It is not a common occurrence when a government body launches really interesting initiatives especially around the theme of branding – Branding India Inc. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see when I stumbled upon www.indiais.org .
‘India Is’ is basically an competition based initiative with the premise of understanding what India means to different people across the globe. The initiative aims at capturing individual perceptions of individuals on India
The idea in itself is rather commendable because instead of preaching what India is, the ball has been thrown to each and every individual looking to talk about their version of India.
If India was a brand (it sure is), I would call this initiative India’s version of Twitter Stories feature which essentially captures what Twitter means to different people.
If you ask me, nothing speaks for the brand like its customers / users. I don’t know the end result of the initiative and how much far the initiative will go in communicating the diverse yet true brand image of India but I will be happy if this particular image gets vanished.
If you’re unfamiliar with the country, your idea of India Is probably that of the land of snake charmers and elephants. Most People across the world identify India with Mahatma Gandhi & Taj Mahal
We are much more than that and I am curious to see what different perceptions come through. To ensure increased participation, ‘India Is’ has been turned into reward based contest where anyone with a camera can create a short 3 minute video on one of three themes – India is Colourful, India is Creative, India is Whatever You Are and submit the same on the website (details).
The contest is open from October 1- 31 December 2011. What’s more, there is a $7500 prize as well for winners (I wonder why reward is in USD, when its for India, by India the reward money could have been in INR as well. Also, in the video why have they chose English accented lady… guess this looks like targeted at International audience rather than Indians.)
Details about “India is” Contest
That’s not all! ‘India Is’ already has popular folks endorsing the initiative already. Talking about ‘India Is’ initiative and inviting people to share their stories is none other than Dr. Shashi Tharoor as visible in the video below (Hint: Watch the video for cues if you intend to participate in the contest) ,
All in all, a nice initiative and from the initial looks of it a well executed as well. I would have loved to see a counter of some sort highlighting the number of entries received so far but I hope the entries are poring in good numbers. I will be sure be following the ‘India Is’ challenge for the next few months (I might as well create an entry myself)
What are your thoughts on ‘India Is’ initiative and what could it help achieve? Are you likely to submit your entry on what India means to you as well, let us know…
