With less than 18 months to go for the 2014 elections, the UPA is on an advertising blitzkrieg.
The brief to all ministries and PSUs is simple: Make effective and targeted advertising communication. They have been asked to not only showcase the fruits of the government’s flagship schemes but also put a special focus on the Aadhaar project.
The first set of print ad campaigns will be rolled out on January 26. Later, such ads will be released on all the days of national importance and also on public holidays.
To be released by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), the nodal government agency incharge of publicity, the Centre is expected to approve a budget of R700-800 crore for this year-long campaign, sources said. This is at least 30% higher than the usual annual advertisement budget of the central government.
According to DAVP insiders, the fortified campaign will also be marked by a shift in content. These print advertisements will need to be creative and “text heavy,” rather than toeing the conventional line of being personality-specific. The idea is to do away with the pictures of individual ministers or CMD (in case of PSUs) as far as possible. The Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson, however, would get an exemption from this rule.
The brief is also to focus on the good work done by central PSUs in the area of corporate social responsibility in towns and cities where they operate, sources said.
“All these decisions were taken after a detailed internal meeting of central communication officers recently. The same has been communicated to all ministries and PSUs,” the official said.
The I&B ministry has asked all the central ministries to draw up a list of highlights of the programmes implemented by them and focus on impact-based quality 360-degree advertising creative. These ad-campaigns will then be released by DAVP from January.
The Centre has spent around R1,800 crore in the last three years alone on publicity through television/print/radio/outdoor and via new media.
Of an annual budget of around R600 crore, last fiscal (2011-12), the DAVP spent the maximum on newspaper advertisements (R375.31 crore). It spent R215 crore on television, radio, outdoor and new media.
