Thums Up politics or Nirma wash

Politics, especially electoral ones, is akin to corporate and marketing battlefields. Political parties are like products and brands of firms that use brains, money, ideas, and sales strategies to woo consumers, gain market shares, and earn customers’ loyalty. Market share is obviously a crucial element. The higher it is, the more dominant the position in the marketplace. It is not too different from the demands in politics. Change the phrase, market share, to vote share. During elections, marketing, positioning, USPs, and promotions matter.

However, at the end of the day, these require money. Lots of it, and regularly over sustained periods. If you have a bag full, or rather sack full, or maybe warehouses full of notes you have won half the race. Of course, the money may be legal, and in designated bank accounts. Of course, money is not the only criterion for success in the corporate or political battlefields, but it is crucial. In today’s politics, it is the starting point that creates and sustains the electoral momentum.

In India, when it comes to election funding, the latest figures prove that the BJP is sprinting ahead of its rivals, particularly the Congress in the election sweepstakes. The reason: while the ruling party is swimming in money, Congress is struggling to get enough cash to fight messaging battles to woo voters. A recent media report analysed the money collected by the political parties in 2024-25. Not surprisingly, the BJP leads the way, and is miles ahead of the others. It collected a massive, and the largest, more than INR6,000 crore.

Regional parties like West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress and Tamil Nadu’s DMK amassed respectable amounts. Do remember that like the regional corporate players and brands, these parties do not have a national focus, and are happy to gain local dominance. But the Congress is a national party, and hence it needs to be compared to the BJP. In comparison, the former’s electoral war chest was a mere INR550 crore, or one-tenth of the BJP. (Remember that a few important state elections are due in 2026, and 2027.)

Just to put it in perspective, imagine the next Lok Sabha elections in 2029. Both the BJP and Congress field candidates in at least 400 national constituencies. Going by the existing trends, the former will have ten times more money to fight the elections, or INR10 crore for every INR1 crore. Given the fact that the Congress is losing ground in several states, and across the country, it will need interesting ideas, innovative plans, and smart marketing strategies to woo the voters.

Congress will need to convince the voters that although the BJP seems unassailable, and like a behemoth at present, the Congress can provide better governance, and more bang. It is not impossible. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was considered a behemoth. It had won the two previous elections, and had ruled for a decade. Sure, its influence and power had declined compared to the heydays, but it was still ahead of the BJP.

Yet, the BJP, with limited resources, crafted a marketing strategy to race ahead, and win the national election. So, cut to 2025, and let us examine where the Congress can go from here. I can think of several options when it comes to the strategies of companies and brands that either survived and grew, or faded away. Once upon a time, Topaz was a dominant monopoly in the blades segment. Within a few years, its share was cut, and the firm bled due to the arrival of Gillette. Topaz vanished, and is now a part of history.

Before Procter and Gamble entered the sanitary napkins and sanitary pads segment, CareFree and StayFree dominated the segment. But the former’s Whisper created a huge noise and commotion among the consumers. Look at the auto sector. The Congress stares at two options: Either be like Hindustan Motors, which has swerved off the roads, or Maruti Suzuki, and a host of others that offer vehicles with superior quality at competitive prices. At present, the party seems more like Bajaj Auto, once a monopoly, but bruised and battered by the arrival of Japanese technology.

Like Bajaj, the Congress survives. Like Bajaj, it is a distant No. 3 (or No. 2) in the electoral marketplace. Some of the regional parties seem more stable, and established, apart from being confident, compared to the Congress. However, the Congress brand is still strong, and perhaps a day may come when it will have better ideas and innovative strategies, along with superior technology to give competitors a run for their money. Maybe the voters’ tastes will change, as will their mindset. There are a lot of ifs.

Not long ago, the Congress had a vote-market-share of 37 per cent compared to 11 per cent for the BJP. The equation has flipped with the BJP enjoying 38 per cent, and the Congress trailing at 20 per cent. The latter can become a Thums Up. Parle, which owned the brand, fought aggressively to stall the entry of foreign competitors like Pepsi, and then competed admirably in the marketplace against Coke and Pepsi. Finally, it failed, and sold out. The Congress, if it fails with ideas, will slowly disintegrate, and vanish.

In comparison, Nirma, a small brand, tussled hard with Hindustan Unilever, lost out, but has survived as a distant second for years. Two decades ago, Nirma’s market share in the detergent segment was 38 per cent, which has dwindled to 12 per cent or so. But no one has written it off. It still has the steam, and energy to fight back. The Congress needs to keep up its hopes, and slowly whittle away at BJP’s vote share. The problem may be that in most states, it may dilute the vote shares of its regional allies, which may help the BJP.

One needs to see if the Congress’ gives a losing Thums Up, or survives like Nirma to fight another battle another day. In corporate parlance, this is known as the revenge, and return of the monopolist-turned-underdog. The instances are rare, but it has happened before. Several firms, after losing out, have resurrected in new ways, with innovative products. There is yet another possibility. The Congress can follow the dictum of creative destruction in a unique manner. It can destroy the umbrella party, fragment into a dozen start-ups, and fashion several regional entries to become a national brand again.

The author has worked for leading media houses, authored two books, and is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation; views are personal