Advertising agencies are expecting a new business opportunity worth Rs 80 to Rs 100 crore (Rs 800 million-Rs 1 billion) if the central government and its several ministries go ahead with their planned media campaign popularising the progress made on the implementation of common minimum programme.
In anticipation, many large agencies are even considering setting up separate creative, client service and media planning cells which would specialise in handling government accounts.
"After the NDA government's Rs 60-crore (Rs 600 million) 'India Shining' blitz which gave a lot of mileage to Grey Worldwide, which handled the campaign, a lot of agencies are now realising that government business could be very lucrative. But it is still not clear if the government departments would hire services of professional agencies or continue to use the services of agencies like the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity," said the Delhi branch head of a national agency.
Government sources said that the ruling United Progressive Alliance is planning a, 'India Shining' style of media blitz which would communicate the progress made on the implementation of the CMP.
Resources from all the ministries dealing with issues identified in the CMP will pool in to fund the campaign.
"The 'India Shining' campaign has shown that even the government has to be a serious marketer," said said Sandeep Vij, president, OMS, the media buying arm of Mudra.
Besides the new trend of government using the mass media for propaganda, we foresee a lot of spending from ministries such as the Ministry of Tourism as they look to become more competitive internationally," said Sandeep Vij, president, OMS, the media buying arm of Mudra.
According to sources in Leo Burnett, although the government is yet to call for a formal pitch, it is likely to utilise the sevices of more than one Delhi-based agency.
The government is also planning to air 4-5 minute programmes based on the progress made in several thrust areas of the CMP on the state-run Doordarshan.
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