From the days when only posters and banners were used, political advertising witnessed a vast change in the 2009 Parliamentary elections when there was an extensive usage of new media and technologies like Internet, private FM, SMS, OOH, digital, social networking sites, etc., by the parties to woo the voters. Political parties used new branding and positioning strategies to attract the youth and urban voters and spent a whopping Rs. 800 cr for the purpose of campaigning.

Campaigning is one of the most important features associated with any elections. The prime focus of such campaigns is to effect a change of public opinion. While campaigning during elections, all political parties put forward their candidates and arguments with the hope to persuade the public to vote in their favor. In today's world of new media and growing technology, political advertising is reshaping itself with new strategies and new ways to reach out to the public. Many advertising agencies are also pitching in to help political parties to frame their ad strategies. These agencies also gain huge revenues in the course.

The General Elections in 2009 witnessed new strategies being used for political campaigning. New media were used and the parties tried to influence the voters in innovative ways.

In order attract the voters, most political parties hired advertising agencies for the elections. While Congress, which later won, appointed Crayons to manage its advertising, BJP hired Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia to handle its campaigning for one of the biggest events of democratic India. Door-to-door campaigning, public rallies, announcements over loud speakers, distribution of pamphlets and many allied means of propaganda are used during any elections. However, this time round, the scale of operations undertaken, and the intensity of media involvement grabbed voter's eyes.

In a democratic set up like that of India's, seldom do we think of missing news and glimpses of such a prominent event like the Lok Sabha Elections. Everyone—including politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and laymen—had their television sets tuned into the process of elections, hoping to witness their favorite candidates and parties win. Election-related broadcasts do deliver higher Television Rating Points (TRPs).

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