The 4Ps of Anna hazare movement winning article Mr Abhimanyu Sukhwal

1. The 4Ps of Anna hazare’s
“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
1
(Biography of Anna Hazare, 2011)

2. Positioning
 Team Anna’s 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.
2
(Morgan, 2009)
3
(About India against corruption)
4
(About Anna hazare)

3. 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 ( NGO’s,
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
It’s 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.
5
(Marian Salzman, 2003)
6
(earls, 2007)
7
(John Barnes, 2002)