Brief Introduction of TOI’s “Lead India” Campaign

Lead India is a television initiative launched on India's 60th Independence Day by The Times of

India Group in search of a new bold leader for India. This initiative was started in three

successive phase.

PHASE I:

Citizens of India aged between 25 and 45 can participate in the three-stage contest whose result

will be a winner who will be a worthy contender for participating in India's next assembly

elections, besides bagging a seat on the leadership and politics course at Harvard University, and

a corpus of Rs 50 lakh for pursuing a public-welfare project of choice.

Lead India is the sequel to the newspaper's earlier India Poised initiative launched in January

2007. While India Poised celebrated India's recent successes and its growing importance on the

global radar, it also conducted a critical assessment of sectors where India failed to deliver.

Public governance was on top of this list.

Lead India, therefore, addresses that concern by offering the most deserving a shot at active

politics while cutting short the regular long-winded, and often extremely frustrating, path up the

political ladder. It is a hunt to identify new leaders for a new India, men and women with the

vision and ability to empower India with the kind of political leadership that is so conspicuous by

its absence.

Some important members during the Campaign:

There were three members in the jury:

1. Javed Akhtar is a poet, lyricist and script writer.

2. Kiran Bedi, the first woman to join Indian Police Service in 1972.

3. Vikas Singh is the senior editor of Times of India.

Marketing Programme by “Lead India” (Phase I)

The first phase of the campaign was a series of print ads titled India Poised, along with a

commercial starring actor Amitabh Bachchan. This phase provoked the thought whether we are

really capable of achieving what the world is expecting of us as a nation.

A. Print:

INDIA POISED is a campaign launched by Times of India to celebrate India's christening of

2007 as the 'Year of India'. Sweeping aside the euphoria and headiness surrounding Brand India,

it takes a look at what India had done right & wrong and how it should move forward.

B. Television:

The programme was introduced by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan who spoke with his characteristic

eloquence on the demands of time and the need of the hour for the youth to take up their

responsibilities. The other Ad campaign India Vs India by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan  gives

following insight:-

“There are two Indians in this country.

One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been showering recently upon us.

The other India is the leash.

One India says, give me a chance and I’ll prove myself .The other India says prove yourself first and maybe then you’ll have a chance.

One India lives in the optimism of our hearts. The other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds.

One India Wants. The Other India Hopes

One India Leads .The Other India Follows.

But conversions are on the rise .With each passing day more and more people from the other India have been coming over to this side

And quietly while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic new India is emerging.

An India whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure.

An India that no longer boycotts foreign-made goods but buys out the companies that makes them instead.

History, they say, is a bad motorist it rarely ever signals its intentions when it is taking a turn.

This is that rarely ever moment. History is turning a page.

For more than half a century ,our nation has sprung, stumbled ,run , fallen ,rolled over ,got up ,dusted herself and cantered ,sometimes lurched on .

But today as we begin our 60th year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of times great precipice.

And one India – a tiny little voice at the back of the head – is looking down at the bottom of the ravine and hesitating.

The other India is looking up at the sky and saying, its time to fly…”

C. Internet

The Times of India which is likely to incite the most interesting discussions in the Indian

blogosphere. In its new avatar, it wants to enable the Indian electorate to make the right

voting decision in the upcoming elections, by providing a platform for meaningful political

debate and supporting the No Criminals in Politics campaign.

PHASE II:

The second phase of the ‘Lead India’ campaign started in August 2007, with the series of print

ads in newspapers titled ‘Do’ featuring the popular Hindi film actor Shah Rukh Khan. The ads

asked the people what they would do if they were the leaders of the country.

Those who thought that they really want to do something for their country were asked to fill the

application forms, which proved to be great success with 34,000 applications from all over the

country. Out of these, around 64 suitable candidates were selected and were sent for further

stages of GD-PI and debates to test their leadership traits.

Marketing Programme by “Lead India” (Phase II)

A. Print:

A series of print ads titled ‘Do’ were run in newspapers with actor Shah Rukh Khan being

the lead face.

PHASE III:

While the first and the second phase created awareness and invited participants, the brief for the

third phase was to garner as much support from the audience for the eight final contestants.

A. Print:

OATH: There are certain oaths taken by the applicants, those who wanted to bring the real

change in the system of the country. All these oaths are printed in the TOI with the footer

“LEAD INDIA ’09, Lets make this vote count”, to make the developing Indians aware of

what can be done and how to contribute their best to the nation by leading their own country.

B. Television:

The insight for the commercial is that India is a country with far too many deep-seated

problems and most people in the country are aware of the prevalent economic, political

and social troubles, but nobody wants to do anything about it. People know the solution

to the problems, but they prefer to complain rather than act.

The commercial shows a tree that has collapsed in the middle of the road in a crowded

city. The fallen tree has created a huge traffic jam, people in cars are honking and cursing

each other, there is no policeman in sight. A boy sits in a bus watching the chaos. He is

perplexed, not able to understand why people are making such a ruckus about a simple

problem. So, he gets down and starts walking towards the tree.

At that moment, it starts raining. On reaching the tree, the little boy starts pushing hard to

remove it from the road. Suddenly, everyone calms down and focuses on the boy. The

child’s initiative transforms into a revolution as all the people caught in the traffic jam

join in to help him remove the tree. The line that appears at the end of the commercial

says, ‘Seeking tomorrow’s leaders today. Lead India – the search is on.’

The tree in the commercial is a metaphor for the state of the nation today. The whole idea

of the commercial is to combat the cynicism prevailing in the country and generate

serious appeal. The commercial aims to inspire its audience to back the eight young

contestants who are running for the position of ultimate leader and provide them support

with their votes.

The commercial ran on air for a period of eight-10 weeks. There are two versions of the

commercial. One is a full length music video of more than two minutes’ duration to be

aired mostly on music channels. The other one is a shortened version of 80 seconds,

which will run as a regular commercial.

However, TOI believe that they have made a very good contribution towards making the

educated elite in India feel connected with the issues of India and to give them a sense of

involvement and ownership.

.

Main Motto of the Campaign:

The “Lead India” campaign of TOI is inspiring. It Says – India! its not enough, Lets start by

dominating today and not just be “sleeping tigers” of Asia.

It says,

”If only we ran it. Well, now we have our chance.”

The TOI announces a nationwide hunt for a few good men and women – honest, brave, efficient,

driven- who can take us from being an India Poised to an India Realized. If you think you have it

in you, step forward and together we’ll take a shot at writing India’s FUTURE.

The aim of campaign was not just to spot a winner but also to provide an opportunity to every

Indian to lead the country.

The main motive behind Lead India by Times of India is to

Select a future leader for India who is educationally qualified, committed and desirous of

making a change.

Creating a desire among citizens of our country to be part of the democratic process; to

want to make a contribution to the leadership of the nation

Remind people of the flaws in the political system

To create an environment where good, honest and hardworking citizens voluntarily come

up for active participation in politics

Revive its image of a hard hitting journal

Boost its sales for TOI newspaper

Excellent brand building opportunity for TOI

Communication Plan

When the world's largest democracy picks a leader, it's only natural for interest levels to peak. And when

the candidates happen to be people whose leadership skills are untested, yet truly represent the interests

of the man-on-the-street , public empathy takes a whole new meaning. It's something that was richly on

display all through the 'Lead India' campaign , conceived by The Times of India with the objective of

identifying India's future leader. As the contest got keener , a fair share of public discussion centered at

who among the contenders would ultimately emerge as the one best suited to lead the nation. The

choice, ultimately, was whittled down to RK Misra from Bangalore and Devang Nanavati from Ahmedabad

- with the former eventually being declared the winner. 

The point of the campaign, however, was not purely about identifying a winner . It was more about

providing every right-thinking Indian a chance to step out of the comfort zone and take on the task of

stewarding the nation. It was a clarion call to be the change that we expect in Indian society; an

opportunity for citizens to shrug off their indifference and put a shoulder to the wheel. 

That Misra won the mandate and now has a chance to pursue a political career - with a ticket from either

the Congress or the BJP, or as an independent candidate, all aided by intensive grooming at the Kennedy

School or at the Times School of Political Leadership - is secondary. What's important is the number of

Indians who raised their hands in response to the Lead India initiative - over 37,000 entries were received

from people willing to change India. Explaining the genesis of the initiative, Rahul Kansal, director, The

Times of India brand, says: 

"The general public feels that the political process in our country has been hijacked, and what exists

today is a system based on caste, creed, et cetera, and intelligent and as a result, able people are not

getting the chance to come forward." 

If Lead India has been a success, a lot of the credit has to go to the multi-media campaign that was used

to generate awareness about the initiative across the eight cities of Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata,

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune. 

The campaign idea, best encapsulated in the 'tree' TV commercial where a small boy ventures to clear

the road of a fallen tree that has blocked traffic, has resonated not only among everyday audiences, but

even among advertising professionals . So much so that Prasoon Joshi, chairman South & SE Asia –

McCann Erickson, created a second film - titled 'hospital' - in his personal capacity, in association with

production house, Black Magic. 

"There is a desire among citizens of our country to be part of the democratic process; to want to make a

contribution to the leadership of the nation . Backed by an existing desire, this campaign gave people the

hope of being able to choose a leader from among them," explains Joshi. 

Plaudits for the campaign have comes in many forms: news channel NDTV, for instance, declared Lead

India as the Best Integrated Campaign of the Year. And Kansal says that he has received compliments

from many ad industry stalwarts. One such giant is O&M India's chairman Piyush Pandey, who is

unabashed in his admiration for the campaign. "The campaign is about what you can do, and not just to

pass comments on other people. The motive was to get people to participate, and the level of

participation that the campaign has managed to achieve from the public is great," he says. 

The man behind Lead India - Agnello Dias, national creative director, JWT India - attributes the

campaign's success to many things coming together in a remarkable coincidence . "There was a strong

sentiment bubbling below the national consciousness ," he says. "India being under the global spotlight

and being seen at the forefront of the world economy triggered off the tidal wave of response that we

received. It was something that was waiting to be tapped." 

With Lead India having won hearts locally, the creators of the campaign are now nursing the ambition of

making it one of India's Titanium Lion contenders at this year's Cannes Advertising Festival . "The world's

largest democracy sets out to find its own future leader armed with nothing more than the will of the

people and an advertising campaign. It is indeed a proud moment for most of us who decided to choose

advertising as a career. If the Indian ad industry can forget all its minor differences and champion for the

whole campaign internationally , I will be incredulous and grateful," admits Dias. It's going to be far from

easy, though, points out Joshi, who has been on Cannes juries before and will head the Outdoor jury at

Cannes Lions 2008. "Awards are very dicey. 

There needs to be an understanding among the jury about the significance of the campaign in the country

that it's been done for, and the background of the country," he says. Yet, Joshi has some tips on what it

takes for global award juries to see the merit of a strong but local idea. "Familiarise the jury about the

country, give them the work with proper context and reference, and then it will make them understand

better," is his advice. 

Whether Lead India will lead India to its first Titanium Lion is dependant on many variables. The good and

important news is that the campaign has already qualified in the test of moving an entire nation. If it ends

up moving an award jury as well, it's a neat little bonus

Drawback in the Campaign:

Though the campaign was a success, not everyone was impressed. Some analysts

felt that its just like a publicity stunt to increase the sales and advertisement

revenues, others pointed out that the campaign was promoted only in metros and

cities and not in the problem-ridden rural areas. They said due to the language

barriers, people from rural areas cannot participate in the contest.

They described the program as more of a reality TV show and suggested that the

campaign should try to rise the bar by being more innovative and not depending on

the voting system, which could be assembled or adjusted.