Rohit Upadhyay of IBroad7, the radio agency for Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the recent Indian general elections, spoke about planning and executing the party’s radio campaign – the largest ever on Indian radio.

Radio formed an important part of political parties’ advertising strategy to woo voters in the lead-up to the election, especially for the winning BJP.

In his session ‘Radio Works – Case Study on BJP Campaign’, Upadhyay told the audience why his agency was chosen over others who pitched for the campaign.

While everyone else presented data on ‘how’ to use radio as a reminder medium, their agency focused on ‘why’ radio should be used as a primary medium, he said.

He also shared how his agency planned and executed the party’s national radio campaign, which was allotted 12.75 percent of its total ad budget for the elections.

With an estimated listenership of 158 million, out of which 106 million people tune in to private FM stations across 86 cities, radio was a crucial component of the party’s election advertising mix.

The agency developed a series of radio spots and jingles addressing a range of issues facing the public along with a three-minute song titled ‘Saugandh’ (Oath) as the official anthem for the party.

Some spots featured the voices of common people taking about problems like electricity, urban unemployment, inflation and women’s safety and urged listeners to vote for BJP to bring about a change.

The underlined promise in this communication was ‘Achchey Din Aaney Waale hain’ (Good days are just around the corner).

The anthem, written by famous adman and lyricist Prasoon Joshi, featured the voice of the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in a song where he takes an oath to serve the nation.

The song reinforced the message ‘Ab ki baar Modi Sarkaar’ (It’s time for Modi government).

The party’s campaign was also adapted in various Indian languages to reach out to local audiences across different parts of the country and addressed local issues.