Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter, urging Bollywood actors, CEOs, sports icons and even rival politicians to make efforts towards creating voter awareness, so that more and more voters come out to vote. That created quite a buzz and was a trending hashtag for a while.

Smart brands are pitching into the polls to create similar awareness. From 93.5 Red FM’s Ab Watan Dabayega Button and Castrol’s Give a Ride, Help Cast a Vote to Wipro Consumer Care’s Young Dikho, Young Socho , a host of campaigns are building narratives around getting voters to the polling booth.

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For automotive and industrial lubricant maker Castrol India, the campaign is on track with its cause-based marketing approach. The company’s voter awareness ad released in February, which will run the duration of the general elections, focuses on young bike owners who can be the catalyst to spark a change amongst voters to protect democracy in the country.

Explains Kedar Apte, Vice-President-Marketing, Castrol India Ltd, “This campaign builds on our overall brand proposition for Castrol Activ, of continuous protection. It appeals to our target audience of bike owners in India, who are a 150-million-strong community, by asking them to stand up and protect what they love, by supporting the community and less fortunate ones who may find it difficult to go out to cast their vote.”

In the past, Castrol campaigns have seen bikers standing up for environmental concerns, to save trees and clean beaches, with Castrol Activ being a spark for this change. “The brief of the recent campaign was to continue on this journey,” says Apte, adding that ad films have the power to shape thoughts and bring positive behavioural changes.

Meanwhile, Wipro Consumer Care has taken the core proposition of younger looking skin of its soap brand Santoor to encourage first-time voters to be responsible and vote in the upcoming General Elections, through a 360-degree campaign.

According to Anil Chugh, President-Consumer Care Business, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, this is the brand’s first such campaign focused on generating voter awareness.

“The upcoming elections will see about 1.5 crore new voters in the age group of 18-19 years. We felt, through Santoor, we should motivate the youth and first-time voters to cast their vote and fulfil their duty,” he says, adding that this will also help the brand connect better with its consumers.

Past associations

Of course, it is not the first time brands are pitchforking into the voter awareness cause. Tata Tea’s Jago Re campaign, which has consistently raised a range of issues such as corruption, bribery and women empowerment, has also done voter awareness ads.

In 2014, HUL did an Election Commission-endorsed, “Voting is a coming of age moment” film. The ad, born out of a competition, was scripted for free through a collaborative effort between agencies Ogilvy and Lowe Lintas.

Besides brands, industry associations are also planning to chip in to raise voter awareness. The India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA), which had launched an initiative to combat voter apathy targeted at Mumbai citizens — especially the first-time voter — in 2014, is planning a similar exercise this time too.

Ramesh Narayan, former President of IAA India Chapter, says the advertising association is doing a similar campaign this election season. “We will leverage the social media platform to reach out to voters across the country,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the Rotary Club of Mumbai, in which Narayan is personally involved, has also been trying to propagate the voter awareness cause through a Whatsapp initiative by sending messages to its members to ensure they vote.

Says Narayan, “The need to combat voter apathy and reach out to older and more affluent voters, exhorting them to vote, is even more significant. Such voters typically treat the voting day as a holiday or an excuse to go out for a long weekend.”

Brand experts believe many more brands could join the voter awareness ‘brandwagon’ in the coming days as the buzz around elections grows. But they warn that an association with a cause has to be part of the brand’s core positioning.

Cautions N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, “Brands often want to be associated with a cause that is the flavour of the season. However, they should be cautious. The cause should fit their brand’s DNA and it shouldn’t look like a forced association to grab eyeballs.”

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