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Vishaal Shah

Controversy gets the votes?

A look at the Sena-BJP paradigm during the February 2017 BMC elections; media share-of-voice and impact on the electoral campaigns

Picture Courtesy : Hindustan Times Online

The election results of the February 2017 BMC elections ensured that most pundits were off the mark with their predictions. With the allies turned foes i.e. Shiv Sena and BJP winning 80 plus seats each, other parties in the fray were relegated to a distant third.

The two parties’ final tally of 160 seats against a required number of 114 also makes one wonder, how would the two have fared had they contested jointly? Would they have been able to cross the magic 114 mark? A look back at news from late 2016 shows that both BJP and Shiv Sena were both on shaky grounds -

“An internal survey report by BJP doesn’t show any good signs for the party either. According to report, in the current scenario BJP is likely to be placed fourth in the state. Even Shiv Sena is not in a good position. All of this could hugely benefit the Congress and NCP, who have already shown better results in the last few elections.” (Firstpost)

And yet, in October 2016, with no signs of an alliance, the BJP commissioned a survey to assess their chances — Can we win alone? BJP commissions secret survey of all 227 Mumbai wards (Mid-Day)

The eventual split between the parties did two things from a media perspective -

  1. Increased media coverage for both the Sena and BJP 
    The Shiv Sena’s and its chief Uddhav Thackeray’s provocative comments at various rallies and events about their former allies were perfectly delivered to make news headlines. And, the BJP’s statements in defence/retaliation took up substantial space too. The result, both parties got ‘top of mind recall’ in the run-up to voting day.
  2. Lack of space for the other parties
    With nothing new to offer as well as the existing histrionics elsewhere ensured that other parties lost consequence. The result, neither the media spoke of them nor did the average voter.

The entire election campaign highlights two key aspects:

  1. Controversy can benefit your brand (even if you are not a movie star!) — provided you use the opportunity to communicate what you stand for and leverage the media interest in your brand at the point of time
  2. You need to be in sync with your TG. Like the poll-war in Mumbai, a similar situation erupted in UP too with the Yadav family. Unfortunately for them the script didn’t end with a happy ending may be because their opposition’s development promise was stronger.

However, unlike political parties where the Indian voter is accustomed to ‘controversies’, the judgement on brands tends to be more unforgiving (Remember Snapdeal’s problem?).

For brands, dealing with crisis swiftly and opening up to its consumers and stakeholders is vital. And, if managed well, brands too can emerge from controversies and continue to enjoy patronage from consumers.

If you feel like reading more, check out some brands that managed crisis campaigns effectively -

  1. Apple’s unique brand of crisis management
  2. Nestlé’s Maggi noodles banned in India
  3. Samsung recall: an exercise in ‘bold and brilliant’ crisis management
  4. Cadbury Crisis Management