The Maharashtra government has appointed private companies to bring social media influencers on board to endorse the State’s policies and allay anti-government sentiments.
On October 12, a Government Resolution was issued confirming the appointment of private companies to advertise, promote and spread government policies.
Faced with a barrage of criticism on social media platforms and falling popularity ratings, the State government has swung into damage control mode. The private firms are being hired to track conversations about government policies on social media and draft plans to neutralise negative feedback.
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Primary tasks
The companies have been tasked with formulating and implementing a result-oriented comprehensive social media promotion strategy for the Maharashtra Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR). The tasks include “posting original blogs and articles related to the campaign, curating topics on relevant hashtags (#) on digital platforms; using influencers from society/social media and inviting them to be endorsers, targeting influencers for building up a positive mindset amongst policy/decision makers etc.”
Brijesh Singh, who heads the DGIPR, said: “This can hardly be called as advertising, but it is dissemination of information suitable for consumers. We are streamlining the system by bringing in professional hands in government work, which the existing machinery lacked.” Mr. Singh said that earlier each department had its own empanelled companies and this government is actually setting up a centralised system, adhering to the norms and laws.
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The firms are also expected to “track social media networks for keywords related to business and respond to them in a way that initiates positive conversations; track conversations, links and blogs about programmes and issues/topics relating to business; track sentiments: positive, neutral or negative; use effective third party tools to track the progress of each network; report any discrepancy in sentiments; channelise and draft a plan to work out and neutralise negative sentiments.”
The companies roped in include Vivaconnect Pvt Ltd, Goldmine Advertising, Crayons Advertising, Ventures Advertising Pvt Ltd, Silver Touch Technology Ltd, Everymedia Technology Pvt Ltd, Signpost India Pvt Ltd, Zapak Digital Entertainment, IT Craft Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bells & Whistles Advertising Pvt Ltd, and Kautilya Multicreations Pvt Ltd.
To carry out the campaign in print, audio-visual and audio mediums, 23 advertising companies and public relation firms have been roped in and e-tenders have been issued. According to sources, some of these companies have worked with the Bharatiya Janata Party on their campaigns for State Assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Companies on the panel of advertising agencies include Rakesh Advertising Pvt Ltd, Ogilvy & Mather India, Concept Communications, Creativeland Asia Pvt Ltd, Hindustan Thompson Associate Pvt Ltd, Square Communication Pvt Ltd, Marcantile Advertising, Redifusion Dentsu Young & Rubycam Pvt, Ocean Film, and Sai Advertising.
Covering all mediums
In an effort to cover all public relation mediums, the government has also appointed private companies to organise public meetings, exhibitions, panel discussions, cultural programs, public outreach programmes.