It's not just India Inc that's becoming a global brand to reckon with. Now central ministries, too, are looking at creating brand value for themselves through image makeovers. Recently, the ministry of overseas Indian affairs — which is India's youngest ministry — became the first one to give itself a logo which is in synch with its globalised mandate of reaching out to India's 30 million strong diaspora.
The logo which depicts a globe, is also enveloped by two protective covers in green and saffron which are the colours of India. And what makes it even more savvy is the fact that it's animated. "We want to remain connected with NRIs and PIOs all over the world in 130 countries.
The logo represents the fact that we are trying to reach out to Indians around the world in many different ways. From Indian workers in the Gulf to PIOs in the Caribbeans, we want Indians everywhere to think of us as their ministry,” Vayalar Ravi, the minister for overseas Indian affairs, told SundayET while explaining the need to have a logo.
And it's not just MOIA, the ministry of commerce and industry and the ministry of tourism too have embarked on aggressive brand-building exercises. The ‘Incredible !ndia' tag-line has worked so well for the tourism ministry that it now has more brand equity than its parent ministry.
The ministry of commerce and industry has, meanwhile, partnered with apex industry body CII to create India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) which packages India as an important investment destination and rapidly growing market and provider of quality services and products.
Brand expert and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc - Harish Bijoor - feels that the Indian government's aggressive branding exercise on all fronts is targeted at both external and internal needs. "As for the logo, typically the colours give a soft visual feel which helps to connect easily. This a subliminal way of branding. I'm sure you'll see other ministries as well following this trend sooner than later.
Even now the signage such as the national emblem gives you a sense of pride and if there are logos for ministries as well, it will help them in making an instant connect with their target audience, whether they are abroad or at home,” Mr Bijoor says.
reeti Sagar, director of Angela Films, who created the promo film which was the launch vehicle for MOIA's new logo, too agrees that the logo has an instant connect with people.”When briefing Anisha Saran Gupta - the graphic designer who created MOIA's logo - I had asked her to highlight the human aspect of the ministry which deals with people across the globe in a big way,” Ms Sagar said.
The new logo and brand identity of the MOIA was launched along with the announcement of the sixth edition of the high-profile Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January 2008 and is in synch with the event where 2000 overseas Indians are expected to participate.
While like all ministries in India we use the Indian emblem, we also decided to create a separate logo as a symbol of our distinct function which is reaching out to India's large diaspora. The two hands in the Indian colours represents the protective umbrella under which we as a nodal ministry will be providing more and more products and services for Indians overseas,” says Mr G Gurcharan, joint secretary in MOIA.
Commerce secretary G K Pillai feels that his ministry's task was a tougher one and the brand campaign involved changing the earlier perception about India. "India was once known as a low quality, low wage manufacturing destination.
We needed to change that perception, and we have been successful in doing that. Today, the world is looking at India as a manufacturer of quality drugs and a destination for high quality services and superior technology,” he says.
IBEF CEO Jayant Bhuyan feels that in future more innovative branding tools will emerge for Indian ministries and their campaigns. "After the huge success with Incredible !ndia, why shouldn't we create brands like incredible tea or incredible silk?
IBEF's campaign in Davos and NY have captured the imagination of the world. The government has done it right by acting more as a facilitator to this exercise,” he feels.
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