Getting Ready for The Digital Indian General Elections 2009! Saurabh Pandey

Why Youth? Why Digital?

Urban Youth Participation in India Participation of Indian Youth in 2004 General Elections:  Only about 6 million voted out of 60m eligible to vote youths.  37m Urban eligible to vote Youths on the internet. (Over 60% of all eligible to vote youths in India are on the web!) (Source: India Today, Sep 2008, Juxt Consultant Report 2008))

Power of Youth 36% of all eligible voters in India are YOUTH! Youth can be influenced: if they can be engaged and listened to!

Opportunity Awaiting Opportunity to bring in a total of 10.02m additional Voters (by increasing The % of urban youth voter turnout From 9% to 18%) The youth turnout in the US almost doubled to17 per cent this election in comparison to the 9 per cent in the 2000 elections. (Source: India Today, Sep 2008) I believe it was due to an aggressive presence of candidates on Internet and that similar results can be repeated in India.

Who is more popular on the web? After the launch of lkadvani.in Advani’s popularity on web increased. Having a web strategy is critical-even more for a candidate who faces a wide generation gap in India! Food for thought: what if Rahul Gandhi activates his internet presence?

Key Phases Target with customized Communication Listen, Engage, & Empower Observe, Track and Analyze Segment

4 Key Areas Presence on Social Media – Listen to the youth – Update the youth on your vision – Use the youth to spread the word around – Drive them to vote – After winning –keep the youth updated on your promises and agenda Use of Virals – Collaboration with key vision – Spreading the message Use of CRM and Analytics Telecom Strategy – Reminder and call for action

Key Segments 16million access internet. Young and discerning, but don’t vote regularly. Young Men (21-38 years) 4 million access internet. Are independent and can influence. Hardly vote. Young Women (21-35 years) 16 million access internet. May influence their parents and elder siblings Teenagers (12-20) About 1 million. Children independent. Vote regularly Seniors (Above 50 years) Need to develop, individual communication and deploy unique media vehicles for each segment

Where are these Segments? Social NetworkContentSearchApplications Young MenLinkedin, FaceBook, Twitter Travel, News, Cricket, Jobs, Movies, e- commerce, blogs forums Tech/Business analysis, Jobs, Loans, news analysis, research and knowledge, others (rentals and matrimony) , shopping, bill payment, online banking and investment, blogs Young WomenFaceBook, Linkedin Women, Movies, lifestyle, blogs, forums Business, research and knowledge , blogs TeenagersOrkut, MySpaceMusic, SportsResults, higher education, new songs, academic terms Gaming, Chatting, music download Seniors-News, Medicine, Matrimony Medical conditions, locations, news and matrimony Chat,

Targeted Communication Now that we are aware of where these segments are, we need to – Create a Communication Hero and theme – Finalize Media Vehicles – Contextualize our communication – Fix exposure frequency and duration by media – It’s important to CONVERT- Ask and remind people till they step out to vote

The Digital Communication ‘Mantra’ ListenEngageEmpower

It’s not… About having a website Or About asking for votes-online! It’s about listening, engaging and empowering!

Listen, Engage & Empower Be Present on Social Networks in India Straight Talk with people Invite comments Start POLL Start discussion on Relevant topics Put your event photos And videos Distribute your widget Link to the main site Involve people, and let them participate in building a National Agenda. Communicate to them. Let them feel that they are important and are being listened to. Barack Obama was present on 17 social networks. He had about 2 million fans in MySpace alone.

Twitter- Profile on twitter to update thoughts and directions – Helps in instantly creating chain of followers. – Creates a chain reaction of thoughts across Dell on twitter: regularly Updates people about New models, asks opinions Guides people to various sites Product updates. Obama on twitter- calling Last minute for votes Updating about venues of Public address and rallies Listen, Engage & Empower Use Twitter to Listen & Broadcast

Listen, Engage & Empower Create Personal and Local Impact Allow people to create and expand their own network Allow people to host their own events Allow people to share their stories Allow people to invite you for local events Allow people to register for your local events This may need a closely monitored and closed garden approach and hence a need for your OWN SOCIAL NETWORK SITE Obama’s own social networking site MY.BARACKOBAMA.COM- Over groups were created and over events were hosted

Listen, Engage & Empower Use Web2.0 Applications for Interactivity Webcast or Live Chat. Weekly chat, and Live or delayed web broadcast-by local and national candidates Event finder- Locate the next public event in your region & register for the same. Integrate with Google Maps, to receive route map and ID card via and SMS Integrate YouTube, for real time broadcast of your events, speeches and tours. (Obama’s YouTube channel generated 110m views by election day)

Listen, Engage & Empower Telecom and Widgets India has over 300m people with Mobile Phones. Almost all of them can Receive SMS updates. Most of them can receive Multimedia content. And at least 10% of them can access some level of internet. Mobile strategy should be an integral element of digital strategy

Use mobile for ‘personalized’ calls from real local representatives. Use mobile to drive people for voting Use Mobile widgets for updates and polls Listen, Engage & Empower Telecom & Widgets

Listen, Engage & Empower Use of Widgets Widgets can be installed anywhere Easily- your mobile phone, Facebook profile Or your blog. Obama widget here on Facebook, automatically presents updated videos and text and also registers people to vote Plays videos Access to all media on the net With your reference Finds local group And message from you.

Observe, Track & Analyze Use advanced CRM and Analytics Your followers need to be answered back in real time. Communication needs to be dynamically changed based on people’s quick changing tastes, information needs and perception. Use of web analytics reveals, key search patterns, how people react to specific communication and their behavior on our site by day and region among others

BUILD STRONGER INDIA VIRAL GAME OR CONTEST.- choose any state in the map, and with the use of icons show how would you build that state stronger. This is a participative game and the results can be announced and seen in real time. Listen, Engage & Empower Engage & Propagate through ‘Viral’

One Example There are many that you know and have witnessed already! Help Bihar, viral campaign (Promoted by one of India’s largest digital agency-QUASAR) Required one to answer a few Easy questions. For each correct answer Re1 worth Of products will be donated. This viral spread to more than 10 lac People in about a week’s time.

Continue after Winning Personalized thanks mail to all registered users. Thank You Banner across web properties. Use web properties to build consensus and public opinion on key issues Use the web properties to update people on actions and pre-election promises

Path-Ahead Facebook, YouTube, Orkut, LinkedIn Twitter Main Site Cross Integrated and Cross Powered Platforms CRM Anal ytics

About me Digital Marketer from Google, Bharti Airtel and Zdnetindia.com, Saurabh Pandey is a technology and media enthusiast. Through his more than 12 years of experience in a wide range of industries from advertising through technology to media and telecom, synergised with leadership roles in both marketing, brand management and sales, Saurabh attempts to look at challenges in today’s marketing environment with a digital lens and tools of innovative thinking! Saurabh blogs regularly at

Other Publications 10 digital trends to observe in 2009 Blog Performance Metrics Social Media Marketing and RoI You can download all the above publications free of cost from

Thank You