A good product generates its own PR. That, in a nutshell, is the success of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. Hazare took up an issue that affects everyday people in every aspect of their lives – they must bribe officials for everything from getting a driver’s licence to getting a child admitted into school. In everyday interactions with the government, absolutely nothing gets done unless people pay a bribe.

1. Anna Hazare: A Hanmer MSL analysis of the mass
movement against corruption in India and its use of public
relations tools and techniques.*
photo from Rajesh Lalwani on Flickr
A good product generates its own PR. That, in a nutshell, is the success of
Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. Hazare took up an issue that affects
everyday people in every aspect of their lives – they must bribe officials for
everything from getting a driver’s licence to getting a child admitted into school.
In everyday interactions with the government, absolutely nothing gets done
unless people pay a bribe.
*Hanmer MSL does not represent Mr. Hazare; this is an analysis only.

2. THE PRODUCT
You can compare the Jan Lokpal Bill to a
product that satisfies a crying need – the
reduction of corruption, if not its extinction.
The success of the agitation is astonishing
because it had no professional help. Yet,
a good product (the Jan Lokpal Bill),
clear messaging and use of the right
communication tools for this age (it’s been
a social media-fuelled stir, which is why you
see such a large youth participation), have
led it to great success.
THE BRAND
If the Jan Lokpal Bill is the product, Anna
Hazare is the brand ambassador. Here are
a few lessons he taught us about brand-
building through the campaign.

3. Lesson 1 Similarly, every public movement has its
symbols and icons – the charkha and non-
Have an idea that connects violence as symbols and Mahatma Gandhi as
the icon of the freedom movement.
SUPPO MEDICAL PEOPLE
TIME
CORRUPT
IBNLIVE GOVT
JOIN TAX
JOIN
ADARSH Similarly, Hazare and the Gandhi topi became
FAKE LOKPAL MAKE FORCE ELECTING
HAZARE
CHANGE
SUBMIT the icon and symbol respectively of the anti-
CWG DON IBNLIVE graft fight.
CULPRITS
ANNADEMANDS
ADARSH
LISTEN
RESPECT
_______________________________________________
EXPOSED
INDIA LOKPAL
FAST
TIME Lesson 3
INCOME POWER
Offer a consumer experience
Rocked by five major scams over the past
year, India was angry – at the government, its
seeming lack of will to tackle corruption and
the time it took to act. A strong, independent
Lokpal that could investigate ministers, the
bureaucracy, the judiciary and even the prime
3
minister was an idea whose time had come.
_______________________________________________
Lesson 2 photo from India Kangaroo on Flickr
Create symbols, icons Each brand has a distinct character. But how
do you make the consumer experience it?
Hazare chose the Ramlila ground for its size,
allowing thousands to throng it and take in the
atmosphere. Having experienced their own
power, the people began to believe they could
change things. There was no looking back.
_______________________________________________
photo from India Kangaroo on Flickr
Every timeless brand has its symbols – Nike
and its swoosh, for instance. Most brands also
have their icons – Steve Jobs for Apple, for
example.

4. Lesson 4 Lesson 6
Test market Make a media plan
All successful products are test marketed
before they are launched. Anna’s earlier fast
at Jantar Mantar showed that the idea could
work. It provided the vindication for a larger
movement. The campaign was timed perfectly to grab
media attention. Launched between the World
_______________________________________________ Cup and IPL, it filled the media vacuum that
existed then.
4
Lesson 5
Team Anna – Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal,
Package it right Prashant Bhushan – gave innumerable
interviews to the media, making sure the
campaign was centrestage all the time.
Hazare himself did not give too many
interviews – in fact, none during the second
round of agitations. He spoke just once to Kiran
Bedi from Tihar Jail, which he refused to leave
after his arrest. This created a larger impact
than any media interview could have had.
Apart from this, he addressed the public and
media several times at the Ramlila Maidan.
There was another critical aspect to the media
communication: the campaign had only the
abovementioned people speaking to the
media. This was smart thinking. The fewer the
photo from Rajesh Lalwani on Flickr
voices, the less scope there was for distortion
of the message.
Product, pricing, promotion, packaging are the
four Ps of marketing. In this case, packaging Would any corporation have 15-10
was paramount. Anna’s white dhoti-kurta and spokespersons? Normally, they’d have one
his clean image were the perfect magnets for or two. No reason why the anti-corruption
the jeans and T-shirt generation. movement should have been different.

5. The campaign made impressive use of PR
tools and techniques ranging from symbolism
(fasts and meditation) to social media
(Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, apps), FM radio,
news media, television and mobile telephony.
_______________________________________________
Lesson 7
Out-think the competition
photo from India Kangaroo on Flickr
With a giant image of Mahatma Gandhi in
the backdrop, the message was not lost on
anybody – here was a frail 74-year-old taking
on the establishment, much as another frail old
man had done in the 1930s and 1940s, and he
deserves your support.
5
_______________________________________________
Anna kept the competition (the government)
Lesson 9
guessing. Example: The government thought Use the right tagline
it had preempted the agitation by arresting
Hazare. But, his refusal to leave Tihar even
when allowed to go, trumped the government’s
move and fuelled the movement.
_______________________________________________
Lesson 8
Use the right imagery
The image of Hazare meditating at Rajghat
or of him lying down at Ramlila ground and
clapping along to the bhajans being sung ‘I am Anna Hazare’ is a lot more impactful
proved to be iconic. When he broke his fast, he than ‘I am for Anna Hazare’. It is far more
took water from a Dalit girl and a Muslim girl. participative and has a way of internalising the
struggle. It grabs you and makes you want to
act.
_______________________________________________

6. The ‘social’ revolution Till August 27, there were 3.64 lakh ‘likes’
The young, some of them fresh graduates, on Facebook and over two lakh followers
were the ones who created a countrywide on Twitter. In contrast, the ‘I Hate Anna
buzz about the campaign for a strong Hazare’ Facebook page roped in only 4,137
Lokpal. members.
While Arvind Kejriwal may have headed the
media cell, it was the responsibility of over
a dozen team leaders, most of them below
the age of 30.
Hazare’s video recorded in Tihar had 1.6
lakh views on YouTube.
6
The media impact
» Large swathes of the television-viewing
public switched to the saturation
A dedicated team of IT experts from Public coverage of Hazare and his campaign,
Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), which especially those in Hindi. For once, real
acted as a secretariat for India Against life was more riveting.
Corruption (IAC), ran IAC’s main website » While viewership increased for most
(http://www.indiaagainstcorruption. news channels, time spent on them
org/) along with 14 city-centric websites doubled in just a week. It may, in fact,
round-the-clock. They also monitored TV have eaten into the sports market,
channels and posted videos on the internet which dropped 33%; and Hindi movies,
to create a buzz across the globe. which showed a 12% fall (from a
16.37% genre share to 14.44%) in the
Another team ensured that the latest week ended August 20, according to
information about Hazare, soon after a study by media servicing agency
he was arrested, was posted on social ZenithOptimedia.
networking sites such as Facebook (http:// » The genre share of Hindi news channels
www.facebook.com/IndiACor) and Twitter rose from 5.9% in the week ended
(@janlokpal). August 13 to 11.02% in the week ended
August 20, according to TAM.

7. » The genre share of English news agitation wall-to-wall coverage, but was
channels also rose — to 0.54% from careful to balance it.
0.31%. » Regional newspapers, which have far
» Viewers were hooked since August 16, more experience of covering Anna, were
when Hazare began his fast. more balanced too.
» The average daily time spent on Hindi
news channels rose to 16.9 minutes
from 8.5. Top-viewed news events on
» Viewership of Star News rose 15%. From
26 million viewers, Star News reached TV
out to 31 million.
» There was a viewership surge across Tier Event % of Period
2 and 3 towns in Punjab, Haryana and audience
Rajasthan in the past week, which shows Anna campaign 12.41 Week 34, 2011
how mass-based the movement was.
Babri demolition 11.54 Week 40, 2010
» While the news genre viewership more
case
than doubled, Times Now reached 12
million viewers, said Sunil Lulla, CEO of YSR chopper 12.31 Week 36, 2009
7 crash
Times Global Broadcasting. Times Now
continued as the No. 1 English news 26/11 17.81 Week 48, 2008
channel with a share of 37.8%, followed Mumbai train 11.78 Week 30, 2006
by NDTV 24x7 (22.2%) and CNN IBN blasts
(20.7%).
Mumbai floods 9.71 Week 31, 2005
» Among Hindi channels, Aaj Tak
continued to lead with a share of Tsunami 10.35 Week 1, 2005
17.9% share, up from 15.2%. India TV’s Lok Sabha polls 10.22 Week 20, 2004
share declined to 11.6% from 14.2% to 2004
bring it down to the fourth place. THIS
9/11 7.56 Week 38, 2001
IS BECAUSE IT HAS A STRONGER
ENTERTAINMENT COMPONENT Source: TAM
COMPARED TO NEWS. Star News took
over as No 2 with a share of 14.7%.
» Many news channels decreased their How the UPA got it wrong
entertainment-related content to make
way for Hazare. In fact, some dropped Manmohan Singh used to be known as one
ads to accommodate more of Hazare. of India’s most effective prime ministers.
» Every newspaper covered the agitation. By shaking off the communists’ hold on
» All newspapers took the stance that his government, pushing through a historic
corruption needs to be tackled; ToI took nuclear treaty and winning the last Lok
an aggressive pro-Hazare stand. Every Sabha polls, he was on a high.
other newspaper gave the issue and the

8. Today, he’s the face of a government ACTION
that badly misread the public mood and Failure to communicate
bungled the handling of Anna Hazare’s
movement. What’s more, his extended IMPACT
silence gave the impression that he wasn’t The top leaders stubbornly refused to
really in charge and that he had no idea of engage with the media, secure in their
how to manage ministers who seemed to 2009 electoral victory.
get shriller by the minute. ___________________________________________
He finds himself at the receiving end of a ACTION
nationwide upsurge against corruption, his Let anti-graft crusaders drive the debate
government with its back to the wall.
IMPACT
Government should have seized the
Sending out the wrong initiative by moving aggressively on the
unfinished reforms agenda. It did not even
messages celebrate 20 years of reforms in July, as
though it disowned them.
8
ACTION A publicity blitzkrieg would have done
Refused to accept need for anti-corruption wonders for its reputation, especially
law with young middle class Indians who
benefited most from the reforms. It is
IMPACT these people who heeded Hazare’s call.
Government created a perception that it Instead of regarding Manmohan Singh as a
was stonewalling, seeking to stall an effort benefactor, they saw him as an obstacle to
to cleanse the country of corruption. change.
___________________________________________ ___________________________________________
ACTION ACTION
Arresting Hazare No magic wand to curb corruption, said PM
IMPACT IMPACT
If arresting him was ill-advised, taking He would have been better off declaring
him to Tihar was a PR disaster. Tihar is that the battle against corruption and a
where those accused of some of the strong Lokpal Bill were an integral part
worst corruption in recent times – A Raja, of the reforms process. If RTI brings
Kanimozhi, Suresh Kalmadi – were lodged. openness in governance, Lokpal is part of
Hazare turned his arrest into victory by the restructuring.
refusing to leave jail until his demands ___________________________________________
were met.
___________________________________________

9. ACTION April 16: Joint committee meets, both
Missed opportunity sides exchange drafts.
IMPACT May 2: Second meet with “no difference of
It would have been a PR coup if Singh had opinion”.
asserted that he was on the same side as
Hazare. He could have even joined Hazare May 7: Agreement on independent Lokpal
on a day’s token fast. That would have gone with powers to initiate investigation and
a long way in bridging the communication prosecution.
gulf between the populace and the
government, which they see as remote and May 23: Agreement on empowering Lokpal
loath to abandon old habits. to order list of movable and immovable
___________________________________________ assets of accused in corruption cases when
sufficient evidence found to book them.
May 30: Differences appear as government
Timeline disagrees on including prime minister,
Supreme and High Court judges and MPs’
9
January 30, 2011: Marches in over 60 cities conduct in parliament within Lokpal’s
to demand Lokpal bill. Social reformer ambit.
Anna Hazare, former top cop Kiran Bedi,
activist Swami Agnivesh and lawyer June 6: Civil society members boycott
Prashant Bhushan participate in Delhi rally. meet a day after police crackdown against
yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s fast in Delhi’s
February 26: Hazare announces fast Ramlila Maidan.
unto death from April 5 if Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh does not decide on civil June 15: No consensus on inclusion of
society’s inclusion in drafting the bill. prime minister, Supreme and High Court
judges.
April 5: Hazare starts fast at Delhi’s Jantar
Mantar. June 20: Some ice melts amid war of
words; government calls it “major step
April 8: Hazare announces decision to forward”.
end fast as government agrees to form
10-member panel of civil society members June 21: Last meeting of joint committee
and union ministers to draft a stringent ends on sour note. Both sides exchange
anti-corruption law. drafts; Hazare warns of another fast.
April 9: Hazare ends fast. August 15: Hazare denied permission
to fast at Delhi’s Jayaprakash Narayan
Memorial Park after Team Anna agrees to
accept only 16 of police’s 22 conditions.

10. August 16: Hazare begins fast, detained
and sent to seven-day judicial custody to
Tihar jail. Government decides to set him
free late night. He refuses to leave.
August 17: Hazare refuses to leave Tihar
till a solution is reached on fast venue.
Supporters gather outside prison, Hazare
continues fast from jail. Permitted to fast at
Ramlila Maidan.
August 19: Hazare leaves Tihar, continues
fast at Ramlila Maidan.
August 23: Government invites Team Anna
for talks.
August 24: Second round of talks, all-party
10
meeting held. No breakthrough in impasse.
August 25: After meetings with political
parties and Team Anna, government agrees
to debate all versions of Lokpal bill in
parliament.
August 27: Both houses of parliament
debate Lokpal bill, adjourn after adopting
‘sense of the house’ and agreeing to
Hazare’s three demands that will be sent to
standing committee on Lokpal bill.
August 28: Anna breaks fast on 13th day.