(Image source from: Who brainstormed the chant Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar})

Was it the creative head of Ogilvy & Mather Piyush Pandey or someone else who brainstormed the Modi slogan — “Ab ki baar, Modi Sarkar” — that swept the nation off its feet?

While there are many claimants to the line, in truth, the line was indeed conceptualized by ad man Pandey himself. But can he claim to be the first to think of the line. We fear not.

If one may recall, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was pitched in as BJP's prime ministerial candidate in the past, BJP harped on the line “Ab ki baari, Atal Bihari”. Not many paid attention to the slogan then, blame it on the lack of social media that is hugely credit for stirring up the Modi mania in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Then there’s another obvious line — “Achche din aane waale hain”. The slogan reminds of the song used by FDRoosevelt for his election campaign in 1932, straight after the great depression — “Happy days are here again.”

Now the questions are, how meaningful are these ordinary lines? Can an ordinary slogan, bereft of any verbose, create an impact enough to win an election  for a party?

A bulk of newsprint are being exhausted trying to figure out who wrote the Ab ki baar line and its impact. But does that really matter?

What matters is the realization that nothing, not even an election, can be won because of a single line – no matter how simple or great it is. Its only when a single line comes to life can a miracle happen.

For example, consider Coke’s tagline, “Open Happiness.” This tagline is used by Coke across the world – and the meaning it conveys in different countries and in different contexts have different impact and resonance on the people there.

For India, “Ab ki baar, Modi Sarkar” is a lame line. No brownie points to anyone wanting to claim for an ordinary line as this.

But what really cinched the deal  for BJP here is the way they bought the line to life. They trusted Modi, not with just a line, but with the task of bringing a line to life, and for using the line in a manner that would inspire India to queue up at the hustings and vote for Modi.

That’s the only thing that mattered in this elections — that the BJP trusted Pandey and Soho Square with their election campaign – and the campaign served the purpose to the T.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury