How Labour Did It!

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In a 2005 column for the British daily, The Guardian, Peter Hyman wrote that an election is all about putting your most mouth-watering political wares in the shop window, and discarding those half-baked ideas that will crumble under election pressure. And Hymen knows more than a thing or two about making marketable campaigns and ensuring electoral wins. After all, the man has masterminded two consecutive campaigns for Britain’s Labour Party in 1997 and 2001 and ensured the second victory, against seemingly indomitable anti-incumbency odds.

Throughout their first term (1997-2001), Labour remained committed to a marketing orientation and even brought out an annual report on the delivery of its 1997 election promises. Even party spending on advertising multiplied. But while Tony Blair succeeded in areas like constitutional reforms, he failed to deliver on improving standards of public services – the core of the 1997 political product that Labour promised. In came the expertise of Peter Hyman, who along with key Labour strategists brought in the right strategy to display only the most saleable dresses on the Labour window. After collecting dollops of market intelligence, including a survey done by their ad agency TBWA London, Labour devised a product similar to their 1997 offering with greater emphasis on the deliverables. Even particular product (oops… poll) deliverables were tailored such that it would be easier to measure deliverability. So, instead of saying ‘no queues for healthcare’, Labour promised ‘20,000 extra nurses and 10,000 extra doctors for the NHS’ and so on.

“Labour party managers targeted those supporters whom they considered weak as they had voted Labour first time in the 1997 elections… they convinced these weak voters that they have done wonders to the economy. Once this was addressed, Labour Party won the day,” explains David Sanders, University of Essex and an expert on election campaigning in Britain.

Moreover, if ‘Operation Victory’ was their slogan in 1997, in 2001, Labour focused on ‘Operation Turnout’.

They focused on targeted direct mailers and postal votes, in a bid to expand the overall voter base, fearing that the traditional Labour vote bank would be difficult to motivate. Labour also focused on its competition (the Conservatives) and through posters brought out the negatives of a Conservative win. Clever party strategists resorted to humour rather than a frontal attack on the opposition to drive home the message. The infamous ‘Wiggy’ poster – a smart depiction of William Hague (then leader of Conservative party), with Thatcher’s hair - warning ‘Get out and vote or they get in’ made voters laugh and talk about the campaign with friends and colleagues. Labour had effectively scored a political point, while telling voters that they needed more time to deliver.

The 3600 approach worked and Tony Blair won another landslide back into 10, Downing Street!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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In an economics driven and rationale society, the Hulk feeds on the myths, prejudices and suspicions that are flung his way.

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What’s more, having laid claim (sic) to the Indian commodity markets, the exchange is now gung-ho on its global plans. FTIL & MCX have a big stake in Middles East’s largest commodity bourse – the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) and through FTIL, MCX is also running exchange platforms in S. Africa and Mauritius; the latest initiative is to launch an exchange in Singapore. Well-placed sources within the company confirm that preparations are on in full swing and the Singapore exchange will go live in the first week of July. Once that happens, MCX may be well on its way to realise its global ambitions, that of becoming a leader for the entire Asian region. Massey told this magazine that, “There is no exchange in the Asian continent that is multi segment and has such liquidity. Once India has convertibility, Asia could actually use MCX, as India had been using the US exchanges for the last 50 years.”

So is this the perfect tale of the rise and rise of an invincible MCX hulk? Well, not quite. Party poopers for MCX abound. And the spoilers range from the inane to the rational and from the general to the specific. The biggest challenge is that only a select few understand what commodity markets are all about. The common refrain among business development guys in the MCX building is that not even all stakeholders understand much about the function of commodity exchanges. “More than half our time is spent on simply educating and training traders, brokers, corporates and professionals about what we do, who we are and what’s on offer,” complains a senior marketing operations guy at the comex, adding that if awareness levels were not so low, MCX would be trading at least five to eight times its present trading volume.

Ashok Mittal, Vice President & Country Head, Karvy Comtrade concurs that the problem is with the traditional mindset that people have with regard to commodity futures. “Awareness levels about futures market is low compared to capital markets. So commodity exchanges are investing time and money in creating awareness and setting up the market from scratch,” he points out.

Massey shares that the exchange and its intermediaries have till date invested a total of approximately Rs.50 billion on building up the ecosystem for commodity exchanges to function, through investment in spreading awareness and support companies. “Our branding investment actually goes into education, which gets us both branding in terms of image as well as future business potential,” he explains. MCX has set up its own training institute, and also employs a huge business development team. At any given time, half the team is talking to the physical markets and explaining what this market is all about, while the other half are talking to intermediaries and telling them that this is how you could service the market.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
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IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...
4Ps Power Brand Awards 2007
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