Congress blames ad agency for failiure

After their worst performance in the history of the party, senior Congress leaders are now pointing fingers at Dentsu, the Japanese communication agency which handled the party’s poll advertising account.

Congress hired Dentsu for around Rs 600 crore, with the objective of projecting Rahul Gandhi as a young and dynamic leader who was out to empower the common man. But the Congress campaign failed to match the BJP’s campaign blitz, which successfully portrayed the image they desired for Narendra Modi, their prime ministerial candidate.

A senior Congress leader alleged that Dentsu could not be absolved of the blame for the debacle. “They not only charged a premium for the creatives, but they also released ads at an abnormally high premium in connivance with various media houses,” he said.

Dentsu India has countered the Congress’ charges. A spokesperson said, “All financial negotiations were in line with the services we had committed to offer via a rigorous and transparent process, and agreed to before the campaign.” The spokesperson also added that apart from Dentsu India, there was another agency hired by the party for ad releases.

Another senior Congress leader claimed that Dentsu India executive chairman, Rohit Ohri, had a heated argument with Congress leader Ajay Maken over the same issue. Consequently, all Dentsu employees received an email, which forbade them from talking to the media.

Maken was not available to comment on the incident, but the Dentsu spokespersion said that they do not disclose any client information, but he also added that Dentsu executives are not authorized to speak to any of their clients.