The 4Ps of Anna hazares India against corruption

Nobody
would have ever imagined that a tenacious soldier1 would turn into an anti-corruption crusade channelizing teeming masses onto the streets. Where a company identifies an unmet need and introduces a product to satisfy the same, in the same way , we visualize Team Anna as an organization which aimed at the objective of eradication of corruption from the country by Introducing the Jan lokpal bill.

Product
The entire movement had a mix of a product and a service (a movement aimed at removal of corruption against ). These included: Product was a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal (ombudsman) bill in the Indian Parliament giving greater power & independence to lokpal and lokayuktas Service included the main movement & activities like fast upto death

Price
The price would be something spent by customer in return for obtaining the product which in this case constituted : Voluntary donations Time and energy Political, Legal and Social risks involved with participation in movement

Place
The movement was conducted on a Pan India basis introduced in a non-phased, parallely timed format in a Hub and spoke model with central presence in New Delhi. Various representatives of the movement across country undertook campagining on a regional basis.

Promotions
The campaign India against corruption was a skillfully executed Integrated marketing campaign

(Biography of Anna Hazare, 2011)

Positioning
Team Annas challenging the govt. version of the lokpal bill, refusal to interact with lower level politicians positioned the entire movement as one of the biggest nationalist movement after struggle for independence The large scale of the movement & promotions, Taglines like Indias second freedom struggle further reinforced it

Brand
Team Anna was a challenger brand to established names in Indian political domain. It skilfully executed most of the 8 credos of effectively doing more with less2. Brand elements included : Gandhian topis with I am anna hazare written (credible supports) Anna hazare as the Brand mascot Logo of campaign was the India against corruption logo in tricolor colors and attention seeking red and black

The campaign made use of various vehicles of advertisement & promotions like websites34, social media (Facebook & twitter), telephonic IVR & missed call service, customized games & personal selling was also undertaken in addition to mass media advertising. The entire campaign having a high Social networking potential was shaped as a perfect candidate for viral marketing. Involvement of amongst celebrities and leading nationalists further strengthened it. It was tactically executed to the right social hubs, market mavens and the existing environment of masses suffering from corruption directly or indirectly formed the perfect recipe for a huge viral success.

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(Morgan, 2009) (About India against corruption) 4 (About Anna hazare)

Modern marketing at its best

The campaign spread like wildfire by efficiently influencing the Lunatic fringe 5 ( Visionaries & radicals like Baba ramdev, Kiran bedi, Arvind Kejriwal ) which efficiently passed the buzz to alphas ( NGOs, activists, publics, PR). The bees (message spreaders, superconnectors) seamlessely spread the message to the mainstream which even touched the laggards (those not pinched by corruption / benefitted from it) strong enough to shake the big shots in the political domain. Team Anna played a perfect role in re-lightening the fire to influence the Herd6 Its quite immature to conclude if the entire movement will make a difference to the problem of corruption in our country. However, there is no denying the fact that the nation just witnessed one of the most effective marketers in disguise - Kisan Baburao Hazare who demonstrated the 7 stages of Marketing Judo7 with unprecedented perfection.

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(Marian Salzman, 2003) (earls, 2007) 7 (John Barnes, 2002)