The document discusses how the BJP government in India is using infrastructure development projects to strategically create cognitive biases that establish the BJP as the default ruling party. Some key points:
1) Major infrastructure projects like the Statue of Unity and renaming of stadiums and institutions are used to honor iconic Indian leaders from diverse backgrounds and promote the development agenda of the BJP government.
2) Renaming places and institutions establishes the legacy of BJP leaders like Vajpayee, Patel, and Modi while associating the party with progress.
3) Renaming Motera Stadium after Modi leverages India's passion for cricket to provide constant free publicity for the BJP brand through media mentions during matches.
4) Such
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What can Brand Strategists learn from Politics
1. Time for brand custodians to take a playbook from Indian politics
Be it ‘chai pe charcha’, ‘conversations in train’, or ‘Tapri par baatein’, Indians love to analyse and talk
about politics, and as a strategist, I cannot help but admire the strategy at play in Indian politics today.
Seven years ago, I had observed that legacy dissonance was being deployed by BJP to question the belief
in the minds of Indians that the Congress/Gandhi family is the ‘default’ government for India. An Indian
voter, whenever they would not be satisfied by the current government, they would go back to default
settings by electing a Gandhi-led government. Please read this to know more about it.
It’s a common wisdom today that Indian politics has been undergoing a transition of late and what I see
now is a logical ascend to implementation of cognitive bias being deployed to institutionalize BJP to
become the new congress for the next 50 years.
I would call BJP winning the 2019 elections a success of the dissonance strategy that had been in play
since 2014. The strategic dissonance strategy has been used for long and has resulted in the evolution of
Indian politics from Nehru’s version of congress followed by Indira Gandhi’s version of Congress to the
recent advent of Modi’s version of BJP. Since independence, Congress/Gandhi name has been
synonymous and owned the Indian mind share. We can say the same for BJP/Modi name, who have been
establishing themselves as visionary India needs. Thus, the logical next step for BJP seems to be creating
a cognitive bias towards themselves.
Cognitive bias is present in our minds and it drives our behavior without we being aware of it. It is kind of
a shortcut our mind likes to take when reaching for certain decisions. Hence, it can affect the way we
perceive information. Knowledge of cognitive bias psychology can yield very interesting strategies
whether used in politics or by brands.
Well, we can conclude that humans are not entirely rational beings , in fact, they can be influenced
by creating cognitive bias and they might not even realize it.
There is no denying that cognitive bias can influence the decisions of people and thus, it is one of the
favourite behaviour change tools used in Politics. While social media communication, use of memes,
Mann ki Baat etc, are effective strategies, but one that grabs my attention as the most effective strategy
to create this bias is ‘Infrastructure politics’.
2. Thus, we can infer from history that using infrastructure as means to create bias is an effective tool. It
also helps create recall and a positive association for the party involved. Rajiv Gandhi IT Park is a prime
example of Congress heralding the age of computers in India. Indira Gandhi Airport is an example of
Congress-led India making its mark globally as in those times all international flights used to either land
in Delhi or Bombay. Borrowing a leaf from Congress’s strategy book, BJP has also initiated its step towards
making its mark. The most recent renaming of the Motera stadium, Ahmedabad to Narendra Modi cricket
stadium can be considered BJP’s attempt to let the cricket-playing nations around the world and the
cricket-loving nation i.e., India know that the BJP government is committed to overall development of the
nation including sports.
Some observations on how is BJP using infrastructure to deploy cognitive bias are as follows:
1) The tallest statue of the world or the identifier of BJPs growing dominance
BJP’s decision to honour the Iron man of India seems to achieve the following objectives:
• It helped in disassociating BJP from RSS perceptually. In honouring a National icon, who though
being a Congress-led leader, is known for his efforts for unifying India and bringing attention to
issues ,the government was ignoring, helps BJP establish that they are a progressive party with
the intent of uniting India and guiding her towards development.
• It also helped them establish a connection to the history of the freedom struggle of India and
lay down the foundation upon which BJP will be building their legacy.
:
The 182 m tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is not only
the world’s tallest statue, but also a tribute to a national
activist, Independent India’s first home minister ,and most
importantly a political leader who did not belong to the
Nehru-Gandhi Family. The BJP leaders including Prime
minister Modi have been critical of the fact that Congress
has not honoured the leaders outside of the Nehru-Gandhi
clan as much as they should have.
3. • It enabled BJP to establish nostalgia and connection with the businessman and Patidar
community within and outside the country. Since, Patels are spread across the US, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, Africa ,and other parts of the world, it gave them a reason to be proud
of being an Indian.
2) Saffronizing the nation, one building at a time:
In the attempt of building a legacy, the BJP government has been on a re-naming spree or some
people term it as ‘saffronizing’ of the towns. The decision of renaming places and choosing which
leaders to honour has been very strategic by BJP. They have chosen leaders from diverse
backgrounds to establish that they are not capitalist but care about culture, science, economy,
society ,and the overall development of India. Numerous initiatives have been taken in this
direction, some of them are as follows:
• Deen Dayal Upadhyay: He was a philosopher of integral humanism and the BJP adheres
to his philosophy. To honour this leader, the historic Mughalsarai junction railway station
in UP has been named Deen Dayal Upadhyay station while the upcoming airport at Agra
is also to be named after him. Numerous other initiatives as naming an ONGC building in
Delhi after the leader has also been taken. In honouring him BJP intends to establish
themselves as a party that cares about literature, art ,and culture and wants to revive the
forgotten pride and cultural heritage which might have been subsided at the hands of
Britishers, thereby, connecting with the masses by appealing to their patriotism.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee: This BJP leader had served 1 term for 13 days and 2 full terms as
prime minister of India. As a tribute to the leader, there are about 18 places in India that
include buildings, projects and educational institutes that have been renamed after him,
for e.g., Iconic Hazratganj crossing in Lucknow has been renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee
chowk, Dehradun and Deogarh airports as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Airport and so on. The
list can be accessed here
• Manohar Parrikar: Modi government renamed the Institute for Defence Studies and
Analyses (IDSA) as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses to honour
the legacy of late Defence Minister Parrikar. IDSA has served as a think tank for different
aspects of national and international security and by branding it with Parrikar's name BJP
government has put a saffron stamp on it.
• Sushma Swaraj: Sushma Swaraj has been one of the most loved politicians and successful
foreign ministers. As a tribute to her Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra has been renamed as
Sushma Swaraj Bhawan and the Foreign Service Institute that trains budding diplomats
too has been named after her. A flyover at Anjali crossroad in Ahmedabad will also be
named as Sushma Swaraj Bridge.
• Arun Jaitley: The National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) has been renamed
as Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management (AJNIFM). The cricket stadium
comprising the famous Ferozeshah Kotla Ground has been named after former Union
minister Arun Jaitley along with a sport’s complex in Jammu's Hiranagar. A built flyover
at Income Tax circle in Ahmedabad will be named as Arun Jaitley flyover.
• Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: He served as the 11th
president of India and has been known to
share the ideology of BJP. Aurangzeb Road in Delhi has been renamed APJ Abdul Kalam
Road. Outer Wheeler situated in Bhadrak; Odisha has been renamed Abdul Kalam island.
Dr. Kalam has been champion of science and technology development in India. In decision
to honour him, BJP intends to promote science and technology which is also seen in
various decisions the government undertook, for e.g., Digitization of India, Cashless
economy creation, Aadhar card for citizens, Smart cities, Bullet trains, Mangal mission
,and so on.
4. ‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, Shakespeare said
so once. I guess, knowing infrastructure politics would have surely changed his mind
It is the name of a place, person or thing that defines a brand and creates a recall value. While our prime
minister Mr. Narendra Modi has become a phenomenon and Brand Modi is being studied as marketing
case studies, I feel these initiatives of renaming places seem to be undertaken to fulfill the following
objectives:
• Establish BJP as a party of progressive and efficient leaders: BJP has honoured a diverse
set of leaders to establish that the party comprises efficient political leaders and unlike
congress, they do not intend to make it a family affair. The choice made in choosing the
leaders to be appreciated and promoted also intends to highlight their said motto i.e.,
progress and development of India.
• Create brands other than the prime minister Modi: Currently, it is Mr. Modi who enjoys
popularity among the masses. The brand Modi is being established as the epitome of
progress and development, while the branding of other leaders is preparing the citizens
to trust BJP after Mr. Modi steps down as leader post the 2024 elections. BJP has started
laying the foundation for their future in India where citizens can rely and find security and
comfort in the leadership of the past icons and future leaders like Amit Shah, Yogi Aditya
Nath ,etc. even if Mr. Modi is not there.
• Build a legacy for the future to come: Honouring the esteemed leaders associated with
the freedom struggle and the other veteran and popular leaders of the party would lead
to the creation of a legacy of elder leaders who earned the respect pf citizens. This legacy
can be promoted in the future to gain appreciation from the upcoming generations.
3) Piggybacking on the opiate religion that unites India i.e., cricket
Cricket is rightly known as the religion of India. Why so? It gives people reason to celebrate and feel proud,
and most important of all, in a diverse country like India, it gives us the reason to be called Indians rather
than Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs ,or any other religion. The recent renaming of the world’s biggest stadium
i.e., Motera stadium to Narendra Modi cricket stadium is an interesting step accomplished by BJP under
strategy bias. While the opposition called it out to be a disrespect to Sardar Patel and a narcissist move,
BJP countered it by saying that the stadium was a dream project of Mr. Modi when he was the president
5. of Gujarat cricket association. Since, he laid the foundation, he deserves the honour. Whatever the result
of this battle of words might be, one thing to be appreciated is the strategic win for the BJP Government.
I foresee this move to benefit BJP in the following ways:
• Free media coverage for brand Modi: Every a time a cricket match will be scheduled in this
stadium, the mention of the name ‘Narendra Modi’ will happen. The commentary starts prior to
the match where the pitch and weather are described, continues during the toss ,and of course
during the matches. I have observed that there are about 6 to 7 mentions of the stadium in a 3-
hour match. The stadium has a seating capacity of 1,10,000 viewers. Thus, with the cumulative
reach of there is no denying that whenever a match is played in this stadium, the name Narendra
Modi will be mentioned and will receive free media coverage with a reach of millions. While
advertisement rates during a cricket match cost Rs 15-16 lakh for 10 sec, BJP has made sure
that they can get it for free.
Narendra Modi stadium will be hosting the IPL final playoffs on 30th
May while operating
at a 50% . It is a logical decision from the revenue perspective and the publicity of the stadium
and Mr. Narendra Modi will be the icing on the cake for the BJP government. I would not be
surprised if Gujarat lions be included in the IPL tournament from next year and Narendra Modi
stadium becoming a part of IPL season permanently.
• Recognition among the youth: In a country that bleeds blue for the love of cricket, as far as youth
is concerned Mr. Narendra Modi will go down in history for providing Indians with the world’s
largest stadium with state of art facilities.
During inauguration of the Narendra Modi stadium as well, President, Mr. Ramnath Kovind
talked about the facilities at this stadium which would help the youth who want to build a career
in sports and are unable to do so due to the unavailability of facilities. The renaming of the
stadium will also instill positive sentiments continuously, in the youth aspiring to make a career
in sports
• Forever PR content: The stadium will also contribute to forever PR content. The players from all
over the world would get to experience the facilities here and their reactions can be a recorded
as PR content, for e.g., the videos like what do foreigners think about Hrithik Roshan, Foreigners
trying India snacks ,etc. The tour videos or vlogs can become another permanent PR content, for
e.g., videos like tour of Mumbai Airport.
Thus, Narendra Modi cricket stadium would be perfect PR for Mr. Modi and the BJP government. What
with upcoming legislative assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal ,and
Jammu and Kashmir in 2021, this PR will lead to a high recall for BJP. It would not only be a celebration of
cricket but also serve as an instant recall for the brand Modi for years to come. Election campaigns are
stopped close to elections, but if a cricket match is scheduled in this stadium during elections, people
might be hearing the name Modi even while votes are being cast. Even though this might be considered
as a vain move and there would be numerous protests from opposition, in the long run, they will subside
and what will be left is the infrastructure embedded massive prestige in Indians. We can rightly say that
the strategy by BJP has leveraged the deadly cocktail of two of the most talked-about topics in India i.e.,
cricket and politics.
You may ask why do I think it’s important? It is because it can be an efficient tool to create strategy bias.
There are the number of biases that can influence the decision of a person and one such bias is termed
as ‘Mere Exposure Effect’, which is the basic principle of Advertising. It states that humans tend to like
things more when they are familiar with them. Thus, repeated PR and recalls of brand Modi would most
definitely create a bias and subconsciously we citizens might finally accept that for India, the default
settings is = ‘BJP led Government’
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt had rightly said, ‘In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet
it was planned that way’. I feel that this quote by him is a hypothesis that has been proven time and again.
I feel strategists can learn a lot from politics and implement these strategies to create powerful brands.
Some questions that come to my mind are how can a brand achieve the default status, especially in a
world of decreasing consumer loyalty and increasing brand flirting? Can we apply infrastructure politics
for brands to create cognitive biases? What is the permanent infrastructure for brands?
Let me try to answer them. Today the permanent infrastructure owned by brands is the key to their
unique delivery. It helps a brand differentiate itself and own spaces uniquely and it comprises not only
the brand assets as logos, jingles etc., but multiple other infrastructure components.
How can these help create cognitive bias in the minds of consumers wherein they will come back to our
brand and keep coming back to our brand?
7. GFK foundational research revealed that 58% higher markets share is owned by brands that generate
strong experience and 90% of the customer decisions are deeply rooted in emotions. Permanent
infrastructure owned by brands will also aid in providing experience and continuous engagement with
the consumers, for, e.g., Apple music festival was a concert series held by Apple in UK and US, where the
tickets to these concerts were given to apple product and app users through localized draws. This is a
perfect example of providing experience and driving engagement. Loyalty reward system and Social
media assets are other ways brands can provide experience and continuously engage with customers.
What do brands achieve through all these efforts? Good experience and continuous engagement are
what helps the brand achieve the TOMA amongst a maximum number of consumers which leads to brand
shaping the category. For e.g. in India, a laundry detergent, a toilet cleaner, a sanitary pad is synonymous
to the brand names Surf, Harpic, and Whisper, respectively. Thus, once a brand starts shaping the
category, or becomes analogous to the category name, it is then that it achieves the default status.
Hence, with constant innovation and constant promotion being the current game, all the above examples
prove that infrastructure assets can be used in creating cognitive bias amongst the flirty customers
ultimately leading to achievement of default status by the brands.
Another important learning that brands can borrow from cognitive bias strategy in politics is the
importance of timing. The timing for execution of campaigns so that it reaches the maximum audience
and also renders positive impact is very crucial just like any time a match is played in Narendra Modi
stadium, it will lead to positive sentiments among masses.
8. Thus, brands not only have to strategize to create a bias towards themselves but also pay heed to the
timing of execution of these strategies so that it has the maximum impact. Thus, if used right, cognitive
bias can be an excellent tool to build power brands that benefits both i.e., brands and consumers.
I am not a political analyst, neither do I intend to be one, but as a strategist and a planner, I am attracted
to decoding the whys of what’s happening around us. As awed, I am by these concepts, as a marketer I
also feel the weight of ethics that should be incorporated while using these concepts in strategies. While
politics teaches us a lot about human behavior and human psychology, it also opens us to the world of,
sometimes questionable decision- making. I write this article with an intention to imbibe the learnings of
the consumer psyche and be conscious of the fact that great brands are a result of ethical and humanity
empathetic decision making.
Once again, for the love of finding patterns, connecting the dots ,and discovering larger strategic plays in
motion...for interesting times ahead.
hoowl.... @wolfzhowl