Rahul's got Dentsu but BJP to retaliate with Rs 400 crore ad blitz

The Congress and UPA government may have already hit top gear when it comes to advertising its achievements and its potential prime ministerial candidate, but the BJP is also getting into the game with a Rs 400-crore campaign ahead of the national elections.The principal opposition party in Parliament has already appointed media planner Sam Balsara from Madison Media and has approached McCann Worldgroup's Prasoon Joshi to handle the creative aspect, a Hindu report said."We will be handling media planning and buying. This includes the presence in print, television, radio and the digital space," Balsara was quoted as saying.Joshi denied that the agency had not yet formalised an agreement with the BJP and one of its subsidiaries was still in talks with the party.[caption id="attachment_1401937" align="alignleft" width="380"] Coming soon to an advertisement targeting you? PTI image[/caption]The agency, which had pitched for the Congress campaign last year, could be in the process of coming up with a pitch for the party, whose prime ministerial candidate has a publicity campaign that has already been on since last year. Joshi had handled the BJP's ad campaign during the 2009 elections.The party has also approachedSoho Square, a subsidiary of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), reported the Economic Times, which said that the party had Rs 400 crore it was prepared to spend on its own advertising campaign.Piyush Pandey, executive chairman of O&M said that he wasn't aware of the party's decision yet but he may have an edge given the agency has been working on ads for the Gujarat government for the last few years.Others in the fray include two other WPP agencies, JWT and Contract.The Economic Times reports that both Joshi and Pandey could come together for the ad campaign finally, with both firms handling different aspects, and the entire campaign will be monitored by senior leader Arun Jaitley. The final sign off expectedly came from the party's prime ministerial candidate.The focus of the campaign is expected to be close to what the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate has been highlighting in his speeches and will deal with providing opportunities for the youth and targeting the UPA over alleged corruption.The UPA government is estimated to have already spent Rs 100 crore on its Bharat Nirman campaign and the Congress advertising campaign is estimated to cost the party close to Rs 500 crore. The party's advertising campaign featuring Rahul Gandhi has already begun and while it may have hit the ground later than Modi's its intensity is a little difficult to miss.And while the two biggest national parties may be splurging on advertising campaigns, parties in power in states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are also advertising extensively ahead of the elections to extol their achievements. Worried by anti-incumbency affecting their power broking powers in the national elections the smaller parties are equally keen not to cede any ground to the BJP or Congress when it comes to advertising.All the parties will go all out to woo every voter and will use every penny in their coffers to sway opinions, something the media industry will have no complaints about. However, will all the noise really help in swaying votes? Even if it doesn't, no one's going to tell the parties about it just yet.