that money to match the BJP in outdoor and radio ads.
Most of players in rural marketing happen to rely on the sheer quantum of
advertising more than content. But the message here is to focus on
content and outplay the rivals at least on one key aspect rather than
having a thin spread across different media vehicles and losing the
impact.
Other example of GA's judicious use of its resources has been the way
their star campaigners did their election rallies. Unlike the BJP which has a
large number of national leaders, the grand alliance can be considered
handicapped in the fact that it has only two big leaders. To optimize the
available key communicators, Nitish & Lalu , the alliance strategy for
these leaders was to campaign separately in Bihar to cover more ground.
Visibility of the Brand: The visuals of the GAs outdoor campaigning
stand out not only for the lack of clutter, but also for their colours.
Apart from having a clear visibility-advantage, theres logic behind the
colours. The idea of red and yellow was to choose the bright colours you
are more likely to see in the homes and dresses of poor people, as
opposed to the subtle pastel colours you may see in middle class homes.

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Saffron is a vibrant colour and hence the BJPs campaign always looks
more vibrant and eye-ctaching than anyone elses. GA had to choose
colours that were more vibrant.
Most of the rural marketers in India have neglected for the importance of
color in rural communications for long, but this happens to be one of the
important lessons that needs to be imbibed by each of us.
Clarity of Communication: Batman has nothing to do with Indian
politics, but that hasn't stopped an internet joke from linking the two.
Joker asks Batman, "Do you know how I got my scar?" The superhero
replies, "Abki baar Modi sarkar" (This time, Modi's government).
You cannot communicate a complex set of dos and don'ts ,advantages
and disadvantages of your brand through advertising but having a
simplified message becomes more critical in a field like ours especially in
agriculture-inputs marketing.
The BJP's 2014 war cry of "Abki baar Modi sarkar" also seems to have
become a part of the national lexicon. "The line did well with voters
because the political environment demanded firm leadership.
BJP was trying to replicate the magic of simple communication in Bihar
too. Latest slogan of "Padhai Kamai Davai (education, employment &
medicine) very aptly and beautifully sums up its promises to the
electorate. Alliance seems to have taken a cue and it has come out with
its own slogan -3Ds (Dal, Dadri, Dalit) to counter BJPs promise.
Play as per Audience: Alliance had also made sure that Nitish Kumar
and Lalu Yadav dont address too many rallies together, as they have
different styles, different audiences and different caste bases. While
Nitish spoke more about development, Lalu speaks more about social
justice and the caste polarization. The idea was to make them
complement each other, rather than make them look like a joint front.
Insight here is to change the discourse of your brand communication as
per the customers profile-different communications at different levels.
Political and Corporate leaders once come to power assume they know all
and start dictating terms without understanding changes taking place on

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ground. Other team members also assume that top management must
have all information from 'their' own sources. Everyone gets shock when
they see the results contrary to their own created assumptions and
illusion. Bihar election is one example.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The assignment aims to study the voters political perspective while they
cast their vote during the elections and the reasons they think led to the
victor of GA. Through a survey, we looked at the various factors that play
an important part during the elections. The survey consisted of questions
from marketing campaigns, candidates qualifications and voters
awareness.

QUESTIONS FOR THE SURVEY:

Q. What possibly went wrong with the BJP this time compared to the
support given to them during National elections last year?
a. Their marketing was ineffective compared to Lalu Yadavs 60+
rallies.
b. BJP were going out of the course and did not check whether their
energy was in the right direction or not.
c. BJP did not declare its PM candidate
Q. What according to you might have the major reason for thumping
victory of Grand Alliance?
a. RJD and JDUs past experience with Bihar
b. GAs better marketing and communication tactics
c. BJPs incapability to understand Bihar voters
Q. How influential are opinion and exit poll for each phase?
a. Shapes our opinion
b. It helps to know who the society is preferring
c. Not useful
Q. What matters most for you from a party in MLA elections?
a. Partys ideology
b. Candidate
c. Central face of the party
d. Election manifesto

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Q. What according to you is the most effective form of campaigning tool in

elections?
a. Rallies
b. Social media
c. Advertisements
d. Statements by top leaders

Q. What is the most influential factor for choosing your candidate?

a. Educational qualifications
b. His Political ideology
c. same caste/religion
d. Past experience/ expertise as leader
Q. Do
a.
b.
c.

criminal records in the name of candidate affect your decision?

Yes, we look for honest candidates
No, criminal records do not mean much
We do not care if they have or not, we cast our vote to whoever we
are told to.

Q. Did results of Bihar Assembly take you by surprise?

a. Yes, I was totally not expecting this
b. No, I knew this was coming
c. Dont know, I am not much aware of it
Q. How often do you read newspaper/ magazines?
a. Once a week
b. 2-4 times a week
c. Daily

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

The data collected from the above survey pointed out towards certain key
observations. Total of 68 responses were collected. Let us look at the
important questions response and their analysis.

Question: What possibly went wrong with the BJP this time compared to
the support given to them during National elections last year?
47 out 68 respondents answered that BJP did not check if its actions were
meeting the response.
Analysis: Top management must visit ground zero, without their favorite
'trusted' managers those who are used on daily basis, for advise to
develop independent view on facts on ground. Leaders people should
receive people on ground and welcome them,
When we go to market, we should visit as a consumer not as the boss of
the company, to buy your own products and feel the experience. Always
try to file a complaint or feedback and see what the response of your
service team is. This firsthand experience will expose weak points and will
keep your team on toes. You may leave organizations in the hands of
trusted people. It is true that you can't see everything, but you must have
system to cross check what is fed to you is correct or not.

Question: What according to you might have the major reason for
thumping victory of Grand Alliance?
Majority of the people responded to the fact BJP was not able to
understand its voters correctly and most of its marketing was misguided
whereas GA on the other hand was discussing the issues with conviction.
Analysis: Always invite people with different approach than what is
presented to you by your core team. There can be smokescreen to hide
the facts or to hide incompetence of trusted managers. Many times
juniors have better insight than seniors because they are close to ground
but will not speak in front of seniors.
In politics and business, voters and consumers aspiration and perception
changes every day because of many developments in society. Arrogance
and overconfidence does not allow these voices to get proper ear.

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Question : What according to you is the most effective form of

campaigning tool in elections? What is the most influential factor for
choosing your candidate?

The popular answer to these question was that people get influenced
mostly by the political ideology of the party and the statements from the
top leaders have significant effect on their choice.
Analysis:
Mr. Modi was not talking but he was always communicating on vital issues.
By not talking on important issues means you were communicating that
you are not serious on issues affecting common man. His silence on
unfortunate incidence in Dadri, was sending message as if he is not keen
to address these issues or he support such extreme elements. Food
inflation was more important for ladies voters than taking about
investments and foreign policy matters. Voters were suffering every day
due to food inflation but BJP was not addressing these issues, why?
Outcome is defect in election or product failure in market.
If you analyze speeches by BJP leaders, it was far from ground reality.
What voters were thinking and what leaders are talking was not same not
the same. Criticism of JD(U) government was not the same in voters
experience. This created a gap between BJP and voters. This also
questions the intelligence of BJP leaders to understand voter and their
thinking about what is going on. This forced voters to take a considered
view and outcome was BJP lost.
This is the same mistake corporate make. They launch a product based on
fabricated or complicated market survey or based on wishes of top
management and products fail in market.
It is important to note that we 'You cannot not Communicate'. When top
management does not communicate on time, it indicates either they have
different priorities or they are confused. Both situations are not good for
organization building, because team wants to know which direction they
should move and deploy resources. If you are not clear, call the team and
discuss what you want and take honest feedback.
Learn to change the channels of communication or have multiple channel
of communication. Your favorite channel may not be telling you the voice
of society and stakeholders.
Marketing needs very simple and common sense approach. Senior and
experienced managers and experts have tendency to bring some new

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dimension, because common sense does not project their expertise and
past experience. They do it to prove their worth to management.

FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS

Based on all the research conducted & their analysis, we concluded few
points which are directly associated with some of the marketing
strategies basic problems and issues. These points are highly correlated
to the existing marketing problems and solutions. Just the need is the
proper execution to avoid future failures or to do better in future. These
points are:

Factors responsible for Success in past may not exist anymore,

ground reality changes everyday.
Board Room must listen to ground personnel, without screens and
layers, not just close network of key managers
Over-dependency on 'favorite team of managers' may create smoke
screen for you
Correct Communication creates positive Impression but False
Communication creates mistrust
Learn to accept the defeat and mistakes as leader
Go back to drawing board recheck your assumptions and cross
check the facts

Nothing exists without logic and reason in politics and market place. The
political parties have to develop capacity to understand these reasons and
logics and then improvise. This capability of top management will decide
success and failure in coming days. There were many learning from these
election outcomes. More mistakes will happen in coming days, means we
will have many new examples and lessons.
In the end, the elections highlight the fact that brand and size does not
matter in politics and business. Successful identification and execution of
product needs and policy needs will decide who will be the winner in
dynamic place like market and politics.
It is now clear that voters and consumers are not to be taken for granted.
They evolve and learn with time. In digital world, people have more
access to information than what they can handle. They learn and change
their behavior faster than earlier days.

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REFERENCES
[1] www.ndtv.com/elections/bihar/constituencies-results
[2] http://www.thehindu.com/elections/bihar2015/live-coverage-of-bihar-pollresult/article7856397.ece
[3] http://zeenews.india.com/live-updates/bihar-assembly-election-2015-live-results1819584

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