Damage Control

Published>Tue, Sep 14 10 04:17 AM

The Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG) has till now attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. From allegations of corruption to repeated delays in completion of projects, the CWG has been facing flak from all quarters, attracting negative publicity. The common man, especially the Delhi citizen, does not identify with the Games. Although ticket sales are in full swing, CWG merchandise sales have begun and the theme song has been unveiled by India's music maestro AR Rahman, there still remain misgivings about the Games in the minds of people.

Is it too late to repair the CWG's brand image? With less than a month to go for the Games to begin, can the CWG swing public opinion in its favour? Can the spin doctors help the tide turn in favour of the CWG?

Brandwagon asked six of the best creative minds in the Indian advertising fraternity to come up with strategies that may undo the damage to brand CWG. Each of them acknowledged that much damage had been done to the image of the country and its ability to hold an international sports event. But with a little bit of honesty, and some smart campaigns, CWG can still instill a sense of pride and ownership in the minds of Indians, they believe.

So, while Leo Burnett's KV Sridhar said arousing the patriotic spirit of Indians was essential, Rahul Ghosh of TBWA said acknowledging the mistakes is the first step towards turning the tide. Ghosh suggests that ordinary citizens should be recruited as overseers and experts for a people's organising committee.

"Let us wear the hurt we feel with pride" says Creativeland Asia's Sajan Raj Kurup. The idea is to capture the negative feeling of an entire country and turn it on its head into a positive movement. For Rediffusion Y&R's Minakshi Achan, it is the "spirit of the Games" that needs to be ignited in the minds of people.

Prasanna Sankhe of Publicis Ambience suggests that each state should come forward to host a sports discipline depending on the facilities it already has, thus solving the problem of impossible deadlines. The focus will then come back from completing the stadiums to actually having the best Games, he says.

Mudra Group's Bobby Pawar tickles the funny bone when he suggests a campaign blaming all the mess on the aliens. On a more serious note, Pawar says it is the innocent sportmen who stand to lose the most if the common man turns away from the CWG. So, a campaign focussing on the sportstars could help stem the damage and win the people's trust. Hope the CWG organisers are listening.

Hurt. But I support

Sajan Raj Kurup

Founder and creative chairman,

Creativeland Asia

It is a campaign and an activation idea that is designed to strike a chord with opinion leaders among young India. Enough muck has been thrown. Enough shame has been brought. While the guilty must be punished, it is also important that as a nation we keep sports above the greed of a handful of people. When we sat to write the campaign, the brief we set for ourselves is how do we use the hurt we feel, the shame we have experienced, to propel a movement that has the potential to create a resurgence of sports. We are hurting as a nation, as a government, as sportsmen and as sport fans. Let's not cover that hurt. In fact, let us wear the hurt we feel with pride. Let us use that feeling to tell the world that we are not about to give up hope and abandon sports administration in our country. Let this symbol keep our fight against the corrupt and the fight for sports in India alive.

So the idea is to create a participative demo that captures the negative feeling of a whole country and turns it on its head into a positive movement. The weapon or the symbol will be just like every successful movement in history-- this (potential) one too has a simple yet powerful symbol. A white bandage cross. The kind we wear on an open wound. The slogan 'Hurt. But I support', a simple yet graceful and evocative message that turns the negativity we feel into a positive call for action.

We can execute this campaign in a couple of ways. Create 'Hurt. But I support' pages on social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, etc. Create print campaigns on similar lines. We can also create t-shirts and lapel pics using the 'white bandage' symbol and tagline and request everyone we can to wear them. We can then extend this idea and create a short video using celebrities from actors, to ministers to sportsmen to artists?requesting them to wear the t-shirt and the lapel pin and to appeal to people that there are corrupt people in the system. But let's not abandon the games. We can also partner with television channels like news channels, youth channels, music channels and request the anchors to wear the t-shirt or the lapel pin maybe for a day. The lapel pin and the t-shirt will remind us of the shame and the controversies and therefore motivate us to turn CWG into a world-class event.

The aliens did it

Bobby Pawar

Chief creative officer, Mudra Group

Blame it on the extra-terrestrials

We can run a campaign that exposes a vicious plot by extra-terrestrial beings to embarrass India. The television films will look like candid footage taken by journalists who do sting operations. They will show how aliens brainwashed key people in the CWG Organising Committee and made them do stupid things. The ads will urge all Indians to foil this evil plan by supporting the Games wholeheartedly.

Blogs will give further details on the aliens, their plot, where they landed and how they intend to eventually take over the Olympics and reduce it to a sham.

The tone of this campaign should be serious and it should not be released by the government but by the T.S.S.S.F.I. (The Secret Society that is Secretly Fighting for India).

Adopt an athlete

Alternatively, we tell the stories of the people who will suffer the most if you turn away from the CWG: The innocent sportsmen. This will include TV campaigns that will be made like mini-documentaries of a few sportsmen who come from really humble beginnings and have struggled against impossible odds to become great at their sport. The thought being, 'Support our athletes. Support the Games.' On the web we will have a 'Adopt an Athlete' campaign, where people can choose an athlete they want to support, buy merchandise that feature her, keep track of her progress, interact with her, etc.

Oops! We made a mistake

Rahul Ghosh

Group creative director, TBWA

Considering the mess our CWG officials have gotten our nation into, I think the most important value that we as a nation need to communicate to the world is honesty. We need to come clean. And to do that we need to look beyond a conventional 'fluff' advertising campaign. First, let us tell the world that we accept the wrongs and what we are doing to right them. Phase one would involve a series of press ads documenting the wrongs and steps taken to right them.

Second, give a day-by-day progress report. This will involve a multimedia campaign. Common people will be recruited who will volunteer to join a people's organising committee as overseers and experts. They would oversee the organizing process and act as watchdogs. In that way the communication will be a mass co-opt exercise where we will make interested Indians part of the Games.

Playing the patriot

KV Sridhar

National creative director,

Leo Burnett

Enjoy the Games

The strategy will be to divert the entire attention by focusing on the Games. The campaign would talk about the spirit of the Games. India's performance at Commonwealth Games has been good. For the past eight years it has been ranked at number 4. Therefore, the campaign would focus on India's performance at CWG and the tagline should be 'Enjoy the Games'. One can make television commercials on this by talking to players who represented India at the CWG in the past. Highlight these heroes because this is not cricket and rarely does one know the names of these players or even the format of various games. Films could be also made on the happiest moments at CWG or any nail-biting finishes. One can look at making 15-20 second films on these concepts. Then one can sell the idea of airing these films to the direct-to-home (DTH) operators, cable operators, restaurants, movie theatres. All this is possible with digital distribution. One can also make short 5-10 minute films which highlight the greatest moments for India at previous CWG and air them at movie theatres during the interval.

Hum Honge Kamiyaab

The second strategy could be weaved around patriotism. We uphold the pride of what we did in the past. The time has come to bury controversies of the past and look towards the future. Therefore, the entire campaign should be designed around arousing patriotism. The tagline could be 'Hum Honge Kamiyaab' (We will be successful) which will uphold the idea 'CWG desh ke liye'. Communications could be built around the idea --do it for the country. There could be a couple of ways one could execute this. One is make films highlighting the great moments that has accelerated India's growth as a nation. From industrial growth to scientific milestones to evolving socio-economic classes highlighting the fact that we are trying to be number one in every sphere of life. Therefore, can India be number one at CWG this year? One can also make videos by using AR Rehman's 'Jai Ho' song and show India's achievements. Therefore, the focus will be to be number one in Asia and look forward to a great run at the Olympics. And one can ask former players, actors, key personalities like the President or the prime minister of India to endorse this campaign and make them say 'Hum honge kamiyaab'. The strategy will be to work on the emotions of people. There should be a 360-degree approach to this campaign. One can release the films on television, DTH, cable, theatres, online sites. One can create a campaign around this theme on websites like Orkut, Facebook, Twitter. Sports magazines should play an important role along with national and vernacular dailies in promoting this campaign. One can also tie up with Indian Railways and a few airlines to take this idea forward.

Do it for GenNext

The third strategy could be this--forget everyone else and talk to the children of India. The tagline could be 'Do it for the next generation. Do it for your kids'. This will not be a conventional ad campaign. One can tie up with kids' products which would take the campaign forward. One can tie up with companies like Cadbury or Perfetti and they would design the campaign. The campaign would say children are the hope of the future and it is important to encourage them so that they are motivated to go on and win at the Olympics. The campaigns would encourage children towards sports. Then kids channels such as Disney, Cartoon Network, Pogo, Nickelodeon could be brought on board and they would in turn promote these campaigns. The campaigns should make adults feel ashamed of the ongoing controversies. Therefore, the aim would be motivate children. And if we want to make India a super power in sports then we need to talk to children.

Get the states to pitch in

Prasanna Sankhe

National creative director,

Publicis Ambience

As a citizen of India, frustrated and embarrassed over the blatant corruption and mismanagement happening at the CWG 2010, I was relieved when FE at least gave me a forum to put forth my point of view on how we could correct the damage.

As I see it, there are two problems to the whole CWG issue. One is regarding the event venue?their completion(or rather incompletion). Second, for the venues that have been completed on time, it's their quality. For the first problem, the solution is to find alternatives instead of trying to meet these impossible deadlines. There are world-class facilities that are ready and hardly ever utilized (like the Balewadi Sports complex near Pune which has an excellent track and field stadium and a superb swimming centre), which should be pressed into service. Different disciplines of the CWG should be given to different states according to the facilities that they already have. So Haryana can get boxing/ wrestling because the infrastructure there is suited to that discipline. Chennai can host the tennis matches as it already hosts an ATP standard event. Similarly, athletics can be held in Kerala which produces our best sprinters and has very good facilities.

Now I know that the CWG is normally awarded to a city not a country, but given the national disaster and embarrassment that we are facing it's only prudent for all the states to pitch in. First, the entire media attention will die down. The focus will come back from completing the stadiums to actually having the best Games. The second and more important benefit is that the whole nation will then feel like it is contributing towards making the CWG successful.

With this one move, all the criticism aimed at Delhi should recede and people will take up CWG to contribute to its success rather than waste their time criticizing. Once the venues are distributed across the country, we should call star athletes such as Stephanie Rice, Asafa Powell and Taufiq Hidayat to visit the venues in these different cities. The main objective being to reassure them that the quality of these stadiums is world-class. It will also convey the message that the athletes are at the centre of our thought process. These star athletes have large fan followings so it's easy to request them to tweet about their stadium inspection and their satisfaction thereafter. We could also upload viral videos. All the electronic media which has only been following corruption charges can now accompany these international stars around the country and spread the positive aspects of CWG instead of reporting only the negative ones.

I think the enormity of the event and the mess that we've landed up in is so huge that advertising alone is not going to solve anything. Given that our national pride is at stake, concrete steps will have to be taken which are completely out-of-the-box. That, as a creative/strategic thinker, and more importantly as a citizen of India, is my recommendation.

Celebrate the spirit of the Games

Minakshi Achan

National creative director,

Rediffusion Y&R

It don't think any damage has happened to the Commonwealth Games. However, what has happened is damage to our country's image. Now we need to adopt a two-pronged strategy. One for global audiences and two, for local audiences. We can't undo the dent in our image so easily but what we can do is change the conversation. Change the debate from corruption and infrastructure problems and all things undone to what the CWG stands for and clearly bring the focus back to the game. The CWG has been an opportunity to transform Delhi and is an opportunity to bring the city together to play host to the world. Indian hospitality can be showcased. The games are a few hours but the experience lasts a lifetime.

So Delhi, India get into the spirit of the game . The world, we are ready to play host.

For local audiences: We can inspire people by creating 'The Spirit of the Game' films which will evoke the Commonwealth spirit and get people into the mood for the games, creating the right atmosphere. There ought to be some activation ideas which involve the whole city, schools, colleges and workforce. Also, asking corporate India to get involved in a big way. Secondly, tell the real story - the games, the athletes, the trials and tribulations, the road to success. Infomercials can be made which will inspire the stories of the past heroes, both Indian and international, saluting their spirit. Invite Delhi and the rest of India to play host to the world. On ground communication where people step out in large numbers led by Shera, the mascot.

We should involve 'The Spirit of Delhi'. Get the populace excited. It's time to play the host, time to show the world what Indian hospitality really means. Volunteer, make it an event to remember for our guests

For global audiences: Let's enthuse the global audience. Tell them we're ready. Present the face of Indian hospitality - snippets of what to expect when they arrive in Delhi. This could be carried out in Delhi, Mumbai and international hub airports with kiosks that announce how India's ready for the world.

Explore and 'Discover Delhi' and maybe in the process discover India? Introduce the venue, the history, the culture. Give visitors a chance to truly discover Delhi, to make their trip one to truly remember - for the games, and beyond the games. We could also use this as an opportunity to promote visits to other landmark locations in India - the natural wonders in Kerala and Ladakh; and the cultural, in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh; and the architecture of the Southern temples. One can use live hoardings, Delhi city magazines, directories, postcards, etc., of sights to see.

We can set up kiosks and booths in the Commonwealth Village which will dispense literature about Delhi and India. We can also invite city volunteers as hosts and hostesses of the games. City tour buses could be organized with live tour guides and audio guides. At the end of the Games we want the world to be awestruck like the world was when China hosted the Beijing Olympics.

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