PM Modi’s Walk to the Capital Has Been Booked

Ever since the BJP stormed into the power, PM Narendra Modi is the talk of the town for being a visionary, change maker, entrepreneur and more. But among all things that are being spoken about the man, it is the powerful campaign that he and his team ran before the 2014 General Elections which intrigues people. A lot has been talked about how the campaign came about, but none of the versions come closest to what it really had been.

That is why the team, who was actually behind the campaign decided to document everything about the campaign in a book and wrote 'The Walk to the Capital'. It is a book, which gives a first-hand account of what went into the making of the historic campaign that lead to BJP's first-ever, landslide victory in the General Elections.


Piyush Pandey with the book

The creative minds behind this campaign were from Soho Square, Mumbai and Ogilvy, South Asia agencies. Though in the beginning, this was just like another account for them, but when the team actually began the work, they gradually realized the weight of the expectation and responsibility they had on their shoulders. They felt as if the fate of the entire nation was in their hands—which was true to an extent—and this is why they invented new ways to work, redefined deadlines and turnaround times, grew closer and more cohesive as a team and the end result is for all of us to see.

But did you ever wonder, what was the brief that these agencies got? Was the brief any good—as it was coming from a political party and not a corporate honcho? Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy, South Asia, thinks that this was the best brief he had received in his career. He says, "This has been the best brief I've worked on in my entire career. And with an absolute dream of a client. Professional to the core, the BJP leadership knew their target audience to the person, and this I believe was the key to cracking this campaign. It has been a memorable journey. And we have attempted to capture our journey in this book."

The campaign not only helped BJP gain a name, but also brought 'acche din' for Soho Sqaure, which was a little-known WPP agency before the General Elections. Samrat Bedi, Head of Office, Soho Square, Mumbai, says, "One of the early media reports referred to Soho Square as 'a little-known WPP agency'. Looking back on the last one year, I think we have come a long way. We managed to pull-off a multi-media campaign without a hitch. That itself is reassuring. This book only begins to do justice to the coffee-fuelled days and nights we spent turning this campaign around. But it does serve us as a reminder. Wow, we actually did this."