Storyboard18 Insider: Ad agencies feeling the pinch of politics?
Storyboard18 Insider's hot take on what's keeping agencies united by business and divided by ideologies.
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It's election season and, it seems, the greatest democracy on earth going to the polls is taking a toll on ad agencies. But not just in the way one would expect. The country's advertising agencies are facing all sorts of situations, posing immense opportunities but also equally impressive challenges.
Small portions of the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign mandate, the biggest in the country, are being handed out piece by piece to an army of advertising, digital, events, outdoor, influencer marketing, social media and whatnot firms. All led by the party's own formidable inhouse machinery.
Prasoon Joshi-led McCann Worldgroup seems to have taken the lead in the creative sweepstakes, bagging the creative mandate, if not in its entirety then certainly an important part of the highly-prized mandate. The details on the scope of work are still unclear given the scale and spread of the campaigns.
Read More: Prasoon Joshi on winning BJP account: Looking forward to the challenge, BJP has great minds
The BJP account, or far that matter any political party account, does not come without the baggage of ideologies though. And that is where the conflict arises. Insiders tell Storyboard18 that agencies are caught in a dilemma - whether to go full in and pitch or stay out completely. One large agency chose the latter, we heard.
The concern was driven by the fact that people have different political leanings and ideologies and in a supercharged and polarised world, subjecting employees to work on campaigns for any one particular party or ideology would be unfair.
On the other hand, agencies vying for a piece of the election campaigns also have the Congress mandate to take a piece of. But, for many, the temptation of big election action and business is no match for the apprehension about working on the Congress narrative in what many see as a one-sided match.
But there's enough business to go around. Between the Indian Premier League and Indian Political League, agencies who missed the election bus can certainly make up for it on the cricket pitch.
