IAA woos first time voters

The creative provides a QR code which if scanned on a smartphone reveals a video.

India's bunch of first-time voters has dominated the election scene in 2014. Politicians looked to woo them for votes and brands saw an opportunity to connect with them through the elections.

Notably, in a related move, ad gurus Piyush Pandey and R Balki also teamed up to tell youngsters how much their views - and votes - matter.

On the same lines, The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association has launched a teaser campaign aimed at making the first-time voters exercise their franchise in India.

The initiative takes the form of a creative with a QR code which if scanned on a smartphone reveals a video.

To promote the campaign, posters are being put up in 40 colleges across Mumbai. Besides, 10,000 newspaper supplements are being distributed at a major youth event to attract the young voters.

LINE, the Japanese proprietary application for instant messaging on smartphones, has agreed to spread the word to its entire user base in India. LINE claims to have over 400 million users worldwide.

Opera Software, the makers of Opera browsers for desktop/PCs and mobile devices, has agreed to partner with IAA to support the initiative by spreading awareness to millions of Opera Mini users in India.

Media agency GroupM, through its Dialogue Factory, has created the campaign and many media houses will carry it as an advertisement. It will also be sent to all IAA members to be displayed as a poster. Volunteer For A Better India, an NGO, has partnered the IAA on ground for this campaign.

Speaking about the campaign, Srinivasan Swamy, president, IAA, says, "This is yet another important initiative that shows what the communications industry can do for the society. The IAA has been trying its best through various efforts to champion causes like the environment, women's issues and now, social change. The creative uses a teaser approach to communicate a very important message. I hope it will trend virally on social media."

Elections have begun in India and voting dates are April 7 to May 10, after which the nation's 16th Lok Sabha will be elected. According to the Election Commission of India, the electoral population in 2014 is 81.45 crore, of which 10 crore are first-time voters. In fact, this election may mark the highest ever political impact of first-time voters.